Letter: A bull by the horns

Sir: There is something obscene about your photograph of a matador derisively biting the horn of a near-dead bull which is too weak to retaliate. ("In the corridas of power", 22 August).

The bravado of matadors, who pit themselves against animals which have already been weakened by darts driven into their shoulder muscles by mounted picadors, has little in common with the spontaneous, selfless bravery of really courageous men in the face of unexpected danger.

Much is written about the mysticism and complexities of bullfighting, but pictures like this, showing a matador's contempt for the disadvantaged and vanquished animal, expose it as nothing but a bloody and inhumane money-making spectacle.

Mrs JOAN HAGGARD

Harpenden, Hertfordshire