Ricky Ponting’s stirring knock deservedly won him Man of the Match honours. But in the outstanding performance category, I want to nominate the Old Trafford crowd Patriotic, fervent and totally involved Yet magnificently fair and appreciative. What we Brits have lost since we joined Europe in 1973 is precisely the wonderful mix and match of languages and culture which every other EU nation relishes so much – and which makes them more rounded and cultured folk than we are.PHILIP SHAKESPEARELONDON W11Sir: Following on from Mary Dejevsky’s excellent article “Why bother to learn another language?” I would like to point out the consistent disservice being done by mainstream television. You can’t truly understand the poetry of Lorca, the humour of Moli? and Cervantes, or the brilliance of Goethe without knowing their languages.

Languages are perceived as difficult subjects and are difficult to teach well, but we do have the capability to learn. What is missing is the motivation.The decision to make languages optional at 14 sent a clear message that they are not important and has encouraged headteachers with an eye on the league tables to offer choices that are more likely to provide students with the all important Grade C at GCSE.However, Mary Dejevsky points out that “in today’s utilitarian terms” languages are not perceived as economically important Nothing could be further from the truth. Conversely, in cases like those of electoral fraud, judges have often professionally applied laws whose purpose is to protect democracy, even when politicians seemed complacent.GARY SLAPPERPROFESSOR OF LAW THE OPEN UNIVERSITY MILTON KEYNES We really do need to learn languages Sir: Mary Dejevsky’s analysis of the drop in students studying a foreign language is sound (“Why bother to learn another language?”, 16 August). It would clearly be nonsensical to allow the politicians themselves to judge whether a policy of theirs in fact transgresses existing legislation.Members of Parliament are given a mandate by their electorates but neither being returned as an MP nor being elevated to the Cabinet affords a licence to execute policies inconsistent with established law.To cast elected politicians as necessarily democratic, and judges as unaccountable and counter-democratic, is to make a false dichotomy. In respect of democracy, both groups have done good and bad things.

Politicians, for example, have over history passed much counter-democratic legislation. It is of elemental importance that those who make them in the legislature should not also themselves adjudicate on whether those rules have been violated by a policy. If a policy on something like asylum or curfews is alleged to be in breach of democratically passed legislation, then the matter must be settled in a law court. I believe that a large majority would, provided they felt there was indeed some chance that they would then live in peace.PHILIP HOROWITZLONDON N8 When the judges uphold democracy Sir: In the current debate between politicians and judges (“Judges respond to political onslaught”, 11 August) it is clear that some politicians profoundly undervalue the principles of the rule of law, and the separation of constitutional powers.Rules are the lifeblood of democracy. They could have, like New York, subsidised an offer of half-price theatre tickets and two-for-one meals, and dropped the congestion charge, just as people were returning their tickets and cancelling their dinners They’re now planning it for September But it’s too late.

Even apart from the question of return to pre-1967 Israel, a significant number of Palestinians, as well as the al-Qa’ida leaders, do not accept the continued existence of Israel in any form.Further, Mr Giles is disingenuous in stating that many in Israel would not find such a settlement acceptable. The first eye to evolve in chordates happened to be back to front, and although to reverse it would be beneficial in the long term, the intermediate steps would cause a deterioration of sight and would have been at a selective disadvantage.On the other hand, consider the cephalopod eye. The retina is engineered the “right way round”: the light detecting cells face into the eyeball so that photons reach the photoreceptors directly. Why did the “intelligent designer” give a mollusc a better eye than a man? If this designer is so intelligent why couldn’t it do the job right in the first place? Intelligent designer? Ham-fisted DIY bodger more like.R WHITTINGTONLOUGHBOROUGH Price of peace in the Middle East Sir: Peter Giles (letter, 17 August) says that a settlement between Israelis and Palestinians involving the withdrawal of Israel to its 1967 frontiers would not be acceptable to a large and influential section of Israeli opinion, and that anything less would not be acceptable to the Palestinians.From opinion polls I have seen, the overwhelming majority of Palestinians would not accept such a solution.