IoS letters, emails & online postings (11 March 2012)

We are granddaughters of Walter Hurst, a crew survivor of the Titanic disaster (The New Review, 4 March). He jumped into the sea to scramble on to an upturned inflatable lifeboat with a number of other men including Second Officer Charles Lightoller, the most senior officer to survive the accident. Lightoller took command and the men managed to keep the lifeboat balanced. However, a number of men succumbed to cold and tiredness and slipped back into the sea. Walter suffered from severe frostbite in his legs. For some time, his wife Rosina was unaware he had survived as he had been wrongly named on the survivors' list.

Walter Hurst survived two further shipwrecks during the First World War, including that of the torpedoed Britannic in the Med. He continued to travel the world with the merchant navy. Later he worked as a stevedore in Southampton docks. He was treated for a heart complaint but would cycle to work. He eventually died at the age of 82, cutting down a tree for firewood.

William Mintram, our great-grandfather, also a survivor, was imprisoned for nine years (not three, as you said) of the 12 for which he was sentenced after stabbing his wife, Eliza. Your photograph shows not William's wife, as captioned, but his daughter, our grandmother, Rosina Hurst. She had just received a telegram telling that her husband, Walter, had survived the tragedy. She had previously believed she had lost both her husband and father.

Audrey Clark and Rosina Hamilton

Skipton, North Yorkshire

As the world celebrated International Women's Day last week, it was sobering to know that more than 70 per cent of the 1.5 billion people who live on less than $1 a day are female ("Where in the world is the best place to be a woman?", 4 March). Half of the world's girls are illiterate. Plan International, the global children's development agency, shows that educating girls is one of the most effective ways to bridge the gender gap, and also brings significant gains to their families and communities. Girls who stay at school beyond the age of 10 have fewer children and earn more than those who leave early.

With the generous support of the public, we are supporting Plan International's education projects in Laos, South-east Asia, where preschools did not exist until three years ago. Sama (meaning equal in Indonesian) will raise funds for community learning groups, and materials and training for preschool teachers in up to 45 villages. It won't end gender in- equality, but it's a good start.

Geoff Manchester

Intrepid Travel

London SW12

Your article "Poor, lonely and cold – over 60" (4 March) was shocking. Since retiring in 2008 I have made many friends, could be out every day, and for £8 a year: U3A – the University of the Third Age – is a brilliant organisation. We walk, cook and eat together, study local history, art, languages, or read plays. No one need be cold or lonely if you share each other's heating on rotation, and use a bus pass and library card. If you are rich in friends and keep mind and body active, life can be good.

Sally Penton

Winchester, Hampshire

"Were those huskies hugged in vain?" asks your leading article (4 March). No, because David Cameron is now the Prime Minister. Steve Hilton was his strategic adviser. Hugging huskies was a strategy. That you still credit either Hilton or Cameron with ever having had the slightest interest in the environment is testament to Hilton's skills. Cameron lied to us, and you bought it.

David Woods

Hull

The Association of Former Members of Parliament is furious at the banning of their "triple-plated 18-carat gold campaign medal" ("So you used to be an MP...?", 4 March). It sounds more impressive than that awarded to the Bevin Boys, young men conscripted to work in the coal mines from 1943 until 1948. Not in uniform, they were abused as conscientious objectors and, after the war, had no rights of return to their former jobs. It took Parliament 60 long years to approve their award.

Norman Duff

Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Matthew Bell claims that my becoming a QC means I have changed by mind about the QC system (Diary, 4 March). But I remain of the view that the QC system is against the public interest and should be scrapped. It does not include mandatory periodic re-accreditation and is not tied to areas of specialism. I am continuing to press for the introduction of proper quality assurance systems for advocates, now as a QC myself.

David Wolfe

London WC1

Following the proposal that Eric Sykes receive an honour from the Queen in this Jubilee year (Letters, 4 March), how about a knighthood for Ken Dodd, whose career has also spanned the length of Her Majesty's reign?

Tony Newton

Hale Village, Liverpool

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Letters to the Editor, Independent on Sunday, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5HF; email: sundayletters@independent.co.uk (with address; no attachments, please); fax: 020-7005 2627; online: independent.co.uk/dayinapage/2012/March/11