Times letters: sending in police to break up campus protests

Sir, American universities are facing vigorous outside intervention to end student protests about the war in Gaza. Protests at UK universities are beginning to prompt calls for a similar response, though external intervention in a university in this country remains controversial.
The Universities Act of 1825 provides for the vice-chancellors of Oxford and Cambridge to appoint their own “constables” to act “within the precincts of the university” who are subject to the same justice of the peace authority as other constables and take the same oath. Other universities make their own security provisions. Faced with a large demonstration in May 2004 the Cambridge proctors summoned 11 of their own constables. A contingent of Cambridgeshire police officers was also asked to help. There were several arrests but the police were invited in by the university. Police intrusion directed by the government would have been quite another matter.
GR Evans
Emeritus professor, University of Cambridge

Sir, Your leading article “Campus Warfare” (May 3) is correct to demand universities take control of any student protests on campus. Sadly, the expectation of some leadership from the chancellors and vice-chancellors is low. They have done little to quell the rise in antisemitism since October 7. It is quite clear that in certain places in this country Jews are not welcome. As a nation we must ask how we let things progress to such a situation.
Neil Nachshen
London NW11

Sir, Your leading article does not emphasise the main emotional and psychological motivation of student protests, which undoubtedly is the young people’s compassion for those suffering terribly in Gaza: children, women and innocent men torn to pieces by bombs and crushed by the rubble of their destroyed homes, and their grieving families. Calling for sanctions against Israel does not address any effective solution to the long and cruel conflict. The students and all well-meaning people should call for a “Holy Land, home of Jews, Christians, Muslims and all people of goodwill”.
Andrzej Wilski
Sandridge, Herts

Sir, Alex Farber’s article, “BBC correspondent questions ‘facts’ of October 7 attacks” (May 3), highlights a deeply disturbing issue. This incident is not a one-off: BBC Arabic has a well-documented and longstanding problem of its staff engaging in, and promoting, antisemitic conspiratorial content.
Indeed, the issue is not limited to BBC Arabic. The BBC as a whole has shown time and again, particularly over the past seven months, that there is an issue with impartiality in its coverage of Israel.
The BBC is supposed to adhere to the highest of journalistic standards and ethics. I would like to see an investigation into the antisemitic content being shared and promoted by BBC staff.
Orly Goldschmidt
Spokeswoman, Embassy of Israel, London W8

Churchillian Sunak

Sir, Your leading article headline “Darkest Hour” (May 4) is entirely appropriate recalling as it does Winston Churchill’s speech when we were threatened by Nazi Germany. We are not yet at that point but as the war in the Ukraine drags on we are starting to experience for ourselves the real threat that Russian aggression poses. Recent visits to Ukraine by Jeremy Hunt, the Duchess of Edinburgh and earlier by Rishi Sunak have demonstrated that we are fully supportive of President Zelensky’s efforts both financially, and as a nation. However, the prospects for an end to the war are not good and we should prepare to face the consequences. Sunak may be facing electoral defeat but he is, as your correspondent Matthew Parris has pointed out, a decent, honourable man doing his best in a very difficult job. He may not lead the country after the next election but if he leaves the country well prepared to face the possibility of war he will be doing us all a great service.
Rodney Clark
Petersfield, Hants

Living bereavement

Sir, Like Fiona Hamilton, I admire bereaved parents who fight for change (Thunderer, May 3). Unlike her, I am not amazed that many parents channel their grief into positive change. We see the same with parents suffering “living bereavement” after the international abduction of their children, although their successes in securing change have been limited. More than 500 British children are abducted abroad annually, yet the applicable laws have not been updated since the early 1980s, despite recommendations to do so, aside from European law, which improved matters but was lost in the hurry to finalise the 2020 EU withdrawal agreement.
Joel Lindop
Chairman, international abduction group, Families Need Fathers — Both Parents Matter

Economic medicine

Sir, The OECD figures suggesting that next year the UK economy will be the worst performing in the G7 (report, May 2) strengthen the case for an ambitious industrial strategy to boost sectors that could act as engines for economic growth.
Medical technology is an example. Despite being half the size of biopharmaceuticals in terms of jobs, med tech contributes £13.5 billion to the UK economy annually, against biopharma’s £15 billion. Its annual growth rate between 2016 and 2020 was 19 per cent — far higher than biopharma’s 3 per cent. But the med tech sector’s vitality has been in spite, not because, of government policy. Regulatory uncertainty, scarce funding, and ineffective NHS procurement processes make it difficult for med tech inventions to develop into viable businesses.
We have no shortage of talented people in this country, and we boast some of the best universities in the world, so bringing academic expertise together with industry should be an easy win. But countless good ideas go to waste. Imperial College London is investigating how to improve the competitiveness of the UK economy. A central theme is the need for more flexible regulatory environments that can align with key markets such as the EU and US. With the right strategy and investment, we have an opportunity to generate economic growth and cement the UK as a world leader in technology and innovation.
Professor James Moore Jr
Bagrit & RAEng chair in medical device design, Imperial College London

