US Edition Danger of surveillance information falling into wrong hands
Sir – The problem with ID cards, DNA databases and the high level of CCTV and other surveillance that we now suffer is not that we don't trust the present powers-that-be to use them wisely (report, November 2). What the Government fails to appreciate is that future governments may not be so trustworthy. It is giving them all the tools they need to control an unwilling population.
That's the reason why civil liberties and rights to personal privacy are worth defending, despite the undoubted terrorist threat.
Paul Varcoe, Oxted, Surrey
Sir – More worrying than the degree of surveillance inflicted on the British is their supine acceptance of the lie that "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear". Their lack of respect for their own privacy is none of my business, and my business is none of theirs.
I regard my privacy as my most important right, and I have seen it reduced drastically since 1997. I am now counting the weeks until my younger daughter completes her education and I can emigrate to a free country.
Mark Edwards, Witney, Oxon
Sir – alan Kibblewhite (Letters, November 2) is surely wrong to fear a DNA database and to refuse, as a policeman, to submit his own sample.
Also a career English policeman, now retired, I remember that all police were fingerprinted — at least we were in the 1950s. The practice seemed sensible then. I can't see that DNA sampling is any different, except it is 10,000 times more effective as an instrument of crime detection.
If the police today had to work with the paucity of "scientific assistance" we had available to us, they would understand what a huge advance in the police arsenal DNA evidence is.
Roy Anderson, Mount Brydges, Ontario
Sir – it might be tolerable to live in the era of Big Brother were the cameras and other sundry devices effective in the reduction of crime, but this is not the case. We constantly read of communities living in fear of teenagers, hear reports of murders and robberies, and cars continue to be stolen and driven recklessly by irresponsible youngsters.
The use of cameras as revenue-raisers is already a cause of public concern, but they can be effective in fighting crime if police are given the necessary resources and the opportunity to maximise their use in the apprehension of criminals.
George Wilkie, Hemingford Grey, Cambs
Sir – given the determination of so many people to commit crime, and the number of them who are detected and convicted only because of the presence of surveillance equipment, surely we need more, not fewer, of these appliances.
Peter Wyton, Longlevens, Gloucester
Role of Dragan Vasiljkovic in Croatia
Sir – The letter from Lt Col Ewen Southby-Tailyour (October 30) about Dragan Vasiljkovic is both bizarre and revealing. Croatia is seeking the extradition of Vasiljkovic on suspicion of serious crimes, including the murder and torture of soldiers and civilians, systematic arson and plunder. These crimes occurred during the occupation by rebel Serbs of internationally recognised Croatian territory.
When that territory was finally re-taken in 1995, it had itself been partially cleansed of Croats, whose property had been destroyed, looted or seized. The later departure of most of the ethnically Serb population, about 100,000, was not the work of Croatia, but of the Serb leaders who ordered it.
This is publicly documented and has been confirmed by key witnesses at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic. The displaced population was funnelled into parts of Bosnia and Kosovo that the authorities in Belgrade intended should form part of Greater Serbia.
Your correspondent says that Vasiljkovic was "training Italian troops for the day that Italy took back from Croatia that part of Dalmatia lost to the Germans at the end of the Second World War". In truth, Italy lost in 1945 to Yugoslavia (not "Croatia") only what it had seized previously. And at the time of Vasiljkovic's activities, there were no Italian troops in the area to "train".
Your correspondent also says that Vasiljkovic witnessed "the wearing of the swastika by some Croat soldiers". Croatians soldiers have never worn swastikas, and did not do so, even under the Second World War puppet fascist state. If Vasiljkovic told such stuff to your correspondent, he reveals himself as mad as well as bad, which may perhaps be a source of mitigation if he ever comes to trial.
Robin Harris, London SW11
Doctors' humour
Sir – Following the banning of novelty socks in one hospital trust (Health, October 30), I fully endorse that laughter is the best medicine.
