UR TV CAST

Pity therefore poor Mary Robinson, in London yesterday to mark her second month as the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights. Mrs Robinson, the former President of Ireland, was appointed to give the UN a louder voice in a field where, to put it mildly, it has not excelled

But yesterday that voice was curiously muted There was, for instance, no castigation for Algeria. Speaking out prematurely on human rights violations, she warned, could do more harm than good. Incidentally, in today’s church, beards are often taken to indicate a tendency to “happy clappy” evangelical theology. Is there any correlation between the hirsute members of New Labour’s team and their political yearnings?
The Rev PETER HATTONDroitwich Spa, Worcestershire. Idealism and realism.

They are the twin driving forces of diplomacy, and striking the correct balance between them is the very art of statesmanship. The bearded Jesus derives from a much later tradition of iconography. I gazed in horror at the slender fit people about me all convinced that they should shed a few more pounds.
P SPENCEEdinburgh. Sir: Bearded myself, I applaud Nicholas Schoon’s cogent defence of the facial follicle (11 November).

However, honesty compels me to point out that Jesus may not have been bearded. No portrait of the Lord exists, but some scholars point to pictures of near-contemporary Jews which show them clean-shaven, like most males in the Roman Empire in the early first century. I am not convinced that it will sell them many watches, but it is a breath of fresh air to have any advertising that does not demand that we worship the skeletal. I was shocked at the eagerness of fellow women at my aerobics class when “after-session weigh-ins” where suggested. Sir: I was encouraged to see Accurist’s advertisement wittily highlighting the absurd obsession we all seem to have with thinness (“A very thin line between glamour and starvation”, 8 November). On the other hand, they may not wish their image associated with an extremely expensive but legalised version of road rage.
JOHN ASHWELLEastleigh, Hampshire. If F1 is the big macho sport with the wide following it claims, other companies must be desperate to get their logos on the cars.

An elected mayor is just one way of achieving that.Lord HUNT OF TANWORTHHouse of LordsLondon SW1. Sir: The United States is eager to punish Saddam Hussein on behalf of the United Nations for his failure to observe UN rulings. Is it not first of all time to require the United States to observe UN rules and pay the dues for which it is in debt?

JOHN ROBERTS
Littlehampton, West Sussex. Sir: Peter Mandelson attempts to justify Formula One tobacco advertising (10 November). F1 sponsorship is 90 per cent weighted towards tobacco because this is the only way these companies can get their names on the screen. The important thing will be for individual councils to develop reforms which are suitable for their own authority and the people who live there.
Turnout at local elections is unacceptably low.

This will allow councils not only to draw up proposals for elected mayors and cabinet committees, as your article said, but also the possibility of backbench scrutiny committees and other forms of executive control. My Bill will give councils the opportunity to improve the way they do business in order to revitalise local democracy. As chairman of the House of Lords Select Committee on Relations between Central and Local Government (and as president of the Local Government Association) I was encouraged by the Government to introduce a Bill which would allow democratic innovation in local authorities in England and Wales. However, you confuse me with my namesake, who is a Liberal Democrat peer I am, in fact, a crossbencher.