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The fact that moss and lichen thrive upon the stone slab is simply in keeping with all the other roofs situated within the locality, and as for the idea of a "craft renovation" (whatever that may entail), Morris must be turning within the grave. What comes after that, a signposted "Morris Heritage" route from the M40 and a gift shop at the churchyard gates?MICHAEL MURPHYChesterfield, Derbyshire. The tactic was to warn the village headman to desist his depredations on pain of having no village to return to; warning was always given of the impending attack and casualties thereby avoided.ARTHUR SPEAKMANSamlesbury, Lancashire. Sir: My experience of visiting the grave of William Morris at Kelmscott contrasts hugely with that expressed by Dorothy Biltcliffe (Letters, 28 August). At the time the country was plagued by inter-tribal raiding, which it was our duty to curb. The British Army had an impossible task: the nature of the country ensured that slow-moving columns could never come to grips with the raiders, who in any case - in the way of guerrillas of all ages - merged undetectably into the local population. What the Royal Air Force proposed was that they could better achieve the object by air action; it would also be considerably cheaper Events proved the proposition correct.

Sir: Patrick Cockburn, in his critique of the military action against Iraq (4 September), refers to the "bombing into submission" of the Iraqis in the 1920s. Isn't that the point you are making in your profile of the Asian and Afro-Caribbean students ("Pupils can expect to do better and better in exams, unless they are black. Why?", 6 September).However hard they try, however skilled and compassionate they are, teachers can only remedy a few of the deficiencies of the home and history of their charges.KEN CLARKBedford. Their forefathers were probably taken as slaves from the same tribe, the Yoruba, to the West Indies. The difference in self-esteem and span of attention was striking. The Yoruba boys were proud of their language, culture and history.

That pride and a firm family structure made them excellent students.Their distant cousins, however, had been subjected to a slave plantation ethos, had forgotten their original language and culture, had lost their family structure and had a veneer of Englishness which hindered rather than helped their learning.With the best intentions and the best resources, I and my colleagues could not make amends for their history. From 1960-1962 I taught Yoruba boys in a school in the western region of Nigeria; later, in England, I taught Afro-Caribbean boys and girls. Sir: What was Suzanne Moore trying to say ("The post-racist bubble bursts", 6 September)? She seems to be a victim of the myth that schools and teachers can successfully counter inadequate social and family backgrounds. The only economic clout available to vulnerable wage- earners is unified solidarity, and as a last resort the withdrawal of labour.IAN FLINTOFFLondon SW6.

This fear is the direct result of legislative changes over the past decade and a half. What were regarded as basic democratic rights (the right to withdraw one's labour as freely as one might sell one's shares) were simply outlawed by a government that had declared war on "the enemy within". Most people would share your view that we should be paid "according to our talents and negotiating tenacity" but this is likely to be weak indeed when new graduates take work in un-unionised, pittance-paid burger bars.The prime raison d'etre for trade unions is what it always has been when the worst excesses of grasping capitalism go mad (as they surely have in recent years). Many would prefer to have precarious and poorly paid work than no work at all, and many know that even the suggestion of unionisation could cost them the job. Sir: Your criticism of trade unions (Leading article, 9 September) is not quite fair: at least one reason for the fall in union membership is plain fear on the part of employees. Far better for changes in the law to attend the movement of sensibility in society than to have courts bludgeon behavioural change. It will take many months, perhaps years, before the European Court adjudicates. It perhaps should take many more months, if not years, before British law moves to anything as drastic as a complete proscription of physical punishment of children by their parents..

The Tories must be feeling very uneasy. The last worm at the heart of the establishment has finally turned. Remember those Smiley people we once accused of undermining Labour governments and of propping up the privileges of Conservative elites? Not any more. One MI5 adviser has attacked the Government for encouraging organised crime.