Letters | 16 May 2009

A charted course

Sir: Charles Moore has lost his bearings and entered ‘terra incognita’ in his recent exploration of the Royal Geographical Society’s remit and work in the 21st century (The Spectator’s Notes, 9 May). To be clear, the society stays true, today as over its 170-year history, to its founding charter to ‘advance geographical science’. The suggestion that the society is not fulfilling its charter is a misinterpretation and makes a travesty of the society’s work with schools and universities, with the public and policy-makers — and not least to the hundreds of professional researchers that the society currently supports to advance new understanding of all aspects of our world. Since 2005 we have supported 150 projects led by established researchers in 65 countries — from the Amazon to Greenland and from China to New Zealand — addressing issues ranging from climate change to migration. Turning to our forthcoming SGM; from the start of this process the society — in consultation with those calling for the SGM — has placed the running of the vote in the hands of the Electoral Reform Services to ensure due process is followed.

Decisions over policy and strategy rest with the society’s elected council, and not with any individual, be it the president or director. The society’s council and all its living past presidents endorse our current strategy. We are rightly proud of our past and also our work that continues to meet the vital need of understanding our world in the 21st century.

We once lent a compass to David Livingstone to keep him on the right track in Africa — perhaps an RGS sat nav might allow Charles Moore to get back onto a truer bearing?

Sir Gordon Conway, President; Heather Viles, Andrew Linnell, David Livingstone, Vice-Presidents
Royal Geographical Society, London SW7

A suicidal manifesto

Sir: David Miliband says that rejection of the Lisbon Treaty would be ‘suicidal’ (‘Hague’s EU policy would be suicidal’, 9 May).