Letters

Letters: NHS summary care records

The NHS's Summary Care Records are not "a bureaucratic attack on our entitlement to privacy" (letters, 16 March), but part of a worthy attempt by the NHS to reduce from 4,000 the number of patients who die each year because of "inappropriate treatments".

Recent Letters

IoS letters, emails & online postings (21 March 2010)

Sunday, 21 March 2010

The three major political parties have identified a sector of the population that could make or break victory in the coming election: Britain's eight million mothers of young and school-age children ("The mother of all elections", 14 March). Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, talks about creating a "major cultural shift" in the way businesses approach part-time and flexible working opportunities. She says that part-time work should not mean an end to career progression in a company, although she clearly hasn't found part-time hours adequate to sustain her own career ambitions. "Suggesting" to companies isn't going to bring about a major cultural shift any more than I'm going to solve the nation's obesity problem by suggesting to every person eating a Big Mac that they try a salad instead. I am a qualified accountant and stay-at-home mum for 10 years. Women who stay at home with their children have brains, ambition and, often, as much education as the politicians trying to win our votes.

Letters: Labour's tax policy

Saturday, 20 March 2010

Red tax-and-spend socialists? If only they were

Letters: University fees

Friday, 19 March 2010

Universities turned into technical colleges

Letters: Cameron's image

Thursday, 18 March 2010

Cameron's friends belie his carefully fostered image

Letters: The Gurkhas

Wednesday, 17 March 2010

Stop attacking Lumley, just worry about the Gurkhas

Letters: NHS and privacy

Tuesday, 16 March 2010

NHS records scheme is an attack on our privacy

Letters: Healthcare debate

Monday, 15 March 2010

The NHS vs US healthcare: an American's view

IoS letters, emails & online postings (14 March 2010)

Sunday, 14 March 2010

In your fascinating piece about the 100 most influential women you repeated the myth about the suffragette Emily Davison's death by saying that she threw herself under the King's horse in the 1913 Derby ("A century of distinction", 7 March). The film of the incident shows she did no such thing. She attempted to grab the reins to stop the horse as an audacious and original protest, meaning no harm to any person or animal. People in the know at the time confirmed this. This was hardly a wise move given the weight and pace of these horses, but Emily Davison had everything to live for, and the energy and drive to continue until the campaign for women's votes succeeded. To suggest that she deliberately threw her life away and tried at the same time to kill or maim a horse and its rider in a weird, publicity-stunt suicide both misrepresents and demeans her.