Yet the argument of some EU states – that, as an Islamic country, Turkey can never be part of Europe – is fatuous, ignores the similarities between Turkey and Muslim-populated EU countries, and contradicts the liberal values that the EU should be upholding.Now of all times is not the moment for the EU to retreat into its shell It needs to take on challenges, not shy away from them. The turmoil in Albania cried out for energetic EU engagement, not a response that amounted to throwing up the drawbridge and letting Albanians drown in the suffering of an unwanted corner of Europe.Last June the Czech President, Vaclav Havel, called on Europe “to rediscover, consciously embrace and in some way articulate its soul”. The EU can do these things and, in the process, regain its confidence and redefine its identity. Its mission lies in central and eastern Europe, where with determination, imagination and generosity, it will achieve results every bit as laudable as those it secured in western Europe after 1957.. Sir: I feel compelled to add a few instances to the long and deeply moving letter from Graham and Eleanor Wright (24 March) contrasting today’s world with pre-Conservative union troubles. Today the “piles of rotting rubbish” that one trips over in the street consist merely of discarded people, not (as then) of household waste.
(To be fair, the household waste did not ask us for money.)
London Transport will not be clear whether the Wrights’ claim that “state monopolies have crumbled” alludes to the physical state of the system or to the fact that disruption of service is no longer a trades-union monopoly but has been made “stable and competent” on a daily basis in the good cause of keeping the “lowest basic tax rate” down.C CURRIELondon N17. Sir: We wish to take issue with Polly Toynbee’s assertion that because one third of women have not yet decided how to vote they are “floating and dithering” “silly moos” who “don’t care about politics … and don’t want to know” (“Women, the forgotten voters”, 24 March). Our research, which she referred to, shows clearly that women care deeply about many pressing social and political issues and that their perspectives on a range of mainstream policy areas are being ignored by all the major parties.
Our report, What Women Want on Politics, is based on a survey of 10,000 women’s views and detailed analysis of party policy.
It suggests that when women are asked what they want, rather than asked to comment on existing political agendas, the issues they prioritise are significantly different from those highlighted by the parties.Polly Toynbee finds it hard to forgive that many (older) women vote Tory. Yet the more important point (and the one politicians are finding difficult to accept) is that none of the parties is fully reflecting women’s concerns, and that asking the way a woman votes does not necessarily say much about what she really cares about.Moreover, to lay responsibility for the poll tax, Europhobia, privatised fat cats and poverty at women’s door does us an injustice when those policies emanate from what remains an overwhelmingly male political system offering an ever-reduced political choice.The puzzle remains: if politicians are concerned about wooing female voters, why are they so unwilling to address them directly, and admit publicly that women still face inequalities in many aspects of their private and public lives?SUE TIBBALLSCHARLOTTE ADCOCK.The Women’s Communication CentreLondon W6. Sir: Andrea Cook (letter, 21 March) argues that the discounting of gas charges for direct debit payers, and the consequent fact that those using pre-payment meters pay more for their gas, is the unacceptable face of competition I disagree. It is standard commercial practice for retailers to discount charges to those who buy large amounts and/or pay by direct debit. It is appropriate that businesses charge customers a price that reflects the true cost of servicing those customers, encouraging an efficiency of operation that benefits us all.
It is emphatically not the job of businesses or their regulators to second- guess the Government on social policy as to which sections of the community are most deserving of subsidy. It is the case that this logic results in higher prices for utility services to those on lower income. Hence the fuel cost element in social security benefits should be increased.PAUL GARDENLondon SW19.
