The scale of the loss
Sir: You state that ‘the British army was defeated in Basra’ (leading article, 22 January) as though it were a re-run of Alamein or Waterloo. Would it not be more true to say that the undermanned and under-resourced segment of the army in Basra was insufficient to cope with the task it was given? Had it been able to deploy force on the same scale as the Americans, perhaps the result would have been different. It has been suggested that the government couldn’t face the possibility of heavy casualties in such a scenario, but unavailability of troops must have been an overwhelming factor.
All deaths in action are terribly sad. But we now seem to be unable to accept any losses. Every fatality being read out before PMQs, which I understand the army hates, and TV footage of every funeral cortège passing through Wootton Bassett, greatly exacerbates the situation. In reality, against such a resourceful enemy at the Taleban, our losses have been remarkably light. (To add a little perspective, during the first world war our average losses were about 500 dead every day for four whole years. In the second world war, about 120 daily for six years.)
Incidentally, is the fact that the Americans are now taking over the responsibilities of the British in Helmand a repeat of the Basra process?
Geoff Peters
Blandford Forum, Dorset
Leave out the ladies
Sir: Your High Life correspondent commends Ciano, who ‘never once mentions [his] women in his writings’ (8 January). Could you urge him and his Low Life colleague to put this excellent principle into practice?
Patrick Pender-Cudlip
Somerset
Scotland’s Jews
Sir: Charles Moore (Notes, 22 January) is quite right in assuming that religious affinities played a part in Jewish affection for things Scottish, but it is not the whole story. As the late David Daiches pointed out, Scotland is the only European country never to have had a pogrom, or expelled or otherwise ill-treated Jews; his father was astonished and gratified to find that as a Jew in Edinburgh, he was treated with respect. Jewish doctors fleeing the Nazis found the Scottish medical profession welcoming; the English profession less so.
Working in England 50 years ago, I was puzzled at first by snide comments such as ‘Of course, he’s one of the chosen race.’ These remarks were surprising, coming from such a usually fair-minded people as the English, and I would hope are long gone.
Dr Ian Olson
Aberdeen
Defending Rockwell
Sir: Dulwich Gallery’s display of Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post covers and other works was extremely well attended on the day I went, giving enormous pleasure to visitors, particularly younger ones. So I would like to take issue with Andrew Lambirth’s non-review of this exhibition (Exhibitions, 15 January), and the wider attack on Dulwich for their support of middlebrow American art. Like Ardizzone and other artists/cartoonists, Rockwell encapsulates the America of the pre- and post-war years outstandingly well. It was a pleasure to me and I’m sure many others who knew America during the pre-Kennedy and pre-Vietnam years to see his paintings capturing the optimistic, egalitarian and feel-good factor of that period.
Peter M. Brown
London W2
Don’t ignore the pollacks
Sir: I must take issue with James Delingpole in his article ‘Waste Not, Want Not’ (Television, 15 January). He says pollack is ‘a very, very, very poor man’s cod’. Had he tasted the fresh pollack caught off the South Devon coast by my father (admittedly a few years ago), I am sure he would be extolling the virtues of this fish instead of denigrating it. I buy it and find that it compares very favourably with cod.
Sue Dickinson
Staffordshire
Unbearable treatment
Sir: China’s panda diplomacy has an even darker side than Jonathan Mirsky suggests (Letters, 22 January). While some pandas are pampered in pursuit of goodwill, thousands of bears across China are tortured in pursuit of their bile. Imprisoned for life, often in tiny ‘crush’ cages, the animals have their bile extracted to ‘treat’ a variety of ailments ranging from headaches to haemorrhoids. Barely able to move, the bears suffer unimaginable physical and mental pain. The Chinese authorities have made important steps towards ending this horror, but many farms still exist, and the number of captured bears continues to grow. As long as this unspeakable torment endures, the arrival of privileged pandas at Edinburgh Zoo must be greeted with considerable ambivalence.
Professor Raymond Wacks
By email
Caring about cricket
Sir: Roger Alton (22 January) asks ‘Does anyone care about the cricket world cup?’ Might one suggest that if England make it to the final (as they thoroughly deserve), he and 60 million of his countrymen will care — a lot.Incidentally, of the six contests he cannot quite bring to mind, four have been won by Australia. Funny, that.
J.M. Hallinan
Linley Pt, NSW, Australia
I dunno
Sir: Rod Liddle’s article from ‘the land of risk’ (22 January) raised a chuckle. Geographical ignorance is no bar to travelling. In the 1970s I was a teacher at a secondary school in Derbyshire. After one summer break, I asked my pupils if they had been away. One excited girl said that she had been abroad. I asked her where she had been. ‘I dunno, we flew,’ she replied.
William Taylor
By email
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