Ukraine, peace negotiations and Nato’s future

Two hundred years ago Viscount Castlereagh understood that unchecked aggression in Europe leads only to disaster, and that countervailing strength, not wishful thinking or appeasement, preserves the peace. A Europe that dithers will soon be a Europe at war. The UK must not let that happen. Today, as in 1815, we must lead, not follow.
Richard A Edwards
Senior law lecturer, Exeter University

Sir, Membership of Nato confers a security guarantee which, as you rightly say in your editorial, is worthless unless backed by hard power. As with all clubs, members should be expected to pay their fees. These should be set at the level required for the club to function effectively, and reviewed when circumstances change, as indeed they have. If countries are unwilling to pay they should forfeit membership. Nato should now decide what that level should be, and insist that all members reach it within, say, five years or have their membership revoked. If Nato is unwilling to rise to this challenge it may be time to consider an alternative.
Major General APN Currie
Winchester

Sir, Those who regard any concessions as a victory for Putin should bear in mind that his original plan was the speedy takeover of the whole of Ukraine and the installation of a puppet government. President Zelensky’s leadership and Ukrainian resistance stopped him in his tracks, and now Putin has to make the best he can of the situation. It would be fairer to say, whatever the outcome of the negotiations, that Putin has been largely defeated in his latest attempt to restore the Russian empire.
Crawford Macdonald
Weybridge, Surrey

Sir, Air cover will certainly be needed to support any peacekeeping force in Ukraine (“US may provide air cover to protect Ukraine peace”, Feb 14) but, this cover should be European, not American. European nations have the air assets, the command and control capability and, via Nato operations, the tactical training and experience. Above all, this is clearly a European responsibility as it affects the long-term security of Europe. If Europe’s air forces are not to be deployed now, then when? And what are they for?
David Bramley
Wing commander (ret’d), Esher, Surrey

Starmerville vision

Sir, Simon Jenkins refers to the proximity of Milton Keynes to the proposed site for a new town midway between Oxford and Cambridge (“Forget silicon village and regenerate our cities”, Feb 13; letters, Feb 14). In fact Stevenage is closer, and was the place selected by the postwar Labour government for its first new town. Then, as now, there was a desperate housing shortage and the government was in a hurry to build. Then, as now, the garden city ideals were a major influence and Lewis Silkin, the minister for town and country planning, espoused the promotion of “beauty, culture and civic pride”. However, in the rush to build no time was allowed for public consultation and a public relations disaster ensued. I hope this Labour government will learn from history.
Lesley Kant
Norwich

Sir, Further to the number of long-term empty houses in England mentioned by Simon Jenkins, there is an obvious solution: it should be the local council’s responsibility to identify and legally acquire these properties. A government scheme could help councils to pay for renovation of these properties, which would essentially become council homes. This would provide good housing far quicker than acquiring land and building from scratch.
Heather Atkinson
Prestbury, Glos

Archive appeal

Sir, On February 14, 1885, The Times published a letter from Major James Gildea asking the public to support the wives, widows, and children of soldiers and sailors who were killed or wounded through service to Queen and country. This was the founding of the Soldiers’, Sailors’, and Families’ Association, which in 1919 added Airmen to its title, and later became SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity.

The charity marks its 140th anniversary this year and has come a long way since that letter. It has a volunteer and staff network covering much of the world, and a rich history of service, helping about 54,000 people annually. To commemorate this I invite Times readers to contribute to our archive. They can send stories, photos, video messages, or anything that highlights their or a family member’s experience of SSAFA as a volunteer or as a beneficiary, and from any time. Submissions should be sent to 140.anniversary@ssafa.org.uk.
Air Marshal Sir Simon Bollom
National chair, SSAFA

Private fix for NHS

Sir, Investment in the NHS by the private sector could significantly improve the condition of the NHS estate (“NHS chief: Private funds needed to fix our hospitals”, news, Feb 14). Many other areas of practice could potentially benefit from such investment: CT and MRI scanners could be viewed with a similar perspective, perhaps even whole radiology departments. However, staffing is the largest component of expenditure. Improved efficiency and reduced costs could be achieved by examining the quality of employed staff.

