One can imagine what would have happened if the soldiers instead of the policemen had come upon the rioters while they

One can imagine what would have happened if the soldiers instead of the policemen had come upon the rioters while they were pillaging Bayonets would have been used instead of truncheons … Sir: Tony Heath (letter, 2 September), suggests that I offered an inaccurate account of the Rhondda troubles of 1910. More recently, Gulf war soldiers had no reason to be concerned about multiple vaccinations.Did they have the full information?. It may be that only one of the authors of the relevant article in The Lancet suggested separate vaccines, but it was only one doctor who blew the whistle on the Bristol surgeons, only one scientist who insisted that BSE was a problem.
My mother and father were told that it would improve their health to have all their teeth out Shoe shops were advised that x-ray machines were harmless. I am the father of an eight-week-old baby and I can assure her that my wife and I are only too aware that we are responsible for her health, not my GP.

It is offensive to label us pejoratively as “the chattering classes” and to assume that we are incapable of judging the merits of newspaper articles. Provided that what is being shown is consensual heterosexual sex the actual actions are not illegal in any part of the world – what may be illegal is the showing of them, and showing them to people who do not want to see them is certainly not a good thing.
Pictures and films of explicit sex should be judged by asking, “What would I think if I had been told that these actions had taken place?” If I were to be told that a couple had gone to a room down the corridor from my hotel room, taken off their clothes and copulated, I am sure that my reaction would be “So what? People do.”Pictures of women being raped or beaten are in the same category as the child pornography: they are evidence of a crime, and the criminals should be prosecuted.. They deserve support, not condemnation, for the efforts they are making.. Sir: Gilbert Adair’s paradox (“When pure logic is plain absurd”, 5 September) is similar to “The Unexpected Hanging”. A man is sentenced to be hanged within the next seven days, but is told by the judge that the day of his execution will come as a surprise. He reasons that he cannot be hanged on the seventh day, because if he lives through the first six days then he will not be surprised to die on the seventh.
Having ruled out the last day, the logical slide begins and he rules out execution on the sixth day by the same reasoning.

He can then work through the entire week and comes to the conclusion that he cannot be hanged during that week and be surprised as the judge had said.He is executed on the seventh day and he is, of course, surprised.. Sir: It is vital to remember that the child pornography which is being “censored” on the Internet (“Make it safe but keep it free”, 4 September) is actually the record of crimes being committed. These crimes, which would still be crimes if there were no photographs, should be pursued as vigorously as possibly

With “ordinary” pornography, the situation is different. Or do they turn away from timber, concerned by articles in The Independent and other newspapers, and choose alternatives – a PVC door, an aluminium window – which will have a far more damaging environmental impact than wood?The Timber Trade Federation’s environmental timber purchasing policy is a practical way of making progress with timber producers who, in tropical regions, often operate under very difficult technical and social conditions. Sir: The letter from Dr Sarah MacDermott regarding the MMR vaccine and parents not having their children immunised (3 September) displayed the kind of patronising attitude that is partly to blame for the problem. However, the FSC-certified timber available is but a tiny fraction of the UK’s annual requirement.What are consumers to do? Wait until sufficient FSC certified material becomes available? Hardly a practical proposition.

We welcome any realistic initiative which helps build consumer confidence in timber. Alternatively, they can continue to purchase these timbers and use their economic influence to introduce improved forest practices. This may well take five to ten years of gradual improvement.The Timber Trade Federation has no problem with forest owners choosing to pursue Forest Stewardship Council certification. So whilst nursing may be a profession, it is also important to remember that being a nurse is a vocation of hands-on tough work, and there are now two of them serving as representatives in Parliament.. Sir: Your report about endangered tree species (26 August) mentioned the problem of illegal logging but not the efforts being made to improve forest management and the efforts of the UK timber trade to ensure that imported timber comes from legal and well managed sources.

Tropical timber producers are committed to introducing sustainable forest management systems by 2000. The UK timber trade promotes an environmental timber purchasing policy, signed by about 100 companies, which requires signatories to seek documentary evidence of legal and well managed forest sources.
Consumers in the UK have a choice They can boycott tropical timbers. This will decrease the economic value of the timber industry in those countries and their ability to invest in improved forest management and replanting. The forest will have less economic value and the incentive to clear for farming increases.