This post was originally published on this site.
Poetic licence
Sir: As a Welshman well-used to the prejudice and insults to which our ancient language and its speakers are often subjected, I read Lloyd Evansâs article (âLanguage barrierâ, 5 October) with some trepidation. Mercifully, my fears were allayed by a generally even-handed summary of some of the thorny issues that inspire debate in much of north-west Wales.
I confess that I have never understood why so many Englishmen seem to treat as a personal insult the existence of a language of such noble and ancient pedigree on the shores of the British Isles, or why its continued usage in everyday life should inspire such consternation. I have always found my native tongue and its literature to be endlessly fascinating, and the daily pleasure of reading, writing and conversing in Welsh to be thoroughly enriching. Its poetic vocabulary and syntax, which vary pleasingly among the many dialects, is surely one of the glories of British culture. I was relieved that Evans steered clear of the sniffy disdain that is so fashionable among the Anglo-Saxons.
I was disappointed, however, to see the myth perpetuated that Welsh is an unusually difficult language to learn. My French brother-in-law, the speaker of fluently erudite Welsh and a student of Russian, Arabic, German, Italian and Finnish, tells me that Welsh compares rather favourably.
Puzzlingly, Evans also suggested that we Welsh struggle to agree on the correct pronunciation of place names. The various ways in which it was alleged that my hometown of Tywyn (in whose handsome church may be found an 8th-century Welsh inscription) can be pronounced came as news to me. Its spelling, though, is a matter of long-standing controversy.
Ceri H. Jones
Tywyn/Towyn, Meirionnydd
Feeling the heat
Sir: The Department for Energyâs tweet ridiculed by Matt Ridley (âPower crazyâ, 5 October) actually contains an element of truth in a quite restricted sense, but when you look at the full picture it is misleading.
It is actually true that the amount of heat delivered to your home can be greater than the electrical energy put into the heat pump. This does not contravene the First Law of Thermodynamics (conservation of energy) as the heat drawn from the colder exterior constitutes an extra input to the system.
Nor does it violate the Second Law. This places a theoretical limit on the fraction of disordered energy (heat) that can be converted to ordered energy (work, or electrical energy), as in a heat engine or gas-fuelled power station. When you run a heat engine in reverse you have a heat pump, and here the heat delivered at the higher temperature can indeed exceed the input of ordered (electrical) energy. But the factor of three requires very favourable circumstances: it drops off sharply for sub-optimal installations and for cold outside temperatures. On average for UK combined-cycle gas power stations, only around 50Â per cent of the heat energy is converted to electrical energy, and around 10 per cent of this electrical energy is then lost in transmission to the consumer. By contrast, almost 100 per cent of the calorific value of gas is delivered to the domestic consumer. Added to this, the cost of a unit of electrical energy is around four times that of gas.
Dr Kevin Richardson
London SE13
Office politics
Sir: Bruce Andersonâs âAbsent friendsâ (Drink, 28 September) reminded me that when I became proprietor of this magazine (1975-1980), I met Nicholas Elliott at the bar of Whiteâs and he asked if he could come and see me in the office. I agreed. He turned up in a trilby and brown macintosh, which he took off on arrival before he looked around the room and said to me in a solemn voice: âCan I rely on you as one of us?â I immediately agreed and said âOf course.â He replied, âThatâs all I want to knowâ, got up and left.
Henry Keswick
Oare, Nr Marlborough, Wiltshire
Trade up
Sir: Matthew Parris identifies AI as a threat to middle-class job security, speculating that tradesmen might have better prospects in the future (âTwilight of the pen-pushersâ, 28Â September). His observation is two decades late. A motivated chap who fixes the chips on your windscreen already earns 50 per cent more than a university professor; a good plasterer, plumber or electrician, twice as much; a qualified bricklayer, three times as much. This is nothing to do with AI: when the profit in making new things declines, the labour to fix old stuff gains a premium.
James Gillick
Louth, Lincolnshire
Stage fright
Sir: Richard Bratby mentions in his review of the new production of Eugene Onegin at Covent Garden (Arts, 5 October) that âother opinions are availableâ, and I would respectfully like to add mine. Attending the opening night, we were amazed to see that the opera was staged without scenery. Occasionally a member of the cast would bring on a kitchen chair, and one scene was enhanced by some mats, but apart from the arrival of two tables and some balloons in the second half, the cast unsuccessfully strove to create an atmosphere on the empty stage. All credibility was lost when the slain Lensky got up and walked off stage with a cheery wave.
Kay Bagon
Radlett, Hertfordshire
Bad line
Sir: Inspired by James Waltonâs review (Arts, 21 September), and as a weekly commuter on the West Coast Main Line, I watched Nightsleeper with bemusement. I couldnât understand why the plot required a phone signal blocker to prevent mobile phone use. It is nearly impossible to carry on a conversation on the line due to the poor signal, so any additional terrorist interference would be barely noticeable.
Andrew McLean
Glasgow
Age-old argument
Sir: I enjoyed reading Cosmo Landesmanâs City Life column (28 September), but I would suggest to him that he think again about growing old gracefully. Each age can be annoying and embarrassing for society. Toddlers have tantrums in public, teenager sulk, young adults can be conceited and the middle-aged patronising, so why canât the aged be allowed to be grumpy old men and women? I will continue to ârage, rage, against the dying of the lightâ.
Sheila Berger
Bern, Switzerland
Hit the brakes
Sir: My father taught us to drive with an imaginary glass of water on the dashboard (âNotes on Tramsâ, 28 September). We were to brake as little as possible, and try to stop imperceptibly. A Vauxhall I owned had a blue brake-check light in the instruments which went out the first time you touched the brake pedal on every trip. I once cruised down the A74 and M6 from Glasgow for two hours and 20 minutes without braking, the blue light glowing â though that might be harder today. My brother refers to me as âthe Rolling Roadblockâ for some reason.
Mike Wells
Ickwell, Bedfordshire
Write to us: letters@spectator.co.uk