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Sir: The Spectator is quite right in calling for pylons to be pulled down (‘The countryside under attack’, 20 March). There are over 4,000 miles of high-voltage overhead transmission lines in this country — around 12,000 ugly and intrusive metal towers.
Worryingly, far from tearing them down, the latest announcement from the government could lead to building 500 more. National Grid is the body responsible for these pylons and it has undertaken through the ‘Holford Rules’ to avoid all national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty. But it is now clearly breaking its own rules as it is not only proposing more pylons but whole new routes across some our finest landscapes including Dedham Vale in Suffolk, Snowdonia National Park, the Lincolnshire Wolds and the Mendip Hills.
Denmark buries 18 per cent of its high voltage cables while Britain manages just 6 per cent. Surely landscapes as beautiful as ours deserve better?
Shaun Spiers
Chief Executive, Campaign to Protect Rural England
The Ukip vote
Sir: Were I leader of the Conservative party, I have no doubt that Peter Hitchens (The Spectator Debate, 27 March) would be denouncing my ‘irresponsible ivory tower libertarianism’ in his column every week. However, I am at one with him regarding David Cameron. If the Conservatives lose the general election, it will be the fault of them generally and him in particular. He appears to think that he can just sit back and voice platitudes to get the people to vote for him.
I was Conservative and I am now Ukip. The Conservatives, to get my vote back, would have to be unequivocally opposed to the EU, immigration, multiculturalism, political correctness, petty bureaucracy and the health and safety obsession. The ball is in their court.
Mark Taha
Sydenham, London
Drama in Broadstairs
Sir: Ben West (Arts, 20 March) is correct about the state of regional theatre and his fears that it could get worse are prescient. Apart from the general dumbing down in educational standards that has not helped the situation, we have suffered in recent years by the virtual extinction of any theatre manager who thinks ‘commercially’ albeit knowing that live theatre does require subsidising.
However all is not lost. There are a number of people like myself who have been treated abysmally by the arts mafia because we still believe in putting on what the public wants to see, albeit with an occasional experimental art evening to test the water. If a theatre does not have a studio space, then it is very difficult to achieve green shoots.
I can assure readers that we in Broadstairs still produce sensible drama, new writing and even the odd folk night so kindly look at our website www.sarahthorne-theatreclub.co.uk. We are also greatly encouraged by Ed Vaizey’s blessing of our enterprise and I wish him and his party well if they are elected.
Michael Wheatley-Ward
Chairman, Sarah Thorne Theatre Club, Broadstairs
Suffer the children
Sir: Charles Moore’s comments regarding child abuse within the Catholic Church (The Spectator’s Notes, 27 March) are astounding. Is he really comparing a tipsy teacher or a student drug-taker with a child molester? Is the reputation of any corporate body to take precedence over the protection of the innocent? Forget the law and forget, if you will, punishment of the offender — the most normal and immediate response of any administration must surely be to remove any such offender from any environment within their jurisdiction to remove the possibility of a repeat offence. That the Church did not do so is to its eternal shame. For Charles Moore to even slightly defend this lack of action is to his discredit.
Geoff Roper
Sydney
Rude health
Sir: Ross Clark (‘Thank God for the NHS’, 27 March) is absolutely right in saying that we Americans will pay through the nose for healthcare following the passing of President Obama’s bill. And it won’t do us any good. Almost everything that is currently wrong with our system — and there is no shortage of problems — will be intensified by this latest reform.
Michael Brendan Dougherty
New York
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