- guardian.co.uk, Saturday September 18 1999 17.51 BST
So Kenneth Baker sits laughing in his Sussex village while the changes he made to Britain's education system - on the basis of guesswork and a whim (Political coup bred educational disaster, September 16) - leave our schools in a shambles. I spent the last 20 years in the US and I had forgotten just how hideous so many of our politicians are.
Whether in power (like Baker) or slithering along its edges (like Portillo), these smug, self-righteous, paragons of pomp wouldn't last a minute in the States. There's not a lot to be said for a president who lies under oath without even inhaling, but at least he feigns enough humility to treat his electorate as participants in a democracy, not serfs.
I suppose we occasionally vote them out of office or, when they really get silly, sling 'em in the slammer. But while Lord Baker giggles his way into dotage - what a lark it all was - we pay the price of his arrogance and vanity.
Malcolm Mottram Edinburgh
• Nick Davies laid to rest a minor mystery. A teacher friend acquired a puppy in the 80s. It quickly learned the usual litany of commands as well as a most unusual one for the sort of activity that conscientious owners buy a pooper-scooper for. Lest politicians think that their misdeeds are forgot, they should know that to this day, once in the morning and once in the evening, the fields of south Durham ring to the cry, "Baker, Baker", followed usually, but not inevitably, by, "Good dog".
Duncan Brown Greenside, Tyne and Wear