Frequently, a unionised, inflexible approach to staffing restricts the chance of efficiency improvement. In the case of radiology, too often the most straightforward of examinations, say a simple chest x-ray, is undertaken by a graduate radiographer when this could be done by a much less qualified practitioner. The private sector may not only improve the state of capital investment in equipment but could run whole departments as well.
Dr Chris Loughran
Ret’d consultant radiologist, Prestbury, Cheshire

Shotgun law change

Sir, Surely farming is the original “working from home” occupation. To suggest that a farmer, working every day of the year, could keep an essential item such as a shotgun away from his home is ludicrous (“Changes to shotgun law set to fuel rural anger”, news, Feb 14). Where does the government suggest as a suitable place? This is another example of the crass ignorance of the present regime.
John Breining-Riches
Chagford, Devon

Climate policies

Sir, Regarding your leading article “Dark Doldrums” (Feb 13), rather than “facing political oblivion” Germany’s Greens are polling around 13 per cent, within the margin of error of their record high (of 15 per cent) in 2021. Likewise, polls show that the main factor driving those German voters who have shifted to right-wing parties is immigration, not environmental policies. Of course the only poll that matters is that on election day, but the “lesson here for Labour” is to be found in the UK, not in Germany: polling here indicates that more than half of the voters who switched their allegiance from Conservative to Labour or the Liberal Democrats in the last UK general election felt that the previous government’s climate policies should have gone further and faster than they had.
Alasdair Johnstone
Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit

Solar farm wildlife

Sir, The RSPB report suggesting that birds do better on solar farms than on arable land comes as no surprise to those of us who have worked on these projects (“More birds flocking to land with solar panels”, Feb 13). I have seen not just birds but also hares and water voles flourishing on solar sites, and there is a growing evidence that they can be good for invertebrates too. Solar farms do have to be well situated and, as the research indicated, sympathetically landscaped and managed. If they are then they can improve local biodiversity.
Nick Mann
Founder, Habitat Aid

Right penalties for failing NHS trusts

Sir, Fining an underperforming hospital trust £1.6 million seems to be an illusion of a penalty (“NHS fined £1.6m for three baby deaths”, news, Feb 13). Any NHS acute hospital (in this case, a maternity unit) has to continue to function, there being no “spares” waiting on the touchline, so perforce will obtain the necessary Treasury funding. Surely, if a hospital is found to be below par, heads should roll from within both non-executive and executive board members, and if not then at the overseeing Department of Health.
Thomas Dehn, FRCS
Ret’d surgeon, Stratfield Mortimer, Berks

Gen Z’s activism

Sir, Bravo for 16-year-old Jude Brayton and his observations about national pride (letter, Feb 12). Were our leaders doing their jobs more diligently we could all approach the future with greater confidence. Instead we silently suffer under a government apparently devoid of any proven business acumen and more concerned with short-term imagery rather than long-term excellence. As a nation our past successes have been largely due to good luck and a culture of muddling through. We must trust that Gen Z’s youthful activism will, in the years ahead, overturn the entrenched atavism of our parliamentary processes.
David Howard
Hook, Hants

Music education

Sir, The concern about Cardiff University’s plan to cut music after almost 150 years (letter and Richard Morrison column, Feb 14) reflects a more basic issue. Even though there is ample evidence that almost everyone invests a considerable amount of time and money listening to music, they remain unable to play a musical instrument or read music. I wonder how many people look back on their lives with enormous regret and wonder why they weren’t taught such skills at school. Music deserves to be a core curriculum subject on a par with literacy.
Dr Barry Johnson
Sheffield

Stop tittering

Sir, Sarah Ditum ponders “Whatever happened to the great British sex comedy?” (Times2, Feb 12). Perhaps we finally grew out of that puerile state of finding breasts, bottoms and the act of sex itself something always to giggle at.
Paul Moss
London W10

Wing and a prayer

Sir, The correspondence about flights to Tiree (Feb 12-14) reminds me of an occasion some years ago when my flight to Tiree from Glasgow was cancelled because of bad weather. When I returned the following day it was no surprise that the plane was full. It was rather more of a surprise when I was invited to take the co-pilot’s seat, as the only one free. “Don’t touch anything,” said the pilot, “and don’t open the door.” I had no plans to do either.
Iain Mackinnon
London W5

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