Governing our schools by Skype will never work
For 20 years, I’ve been a governor of a successful school in Eastbourne and, like all school governors, an unpaid volunteer.
Now, because of cuts in the county council budget and changes in legislation, more and more is being passed to us governors to do.
It is increasingly difficult to find people to act as governors, so much so that East Sussex is suggesting recruiting ‘e-governors’ who don’t have to visit their school, but could link to it by email and Skype.
This will never do: a governor has to know their school and its strengths and weaknesses, when to support it and when to challenge.
We governors are a strength in terms of the diverse range of skills we offer, but I fear we’re a dying breed. I hope it doesn’t get to the point where this becomes another paid role as the demands on time keep increasing. DAVID SALMON, Eastbourne, E. Sussex.
Thank you, Neville
Should david Cameron be more like Winston Churchill or Neville Chamberlain (letters)?
Sadly, he has created most of his own problems by doing things in the wrong order.
While leading the Coalition, he was persuaded he could cut the cost of the Armed Forces, avoiding the replacement of their outdated equipment to save money.
Chamberlain, by contrast, was advised by Beaverbrook of the daily Express and Northcliffe of the daily Mail of the critical need to complete the military ‘shadow factories’ rapidly. War clouds were gathering over Europe in the Thirties and Britain’s Armed Forces had only outdated arms.
Chamberlain knew the factories being built in Britain required two years to be ready for full arms’ production. To gain vital time, he visited hitler in Munich, where his offer of a non-aggression pact was music to the Fuhrer’s ears.
If david Cameron had built up our Armed Forces and their equipment in his Coalition years, he could now face today’s enemies as Churchill was able to do with Chamberlain’s weapons.
Churchill admitted after the war that he was obliged to label Chamberlain an ‘ appeaser’ for propaganda purposes, but that without the time Chamberlain gained at Munich, we wouldn’t have had the guns, munitions and armour for the British and Empire forces to help defend France, to rearm the dunkirk survivors or fight the Battle of Britain.
BRIAN THOMPSON, Bideford, Devon.
A false god?
‘AllAhu Akbar!’ is the exultant cry after many an atrocity carried out by Islamist terrorists.
But what kind of deity could take pleasure in the tragic deaths of so many innocent men, women and children, many of whom are Muslims themselves ( though unfortunately for them the wrong kind of Muslim)?
Mankind has travelled a long way from the times when it was believed that gods demanded human sacrifice, but not, it would seem, among terrorist groups like ISIS.
As we approach Christmas, it’s worth noting that Jesus Christ taught that God opposes all violence: ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy,” but I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven.’
Many countries feel threatened by terrorism and are introducing ever harsher and more restrictive measures. But the problem boils down to the fact that those who threaten us say they worship a deity who rejoices over the downing of an airliner carrying holidaymakers, the appalling and indiscriminate slaughter in Paris and the shooting of an airman as he parachuted to earth.
As this can’t be Allah, it must be a false god who demands human sacrifice, exactly the kind on whom the civilised world long ago turned its back. RODERICK HUDSMITH,
Wells, Somerset.
Keep your name, ladies
I APPlAud women who keep their surnames after marriage (letters). I kept my family name because I disliked my husband’s surname. Why some women choose to adopt their husband’s name is a mystery to me. lots of my friends married men with names they disliked, but adopted them because they thought it was the law. It is, in fact, optional.
I’ve been with my husband for nearly 40 years and was a professional nightclub singer, so my identity was crucial. Why is a husband’s name more important than his wife’s? As for any children, if they choose to have either surname, there’s no law that says they can’t, as long as it isn’t used for fraudulent purposes.
SUZY KENDALL, Sheldon, West Mids.
India’s progress
our good friends on the subcontinent are planning to increase their toxic emissions into the atmosphere threefold and are opening new coal mines at the rate of one a week.
And why shouldn’t India do what Western Europe was doing 150 years ago, when the Industrial revolution was in full flow?
If all this development eventually gets many millions of povertystricken Indians to a better standard of life, these plans should be encouraged, not criticised.
With just a little persuasion and assistance by the West, couldn’t Indian industrialists be encouraged to pay maximum attention to the effects their country’s Co2 emissions are likely to have on the rest of the world?
doesn’t it all put Energy Secretary Amber rudd’s wishy-washy plans for this country’s emissions and power arrangements for the next decade or two into sharp relief? They won’t make a ha’porth of difference to the world’s toxic discharge problems.
COLIN DAVIS, Woodchurch, Kent.
Nice little tax earner
ThE Apprentice Bill is a stealth tax on business. I should know, I’ve run a small construction company for 35 years.
We’ve had a compulsory stealth tax in the form of a Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) levy for 25 years.
We were told we could use apprentices whom we could obtain at a cheaper rate commercially.
This money is taken from us every year even if our turnover, profits and labour are down. Not once did I get any leeway on tax payment.
I wasn’t surprised when travelling to King’s lynn the other day when I came across a new state-of-theart office building for the CITB.
Stand by for draconian measures for collecting this obnoxious tax which, I can assure you, will be by-passed by the big companies.
CHRIS SMITH, Chris Smith Developments,
Northampton.
Orson the great
ThE review of Simon Callow’s book on orson Welles (Mail) said Welles’s reputation as a genius rests only on three films, Citizen Kane (my favourite film), Chimes At Midnight and his cameo appearance in The Third Man.
Welles’s second work as director, The Magnificent Ambersons, is a brilliant film ( apart from the ending tacked on by the studio). It was, at one time, rated in the ten best films of all time in an international critics’ poll, along with Citizen Kane.
Welles’s second Shakespearean film, othello, is arguably better than Chimes At Midnight, and his noir thrillers, Touch of Evil and The lady From Shanghai, have great reputations, as do his stage and radio work.
ROY MILLS, Hornchurch, Essex .
Ditch the latex, Nigella
NIGEllA lAWSoN should be told that as some people are allergic to latex, she shouldn’t be using latex gloves while preparing food (Mail). The best gloves to use are foodfriendly nitrile gloves.
VALERIE SHRUBB, Earnley, W. Sussex.