Letters: Like Churchill, President Zelensky has inspired his country to heroic resistance

SIR – In 1941, at the height of the Second World War, Winston Churchill made a historic speech to the United States Congress. On Wednesday, at the height of a tragic war involving his beleaguered nation, President Zelensky addressed that same legislative assembly (“Zelensky shares ‘Churchill moment’ with Biden”, report, December 22). 

Nancy Pelosi, the outgoing Democrat speaker, acknowledged this historic precedent, and increasingly – in his eloquence and power to inspire – President Zelensky does indeed remind us of Churchill who, in the words of President John F Kennedy, “mobilised the English language and sent it into battle”.  

Ukraine’s leader has, with his own language, surely embarked on a similar mission, which has inspired his people to heroic resistance to Russia’s illegal invasion. May he and they, with continued support from the world’s democracies, carry on to a victory over a dictator such as Churchill witnessed in 1945.    

John Kidd
Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia

Parishes paying the price

SIR – The Most Rev Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York (Comment, December 18), perpetuates the common misconception that the central Church of England pays for parish clergy and maintenance of churches. 

It may literally pay the wage bill, but it claims this and more back from the parishes through the “voluntary” parish share or common fund. So it is in fact the local parishes and communities themselves who raise the money for their clergy and building repairs through plate collections, planned giving and endless fundraising.

Indeed, our small rural village church (regular congregation of 12) is billed more than £20,000 per annum by the Diocese of Oxford for our wonderful part-time vicar who does not even receive a stipend, merely free housing. And this is before our dwindling congregation has even paid an electricity bill or started much-needed repairs on our roof. All the while the Diocese of Oxford sits on assets that totalled £523 million at the end of 2021. 

The Church of England is in serious danger of killing the golden goose, and an honest discussion of this is long overdue.

Helen Savage 
Chesham, Buckinghamshire 

SIR – The Rt Rev Martyn Snow, Bishop of Leicester (Letters, December 18), extols the virtues of new minister communities, but this venture is seen by members of traditional parishes as unlikely to achieve the missional presence that he suggests. Across the land there is a fundamental disconnect between the traditional parishes and their dioceses. 

Hidden behind this so-called democratically approved scheme lie some unpleasant consequences for the traditional parishes in the Diocese of Leicester. The number of stipendiary priests available for spiritual and pastoral roles – the lifeblood of the Church of England – will be significantly reduced. This will leave, at the very most, three vicars for each of the 20 or so minister communities proposed. Each will consist of about 12 current parishes. The only way that such a system can survive is to remove vicars from existing, self-sustaining, traditional parishes and replace them with a dial-a-vicar system run from the diocese headquarters. Traditional parishes will lose their vicar. So much for the “missional presence” being maintained in every parish. 

There is money available to prevent the demise of parishes. However, as the Bishop points out, much of this is going on youth and intergenerational projects. In the meantime, traditional parishes are being starved of central support.

Professor R G Faulkner 
Loughborough, Leicestershire 

Tea physics 

SIR – Pre-heating a metal teapot is not unnecessary, as Francis Bongiovanni suggests (Letters, December 18). 

When making Indian or Ceylon tea, the water needs to be as near boiling as possible. Physics teaches us that things of different temperatures seek an equilibrium when brought together. A cold pot would rob the hot water of its ability properly to scald the tea when poured in. 

I also pre-heat the cup before putting in the milk, then the tea. This may not be how they do it at the Savoy, but it works for us in Lancashire.

William Smith
St Helens, Lancashire

Flexible working

SIR – A large proportion of people cannot work from home – probably the majority. Construction, manufacturing, retail, transportation, retail, distribution, plumbers, electricians, gardeners, cleaners – the list goes on. 

Those who can work from home should be careful what they wish for. It means someone overseas could do their job at a lower rate. 

The recent government proposals to make flexible working the default for employees put staff at the top of the agenda, with customers not even mentioned. One afternoon I phoned an organisation and was told that most of its staff work in the mornings. It was suggested I call back then. I didn’t. I took my business elsewhere.

Les Sharp
Hersham, Surrey 

Captain Sunak

SIR – Would that Rishi Sunak had the courage of Ben Stokes, the England cricket captain.

The country’s economic situation will only be turned around if our leader is prepared to follow his convictions and ignore the stale, self-interested rhetoric of so many in his party.

Christopher Wykes 
Cambridge

Morale in medicine

SIR – I was a young GP in the 1970s and 1980s, when things were simpler and seemed to work quite well, and forward thinking saw “preventive medicine” as a worthy aim to focus on. This very sound idea has been implemented to a high degree, but unfortunately now impairs the delivery of the always more important immediate treatment of acute conditions. 

Preventive medicine is a neverending activity. Its databases, algorithms and checklists keep ever-bigger computers insatiable. All health care workers and even dedicated data-entry staff are obliged to keep feeding them. Enormous measurable benefits really do come out of it but the unforeseen consequence is neglect of acute medicine, which is starved of resources. 

The process often requires the use of precious mental agility to make the data fit the rather stupid computer’s brain, and this is tedious and demoralising. It has sapped the energy needed by all staff to help those in immediate need and prevents the excitement and satisfaction that come from providing efficient acute care.

Can we please put preventative medicine on partial hold for a while to raise morale and efficiency to previous levels and get on with the real job? 

Douglas Jenkinson 
Gotham, Nottinghamshire 

Magic sprouts

SIR – Whenever my young children had guests to play at our house and I cooked sprouts for lunch (Letters, December 18), I would inevitably get: “I don’t like sprouts”. My answer would be: “Ah, but these are magic sprouts. Even if you didn’t like them before, you are guaranteed to like them now.” 

All sprouts were eaten.

Angela Jones 
Ascot, Berkshire

SIR – Our son, when a small boy, would not eat peas. I’d let him win a competition with me to see who could stick the most peas on a fork with mashed potato, which meant he ate the lot.

Mike Ellis 
Whangamata, Waikato, New Zealand

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