More than 25 years ago, when I was a houseman, it was decided in the doctors' mess to hold a tasteless tie competition. It would be judged by the ladies of the catering staff and there was only one rule – it had to be worn for the whole of the morning session. My morning included a ward round with my registrar, who sported a particularly lurid green kipper tie. The quiet sniggers that greeted his arrival on the gynaecological ward soon descended into outright laughter from all the patients, and even the sickest patient's day was brightened by the humour generated.
One large green tie achieved far more goodwill than could ever be obtained by adherence to nonsensical directives.
Dr Jean Waters, Longhope, Glos
Seeking skills
Sir – Jeff Randall (Business, November 1) encapsulates the key educational issues facing this country. For years, we have been told by MPs that the improvement in GCSEs and A-levels is the result of better teaching and better studying.
But most sane people know that, despite the hard work of teachers and pupils, dumbing down has played a significant part in the inexorable rise in pass rates. Equally, trying to fit square pegs into round holes by pushing non-academic pupils into academic courses, rather than vocational ones such as apprenticeships, has been an exercise in false pride in our educational system. The effects of this will be felt for years to come.
A starting point would be for MPs and their highly qualified education advisers, most of whom are sadly unaware of the realities of the world, to face up to the fact that the education system that they have experimented with for so many years has been producing children who are hard for employers to hire. They should ask employers what they think and listen to what they have to say, instead of wrapping themselves up in the self-protecting conceit of their cocooned lives.
John Roome, Sandbach, Cheshire,
Satisfying punishment
Sir – I woke up yesterday to find that, since drawing the curtains the night before, my house had been "egged" four times on the front and once on the back. This may or may not have been perpetrated by three or four youngsters who demanded treats or menaces earlier. It took me a good hour with a high-pressure hose to remove the mess.
Last night, with curtains open and still in bright sunshine, four pre-teen yobbos, complete with hoodies, repeated the trick on my front bay-window. I ran after them, but they disappeared. I reported the matter to the police, who, as one might predict, warned me against apprehending them myself, as "throwing eggs at property was not a criminal act".
I could not make a citizen's arrest, nor frog-march them to the local police station. I could, I was informed, possibly catch one and take him to his house and parents, but I must take great care not to bruise, harm, damage his clothing or cause him distress in any way. I understand that, while this may not be the crime of the century, it is anti-social and distressing to my wife and younger son.
So when my elder son and I lie in wait for them and catch one or more of them, can anyone tell me what I might legally do that may give me some satisfaction?
Edward Lea, Halesowen, W Mids
Brideshead bus
Sir – It was Brian Howard, aesthete of the Brideshead generation, who first said: "Anybody seen in a bus over the age of 30 has been a failure in life" (Letters, November 2).
I know this because I congratulated Loelia, Duchess of Westminster on having coined the phrase in a small private anthology she published. She confessed she had nicked it from Howard. I think of it every time I get on a bus.
Hugo Vickers, Ramsdell, Hants
Sir – A propos bus travel and Winston Churchill, Lady Churchill once famously wondered: "What would people think if they discovered that the Prime Minister had never been on a bus"?
Christopher Egerton-Thomas, Hove, E Sussex
Sir – Loelia, Duchess of Westminster was a friend of Ann and Ian Fleming. The latter cast her as 007's secretary in his early James Bond novels, where she was nicknamed "Lil", which she hated.
David Salter, Richmond, Surrey
Consuming fire
Sir – I think it will be a damn good thing if we all get burnt to a crisp. Mankind is nothing but trouble – poor old Planet Earth needs a fresh start.
Susan Peckitt, Cheltenham, Glos
Will the Government close the Kabin?
Sir – Regarding the closure of uneconomic post offices (report, October 31), shouldn't the Government's attention be drawn to the branch inside The Kabin newsagents in Coronation Street, Weatherfield?
There is never a queue there, nor indeed any customers, for that matter, Neither is there anyone serving behind the counter.
James Bell, London N22