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Your support makes all the difference.Lord Coe has lost any understanding of what sport is about by suggesting that anyone should take drugs to reduce their performance. That the relationship between the amount of a drug and its effect can be quantified to the same extent that athletic performance can be measured is pure fantasy and the morality of either diminishing or enhancing a person’s performance through drugs is morally questionable at best.
As a young male athlete in the 1960s I managed to perform creditably alongside elite athletes. While I never achieved representation at international level, I trained seemingly as hard as those that did. I still have friends who achieved international representation and bear them no animosity whatsoever but, for the purpose of my comment about Lord Coe, would point out that several are built like gazelles with very little intermuscular fat and little tendency to put on weight.
They have bone-length ratios and a distribution of body mass which is better suited to success in the athletic competitions – and who knows what other inherent differences of lung, heart and circulatory system favour them. I probably have lesser but similar advantages over those I was able to beat. Winning medals and possibly money is presumably very satisfying but so is training to achieve ever-improving personal performances and enjoying the sheer exhilaration of top-class fitness. In the final count there are only a few winners and a multitude of losers.
Sport is surely not about using drugs to level the playing field. Sport is about improving the body not abusing it. What next, do we get the Kenyans and Ethiopians to carry weights, cut an inch or two off their legs or force them to give us a headstart?
Dr David Rhodes
Wollaton
Irony of ironies: the world of athletics, which strongly and forcibly condemns athletes who take drugs to enhance their performances, now rules to force athletes to take a drug to suppress that which nature has bestowed in order to have a “level playing field”. Will all athletes be testosterone tested to ensure “fairness” for all competitors?
The Court of Arbitration’s decision (supported by Seb Coe and others) against Caster Semenya is wrong and discriminatory.
James Bell
Belgium
Harking back
On Saturday 13 May 1995 The Independent published a letter I wrote regarding the cases of the MPs Roddick and Tredinnick. I argued that by denying the rights of defence that a High Court or Crown Court would offer them the Commons Privileges Committee had acted as a de facto kangaroo court. I also argued that there was a great need to bring MPs fully under the rule of law, so that a government with a small majority could not prevent legal action in the courts against acts of corruption or serious ethical misconduct.
The prime minister Theresa May by her conduct in the case of her former defence secretary Gavin Williamson has denied him justice and the rights of defence that a court of law would offer him. She has recently been admonished twice by the speaker of the House of Commons for her contempt of parliament. It is now up to parliament to demand justice for Gavin Williamson in a court of law. Theresa May must not be allowed to get away with acting as judge, jury and executioner behind closed doors when a possibility of a serious breach of the Official Secrets Act may have taken place. Otherwise the old adage “Plus ça change, plus c’est la meme chose” will win the day to the great detriment of parliament.
Dr John Beaven
Chard
We can be a world leader in dealing with climate change
Brexit has highlighted the challenge facing 21st-century Britain. We don’t rule the waves, the map is no longer red and the clock can’t be turned back. However, perhaps we can lead the way in green energy, pollution and waste reduction, energy efficient construction and other “green” initiatives.
Whether we like it or not Britain is not, nor ever will be, an economic, military (thank God) or political world leader but, with some courage and commitment from politicians with vision, we could lead the world in saving the planet. That would be some legacy!
Alistair Wood
Oswestry
The Committee on Climate Change report calling for the UK to become carbon neutral by 2050 is to be commended. In particular it is pleasing to see a focus on planting trees. There is a tendency for politicians to put their faith in mythical technologies as the solution to climate change. Technology has achieved so much, why shouldn’t we believe that capturing massive amounts of carbon is possible?
This view represents a huge risk, on a generation-defining issue. Waiting around, simply hoping that our best scientific minds can think their way out of this is unconscionable.
The funny thing is, if one is to look out your window, the solution already exists. Do you see a tree? Numerous peer reviewed scientific studies have shown rewilding to be a proven carbon capture technology, although to different effect across varying terrains. For example, vegetated coastal habitats have been shown to have a carbon capture capability 40 times that of a tropical rainforest. Not only is rewilding proven to have worked, it is also cost effective and who wouldn’t like to see a more vibrant countryside in the UK?
Alex Lingham and Rory Peliza
Bristol
Is the Lib Dem surge a sign the young have forgiven the party?
The good showing by the Lib Dems in the local elections suggests that they are no longer viewed by voters as a damaged brand. This distinction has now passed to the Tories and Labour given that their losses are said to reflect what voters think of them at a national level.
The Lib Dems were undoubtedly helped by their record in local government and unequivocal opposition to Brexit. But another reason for their return to favour must be the realisation that their coalition with the Tories in 2010 did at least provide “strong and stable” government, necessary to tackle the economic crisis at the time. And, if voters had returned many more Lib Dem MPs in subsequent general elections, we’d almost certainly not be in the sorry mess that we’re now in.
Among younger voters in particularly, the Lib Dem gains may be a sign of forgiveness for their naivety in agreeing to break an election pledge not to raise tuition fees. An increase for which they have long been attacked, often unfairly. Especially by Labour who introduced and then trebled the fees in the first place.
Roger Hinds
Surrey
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