Subscribe Sir: Gerry Adams is reported as voicing regret about the suffering of the families of the Disappeared but insisted that
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Sir: Gerry Adams is reported as voicing regret about the suffering of the families of the "Disappeared", but insisted that "these things happen in war" ("Distress turns to anger as police fail to find bodies of IRA victims", 1 June) We should not accept Adams' use of language The IRA has no authority to wage war. Along with my predecessors, peers and successors I played and climbed trees, but I attended lessons also because I wanted to learn.There have been many academic successes, a wealth of ex-pupils entering the arts and sciences, mathematics, history, philosophy, law, medicine and the caring professions; above all, decent adults have emerged who work and contribute to society.It is a great sadness to me that so unique and valuable a school faces closure by a Labour government which is becoming obsessed by cost-effective meritocratic goals at the expense of sensitive care and understanding.BRANWEN LUCASHitchin,Hertfordshire. Of all teaching this is the most important, providing as it does self-worth, self-reliance and self-discipline. I attended the school from 1931 to 1942 I do not like being called "an experiment in education". Since the school's inception in 1924 there have been several changes, but the overwhelmingly important factor which has obtained throughout is the contribution the children make to managing their own affairs through self-government. Sir: Concentration on educational standards and nude bathing (what is it about the media's contributors that so fears the unclothed body?) have detracted from the purpose of Summerhill school ("Kool skools rool, OK?", 5 June).
And it isn't simply about pay; this is merely the final straw.CHRISTOPH LEES, MRCOGLondon SW13. It is, none the less, galling to be paid half your normal hourly wage whilst "on call" and working at an intensity similar to or greater than "nine to five" work. On top of this, the Government has effectively prevented a fair pay assessment by placing extraordinary political pressure on the Doctors and Dentists' Review Body.Tarred by the brush of a small number of high-profile misdemeanours, doctors now operate in a "name and shame" culture that will ultimately lead to defensive medicine and may destroy medical research altogether.Doctors are now fighting for our profession. However, the divergence of doctors' incomes with those of our peers in accountancy, law and industry is starker now than at any point, with junior doctors earning roughly 40 per cent of their equivalent salary. The issue of pay is only one aspect of a grossly unsatisfactory situation that cannot be allowed to continue Most of us did not enter medicine to earn huge salaries. Sir: It is no wonder that, for the first time in several decades, doctors are considering industrial action (report, 5 June). I also discovered that another charity had, without my knowledge or consent, given my name to another organisation who are now bombarding me with begging letters.I believe such tactics are both ungracious and counterproductive; charities should learn that if they become too greedy they kill off the geese that lay the golden eggs.N E I McNEILLWaddington, Lancashire.
Further requests follow, sometimes backed up by telephone calls. When I renewed my deed of covenant and doubled my donation to a well- known charity whose work I greatly admire, I shortly got a letter thanking me for my support, but adding that "as it is Christmas, perhaps you could find it in your heart to give just a little bit more". All too frequently when one gives a donation one is bombarded - often almost by return of post - with requests for yet more money. I would like to suggest a reason other than those you mention: the aggressive and greedy attitude of many charities. Sir: You report (31 May) that charitable giving has fallen by a third in recent years. It has commissioned no research to test the claims of the aircraft industry that a fifth terminal at Heathrow is essential for London's economy.JOHN STEWARTChair, ClearSkiesLondon SW9. It will be at least two years before it even begins to draw up the 30-year airport strategy it promised. Neither councils not local communities have any legal right to object to these new flight paths.New Labour, so keen on legislation to deal with noisy neighbours, has no clear plans to deal with the "city state" on the edge of London.