letters
FED UP UNDERGROUND ENGLISH QUESTIONS 1

20th July 2006 Are we meant to sympathise with your columnist Dan Kuper (July) for his dreary working life underground? As a commuter who has to fork out a huge sum every year to travel on the tube, I find Kuper’s casual attitude to his work most irritating. His admission that staff were bunking off from manning the ticket gates to watch the World Cup is typical. He wouldn’t last long in the private sector. Robert Low London NW6
STRUNG OUT

9th August 2006 I share some of his doubts about string theory, but John Horgan is overpessimistic (August). It is true that string theory does not yet answer most of the questions asked of it, although as Horgan acknowledges, several key theoretical problems have been solved over the last 20 years. The need for new experimental data is indeed pressing, and Horgan is right that it may never be possible to build an accelerator capable of testing the theory. But he does not reflect on the opportunity of using “nature’s particle accelerator”—the hot, dense universe immediately after the big bang. Our current “concordance” model of the universe does not account for about 95 per cent of the energy in the universe; plenty of scope for physicists, stringy or not, to get their hands dirty. Chris Lintott University College London
4 PROSPECT September 2006

7th August 2006 I suggest that a basic issue driving the current debate on the “English question” (August) is the demise of the Conservative party in both Scotland and Wales. As the party seems unable to recover in these places, owing to the perception that it is an English party, the Conservatives could do themselves a favour by dissolving themselves there. This would make way for local right-wing parties that would provide the Scots and Welsh with an alternative to the present clutter of leftish parties and provide the Conservatives in Westminster with partners; similar to the CSU in Bavaria. Hugh Gilfedder Welton, Lincolnshire
ENGLISH QUESTIONS 2

governance show that in 2004, 72 per cent of those outside Scotland wanted English votes on English laws, whereas in Scotland it was a grudging 50 per cent. Frankly, who cares what the Scots want for England? As an Englishman living in England, I was not consulted about Scottish devolution. The English question (not the West Lothian question) should be answered by the people of England (not East Lothian) via a referendum that includes the option of an English parliament. Stephen Gash Carlisle
EDUCATING AKELLO

26th July 2006 In his piece “The East Lothian Answer” (August), Malcolm Rifkind wrote, “This is not a quarrel between England and Scotland. Every survey of Scottish opinion shows that a very big majority of Scots agree that English MPs should have the last word on legislation in parliament that affects only England.” Among activists seeking an English parliament, Rifkind has become notorious for quoting unsubstantiated Scottish surveys. Real surveys actually reveal that the percentage of Scots wanting to see England with some kind of self-determination is lower than other Britons. YouGov polls of England’s

6th August 2006 I am one of the directors of Kitgum Town College, the subject of Richard Dowden’s “Educating Akello” (August). I concur with Richard on how hard it is to educate children in northern Uganda, now entering its 20th year of war. Not only has the war displaced and impoverished 1.5m people, but the trauma it has caused, especially to children, is immeasurable. This is why, as Richard discovered, it can be very discouraging trying to help our children. His experience of finding his support for Akello Corine abused is just one in a thousand cases we have experienced since creating our school in 1999. Many of our students are formerly abducted children, child soldiers, or childmothers who, in one way or another, were sexually abused in refugee camps. Kitgum Town College is a young school that has grown rapidly over the last three

years. It was founded by a group of young university graduates because there was a ban on recruitment of secondary school teachers in government schools. With limited financial support from parents, well-wishers and some agencies, we have tried to meet the minimum standard required by the ministry of education. Educating children in a war-torn area requires patience, sacrifice and humility. There is just one thing that keeps us working under these conditions: these are our children and their future lies in our hands. My appeal to those who care about Uganda is to help us save this young generation. Owot Fred Director, Kitgum Town College
LIVES OF CRIME

9th August 2006 Prospect readers should know that David Rose’s “Lives of Crime” (August) is a press release for the “hereditarian” case in criminology. As a journalist, Rose should have taken the trouble to understand the range of informed opinions. Instead he has acted as a press officer for one party in this contested area of academic research. (He does make passing reference to an article I wrote in the journal Criminal Justice Matters, opposing the views he advocates.) One example will suffice. Rose reproduces without question the oldest hereditarian argument in the book: “Studies of twins and adopted children had already established that anti-social behaviour is likely to be partly inherited. Identical