Letters In Brief

Sir: According to Andrea Needham (letter, 23 June), "The only way to end the suffering of the Iraqi people is immediately and unconditionally to lift the economic sanctions." On the contrary, an alternative route to the same end exists. It is for Saddam Hussein to comply immediately and unconditionally with what the United Nations requires of him.

OLIVER KAMM

London WC1

Sir: Milton Keynes gets a negative press, as David Lister acknowledges before he adds to it ("Milton Keynes is one sexy city, say Gilbert and George", 23 June). He talks of "walking the city's soulless grid-designed streets". Should we have narrow, twisting, stinking, gridlocked streets, like London? Give me the "soulless" open spaces, the trees, and the wide grid-roads which take traffic quickly through town and away from pedestrian areas.

DONALD MacCALLUM

Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

Sir: It would be a pity if, owing to the modesty of his obituarist, one of Philip Thody's most widely known works were not to be mentioned. Faux- Amis and Key Words (Athlone Press, 1985), co-authored with Howard Evans, who wrote the obituary (21 June), is an erudite, practical and witty guide to the pitfalls and mysteries of speaking and understanding French. One would expect it to be in the pocket of every British Eurocrat and in every British second home in France.

NICHOLAS JACOBS

London, NW5