Help at the end

Sir, Further to Alice Thomson’s article (“Why I changed my mind over assisted dying”, May 1), I believe the hastening of death for the terminally ill has been around for a long time. My mother, who was in a care home in her nineties, became constantly dehydrated. She was hydrated several times and eventually those in her care decided on denial of food and drink, and she soon passed away. Several years later my sister, who had cancer, asked her doctor “to make her comfortable”. Morphine was administered and she died that night. Both were helped to die.
Bernard Jackson
Harrow, Middx

Sir, I have never really understood the slippery slope argument referred to in Alice Thomson’s article. It seems to boil down to this: we cannot afford to do what is right today because it may lead us to do what is wrong tomorrow. Applied generally, this argument would inhibit us from doing pretty much anything at all.
Richard Oerton
Cannington, Somerset

Nato cash demand

Sir, You report (May 4) that Donald Trump is considering stepping up his demand that Nato countries increase defence spending towards matching the US spend of 3.3 per cent of GDP.
This raises three issues. First, while the US spends much more on defence than other Nato countries except Poland, more than half its expenditure is directed toward non-Nato objectives, particularly in Asia. It’s spending on Nato objectives is under 2 per cent, putting it at around average for Nato country expenditure. Second, this spending is not altruistic, it is part of the American strategy to dominate international affairs. Third, the involvement in and leadership of defence issues by the US in Europe and elsewhere opens the door to massive US arms sales to its allies.
Charles Matthews
Blendworth, Hants

Richer and poorer

Sir, The headmaster’s wife who could not stomach singing the verse in All Things Bright and Beautiful about the rich man in his castle and the poor man at his gate (letter, May 4) might have been reassured had she realised that there should be a comma in the line “God made them, high or lowly”. Cecil Frances Alexander’s intention was not to suggest that class distinctions were divinely ordained, but rather to point to the equality of everyone before God and the fact that He made all of us, regardless of whether we end up high or lowly. This particular verse has provoked much lively comment over the years. I particularly enjoyed Auberon Waugh’s reflection in the 1980s that “the rich man almost certainly no longer lives in his castle. He has lost his money and sold it off, or if he still lives in it, he is reduced to penury by the cost of maintaining it. He has sold the lodge at the gate to a much richer man who uses it at weekends. The new arrangement, of poor man in his castle, rich man at his gate, was not ordained by God but by Mrs Thatcher.”
The Rev Professor Ian Bradley
Author, Penguin Book of Hymns
St Andrews, Fife

Consort or Queen?

Sir, Kate Mansey’s article (“Conundrum for courtiers over ‘consort’ and Camilla”, May 4) detailing the transition in the title granted to our present Queen once Charles became King prompted a question relating to the Succession of the Crown Act 2013. The act put the girls on an equal footing with the men in succession to the throne. Consider that the husbands of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II were prohibited from being crowned king on the assumption that a male monarch supersedes a female monarch. However, since 2013 women have been recognised as being on an equal footing. Therefore, should Princess Charlotte become Queen would her husband be King? If not, then perhaps Camilla should have remained a princess as did Prince Albert and Prince Philip. Otherwise, the message remains that a man is more powerful than a woman.
Joanne Askew
Bellingdon, Bucks

Fallen journalists

Sir, Your leading article “Fitting Tribute” (May 4) in response to the On the Record campaign is a welcome recognition of journalists killed in the line of duty, and deserves our support. There has been a chapel for fallen and detained journalists at St Bride’s, Fleet Street, for nearly two decades, which is highlighted on an annual basis with a service attended by the media industry. It is important to acknowledge and share with the wider community the risks taken by journalists to keep the public informed and hold the powerful to account.
Gerald Bowey
President, Chartered Institute of Journalists

Dazzling phones

Sir, I am in total agreement with Ian Bostridge and Richard Morrison (news & comment, May 2) about the filming of classical concerts. It is extremely distracting, for performers and other audience members — the phone lights get in our eyes.
Hazel Morgan (singer and prommer)
Witham, Essex