Letter: Publish the scientific facts on beef

Sir: George Walden is quoted as saying "anyone who has doubts [about the Government's strategy] should speak out" ("For beef, Major and St George", 28 May). I don't have doubts; I am dismayed by the popular support for this disastrous and counterproductive "strategy". It isn't a strategy, because a strategy aims at a long-term objective, and the obstructive policy being pursued at present by the Government is anything but long-term in its objective - unless it be the re-election of a Tory government. Obstructing public business is a form of secondary picketing and inevitably provokes retaliation in a battle with consumers which our government cannot win.

CHRISTOPHER G. TURNER

Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire