Times letters: Spectre of Putin haunts Washington summit

Times

2 days ago

Sir, The real winner from the White House gathering was the man who was not there: Vladimir Putin. After all the fawning over their host, it must have been galling for the leaders of the western world to wait while President Trump left the meeting and talked on the phone to the Russian leader. The significance of that 40 minutes was profound: the veto was in Moscow. Nothing definite was decided, and the rockets and drones sent into Ukraine afterwards demonstrated the reality of what Trump likes to call 'Putin's desire for peace'. Heaping compliments on the head of the US president is failing to open his eyes to the real nature of Putin's war of aggression. Europe must prepare itself for the costly consequences.Francis BownLondon E3
Sir, I cannot imagine for a moment that Margaret Thatcher would have sat silently at Monday's summit as EU leaders did, allowing President Trump to spout nonsense and praise Putin. She would have dominated the meeting, condemned Putin and corrected the US president at every opportunity. He would have willingly complied and no doubt Russia would have been sanctioned to the hilt with weapons provided free to Ukraine by the next day. Contrary to belief, I think Trump would love someone strong to steer him firmly as he clearly has no clue about world affairs and even resorts to asking Putin for guidance. However, if Thatcher were PM today the meeting would not have been necessary as Ukraine would be in Nato and Putin would have been put in his place long ago.Sally WiltonBournemouth
Sir, The words surrender and appeasement have been used to describe the outcome of President Trump's meeting with Putin in Alaska. This is misconceived. Whether through analysis or more likely instinct, Trump seems to view the world as dominated by three centres of coherent power: America, Russia and China. All share a similar commitment to national greatness and a ruthlessness in prosecuting their interests as they understand them. Trump's primary allegiance is to this club, where there is no appetite to challenge decisions taken by other members unless they are seen as a direct threat to national integrity. If this is correct, the outlook for Ukraine is poor and the future for Taiwan equally bleak.Michael Cavaghan-PackThurloxton, Somerset
Sir, With regard to the discussion of coalition support for Ukraine — whether of the willing or unwilling (letters, Aug 19) — I fear that a more apt description would be a 'coalition of the unable'.Jeffrey PrinceBelfast
Sir, Anyone who thinks that Putin is going to enter into an agreement acceptable to Ukraine and Europe is clearly delulu ('We're delulu if we think new words should be resisted', Thunderer, Aug 19).Andrew NewmanLightwater, Surrey
Sir, The US vice-president JD Vance and his family have ended their holiday. Has Mr Vance said thank you for the security, support and hospitality he received at public expense on his family holiday here yet?Richard JeffsBirmingham
Sir, My recent experience unfortunately chimes entirely with that of Jenni Russell ('Crime is all too real on our meaner streets', comment, Aug 19). I have always been an early morning swimmer and I live close enough to the London Aquatics Centre that I can walk there. Even though I'm out on the streets of east London at 5.15am, I have never considered this a risk or been involved in any nasty altercations. However, in the past year, the end-of- the-night traffic has bled into my journey. Prostitutes and their pimps are now a regular sight, and a fortnight ago I tried to help a distraught young woman who was crouched in a doorway clad only in her T-shirt and underwear. No police or emergency services were around to aid her in her vulnerability.
Walking through the shopping centre then, a deranged young man, eyes the size of dinner plates, approached me, shouting into my face that he was going to kill me. I am 63 and have decided that my early morning walking days are over. I've taken to the bike instead, despite the fact that I feel I'm putting my life at risk on the road.Tim KerinLondon E7
Sir, It does not have to be all-or-nothing ('Ending two-child benefit cap hands £20,000 to big families', Aug 18). It would be financially pragmatic and socially beneficial to ease the benefit cap to three children. We could review this decision in a couple of years with a view to raising it to four. We need our country to live within its means while also supporting families in need.Barbara GrahamRadlett, Herts
Sir, Libby Purves's mention of German respect for skilled manual workers (Aug 18; letters, Aug 19) reminds me of a British politician's shock at seeing it in action. The late Malcolm Wicks, when Labour lifelong learning minister, visited the BMW plant in Munich to look at its prestigious apprenticeship scheme. I was among a group of journalists accompanying him, and we arrived just as a class of mechanics was finishing a compulsory lesson in German literature. Wicks asked one young man at the end of the session why on earth motor apprentices were studying Goethe. 'We may be motor apprentices but we still have souls,' came the reply, in English. It still brings a tear.Peter KingstonUpper Milton, Somerset
