Lionel is right
Sir: Gareth Roberts’s piece (‘End of the rainbow’, 31 May) gave me pause to reflect. It’s not that Pride has become irrelevant; after all, same-gender relationships are still criminalised in 64 countries – and in eight of those the death penalty is applicable. Rather, since the pandemic, it seems to have taken a rather nasty and unpleasant turn, with those dissenting from whatever ludicrous party line happens to be in vogue routinely heckled and vilified.
Placards emblazoned with slogans such as ‘If you see a Terf [trans-exclusionary radical feminist] then smash them in the face’ are often to be spotted on Pride marches. Those producing such placards seem to forget that it was the first- and second-wave feminists (as well as early LGBT activists) who’ve brought us to the relatively benign state of affairs we now enjoy – in this country at least.
As Lionel Shriver pointed out elsewhere in the issue (‘The war on normal’), it’s curious, if not downright laughable, how these and other such revolutions manage to eat themselves in the end.
Bernard Jennings
London SE11
Lionel is wrong
Sir: Lionel Shriver does precisely what she accuses gay people of doing. She reduces relationships to mere sex and then equates sex with only reproduction (or lack of it). Does she not know that both ‘heteronormative’ and homosexual people have sex for pleasure? Most sexual activity in the world is for this hedonistic purpose, not reproduction. She also repeats the fallacy that homosexual couples cannot reproduce. I can assure her they can, if not with each other, and play their part in advancing human evolution.
More than this, they value relationships, from which they derive companionship, affection, fulfilment and yes, intimacy, just as much as their heteronormative counterparts. Why Ms Shriver thinks gay people are any different in this respect is a mystery.
Neil Robinson
Carlisle, Cumbria
Hold your horses
Sir: Nick Timothy makes many valid points, (‘Backing the wrong horse’, 31 May), but in my opinion uses the wrong example of the lucrative Queen Anne Stakes at Ascot to reinforce his point about the low prize money in British horse racing compared with Dubai or Hong Kong. Instead, I believe attention should be drawn to the more typical racecourses, where prize money verges on the pathetic when set against the cost of owning and training a horse. I was at Redcar on Bank Holiday Monday and the first race had five horses entered that each cost between £30,000 and £36,000, with the winning owners receiving £3,414. In the main race – the Zetland Gold Cup, with all its wonderful history – the winning owner, trainer and jockey got £20,000 less in 2025 than in 2003. These examples are no reflection on the friendly Redcar, because it’s a similar story in most other UK courses. As underlined in Mr Timothy’s article, any regulations that make this already worrying situation worse must therefore be resisted.
Michael Dixon
Sunderland, Tyne and Wear
State of the art
Sir: Richard Morris laments the inaccessibility of much of the country’s public art (‘Hanging offence’, 31 May). Some years ago, the Public Catalogue Foundation embarked on a gallant initiative to record all the oil paintings held by public collections and published a series of excellent catalogues, county by county. This has subsequently morphed into the online Art UK, whose website shows more than 600,000 works held by galleries, universities and institutions as diverse as the National Trust and the Society of Merchant Venturers in Bristol. Indeed, a perusal of Ipswich Borough Council’s collection will reveal the Beckers and Squirrells Mr Morris admires. This excellent charity has extended its feat to sculpture and watercolours. Everyone should look up what’s in their area: they may be in for a pleasant surprise.
Sarah Drury
Devizes, Wiltshire
SAS distress call
Sir: Richard Williams, in his defence of the SAS (‘May the force be with us’, 24 May), says that ‘our Special Forces are globally respected’. This may be so, but the ways in which some ex-members conduct themselves dishonours these ‘valiant soldiers’. The flood of sensational books, films and TV series by former SAS soldiers damages the regiment’s reputation for reticence and anonymity. SAS soldiers should disappear seamlessly into civilian life once their military days are over. Disciplinary matters should also be handled without degrading investigations being carried out in public. Discretion is as important as valour.
Michael Cullup
Norwich
To a tea
Sir: I agree with Charles Moore (Notes, 31 May) that asking for Indian tea often elicits blank looks these days. To avoid being landed with the ubiquitous, and not very enticing, English Breakfast tea, for many years now I have always just specified Darjeeling, which seems to have better ‘brand recognition’, as the marketeers would say.
David Engel
West Hoathly, West Sussex
The joy of tpyso
Sir: Christopher Howse on typos (Notes on, 24 May) reminded me of a rather wonderful example in the Cornish & Devon Post some years ago. In the small ads section I noticed: ‘Wooden animal hutch for sale – would suit guinea pigs or small rabbi.’
Anthony Black
Launceston, Cornwall
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