Letters in brief

Sir: Hugh Lindsay (letters, 4 August) confirms many of the worst fears of those of us suspicious of the dogma of organised religion. His opening sentence chastises Father Pat Buckley for having "thought" about the teachings of the Church. Such audacity! A thinking Churchman? Next will be a truthful politician and there will be no end of problems.

NICK FULLER

London SE16

Sir: One way of dealing with athletes whose performances benefit from drugs would be to establish a special category for them. We could then have two sets of medals for any competition: one for those in the ordinary class and the other for those whose performance is chemically enhanced. I suspect that few, if any, of the latter would wish to accept the awards waiting for them, especially as they would be made of putty.

ROBERT VINCENT

Andover, Hampshire

Sir: Well done the grandparents who managed to entertain their grandchildren without spending any extra money on them (letter, 3 August).

I sometimes shudder at the organised lives modern children seem to live. Modern parents seem to think that they are not doing right by their children if they are not ensuring that they take part in all sorts of organised activities be it term time or holiday time. Some I know do something every night of the week.

Children, like adults, need space for imaginative play. To quote W H Davies, "What is this life, if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?" Could this be why we are seeing more and more bored teenagers?

JEAN REYNOLDS

Waterlooville, Hampshire

Sir: In view of the ongoing debate about Scotland's relations with other countries within the British Isles, should not every local library in England, Wales and Northern Ireland carry at least one major Scottish journal so that people get a wider picture than soundbites on television?

ANDREW J T KERR

Jedburgh, Roxburghshire