Sir, Libby Purves suggests that 'every humanities degree should devote one term to hands-on training in a tradeable skill' to 'understand the complex structures of modern life'. Likewise it should be a requirement for every councillor and MP to have worked for at least six months in private industry, to understand what drives economic growth.Jenny BotsfordLondon W8
Sir, Like Gerald Witt, I too was subjected to a regime of Wednesday afternoon 'Practical studies'. I was offered enamelled jewellery-making. Having spotted a small forge in the corner of the workshop, I found it was for wrought iron work and gleefully signed up. A year later I owned a trivet (wobbly), a table lamp (less so) and a set of fire irons (toast-makers).
I gained more sheer happiness from that smithing course than my three A-levels and am still making toast.Margaret GreenOdiham, Hants
Sir, Cindy Yu's article ('Learning languages helps us to unlock cultures', Aug 18) overlooks a vital point: speaking a second language also delays the onset of dementia symptoms by four to six years, according to a number of peer-reviewed studies. It is surely time for language learning to be made part of our public health arsenal.James ClaffeyLeicester
Sir, When I was the manager at C&A in Cardiff the 1980s, we found the best way to deter known shoplifters was to talk to them as soon as they came in the store, as though they were a regular customer ('Meet and greet shoppers to deter thieves', Aug 18). The last thing they wanted was to be recognised. Some known thieves would travel between Cardiff and Reading, exchanging stolen stock at another C&A store for a cash refund. One particular lady had a rail company staff pass that allowed her free travel up and down the line: she would take garments from one store and try to return them to another that didn't sell that particular range.Mike WilcockLlanblethian, Vale of Glamorgan
Sir, The sooner we start calling shoplifting by its true name the better. It is theft, pure and simple, except when it is robbery when violence or the threat of violence is used. Perhaps shopkeepers should be provided with Tasers under the guise of self-defence.Timothy Young KC20 Essex Street, London WC2
Sir, You report that a German zoo has been criticised for feeding surplus baboons to its big cats ('Zoos face up to a beastly dilemma', Aug 16). When I became curator of mammals at London Zoo in 1959 I was confronted with this problem of surplus animals, so I started the International Zoo Yearbook, which listed breeding successes at zoos all over the world so that, for example, if a zoo needed baboons they could get in touch with a zoo that had too many. This yearbook was published for decades before the internet made it redundant, and it must have saved the lives of many unfortunate surplus zoo animals. Of course, it is possible that today zoo animals are breeding so successfully that there are some species that cannot be found alternative homes. This is a new problem that now has to be faced. If zoos do not find a solution to this problem, they will find themselves losing popular support. Every zoo animal is meant to be cared for and protected by its owners, and killing one of them as food for the others is deeply offensive.Desmond MorrisZoologist, Athgarvan, Co Kildare
Sir, As someone due to be promoted to grandparenthood in a few months' time, I was interested to read that hands-on Spanish grandparents are now drawing the line at being used for free childcare. Also interesting was your assumption that grandparents are automatically retired ('Sin Niñera', leading article, Aug 19). Many like me work full time: you can be sure that however besotted we become, an overtime tariff will apply to any contracted childcare hours.Clarissa FarrChair, Affinitas Education
Sir, Dr Morris Charlton's belief that bats seldom hold up work (letter, Aug 19) does not fit with my experience. When my father passed away in 2020 we decided to rebuild the family home, and engaged a consultant to carry out an environmental impact assessment. He found a single bat dropping in the garage, and demanded a repeat survey after the next breeding season (April to September). No more droppings, £700 expense and a year wasted.Dr John BurscoughBrigg, Lincs
Sir, For the first time both our pairs of swallows are nesting for a third time. Do they know somehow that we are heading for an Indian summer?Edward HineNewark on Trent, Notts
Sir, Nigel Farndale (Notebook, Aug 19) quotes some of his wife's letters from boarding school. In his autobiography Life's Rich Pageant, Arthur Marshall recalls that, when he was a housemaster at Oundle, he wrote regularly to his mother. One extract recorded how, after he had explained to two new parents that if their son fell ill the school would write every day to report progress, the mother said: 'Oh please don't bother about that. Just send us a postcard if he's dead.'Jon PettmanEastbourne