I still have the commemorative coin presented to me at school by Lambeth borough council to celebrate.CYNDI MARKLEIGHTON BUZZARD, BEDFORDSHIRE Serious crime Sir: One point your leading article on the Serious Organised Crime Agency (4 April) failed to mention is that its existence destroys the rationale for the proposed mergers of police forces. Although Elizabeth became Queen in that year when her father died, her coronation was on 2 June 1953. Reports of so-called boycotts are without substantiation.JAYNE BASSHAMCHIEF PRESS OFFICER NESTL?UK LTD SURREY Queen’s coronation Sir: Question 1 of “Ten Questions” (The Games Page, 5 April) asks in which year was the Queen’s coronation The answer is given as 1952. Nestl?chieved top ratings in three key areas: policies on the provision of the WHO code; programmes to ensure the marketing of infant formula is in line with the code, and compliance and third-party verification measures.An annual survey of 200,000 people in 20 countries by GlobeScan found Nestl?o be among the top companies spontaneously named as socially responsible, particularly in the developing world. This found that Nestl?ar outperforms competitors in having the most detailed policies and mechanisms to comply with the WHO code. We do not advertise or promote infant formula in the developing world; we do not give incentives to health workers to promote our products; we do not have pictures of babies on our packaging; and we do not give free supplies to hospitals unless requested to by governments in very special circumstances.GES Financial Services, northern Europe’s leading analysis house for socially responsible investments, made an independent report on the infant food industry and the WHO code.

Finally, when these low-paid workers retire they are unlikely to have a private pension, so the state would have to support them for a couple of decades in their dotage.It is highly unlikely that the Exchequer would gain financially from an amnesty of illegal immigrants.DAN DENNISDEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH Baby milk in the developing world Sir: I am writing in response to remarks made about Nestl?nd “its alleged role in promoting powdered baby milk in the developing world” (“Anita’s £652m sell-out”,’ 18 March) .Nestl?ollows all countries’ implementation of the WHO Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes 1981, which sets out the ways in which baby milk can be marketed. Many illegal immigrants are working under false identities so have tax and NI deducted automatically by employers; those who do not pay tax are unlikely to volunteer to do so.With regularisation would come an increase in demand on unemployment benefit, tax credits, the NHS and so on, all of which would cost the state money (which the IPPR fails to take into account). Pressure groups did it with homophobia and feminism so surely we should be able to do it with regard to ageism.It is up to us to re organise our culture and prove that it is possible to live as vital, attractive beings, not dour waxworks. Let’s begin the great age debate and make sure worthwhile ideas are turned into practical, energising means of worthwhile living.JANET HOWDLONDON SE1 Children start school too early in life Sir: The education consultant Sue Palmer confirms what holistic educators have been saying for years, that children can’t be expected to learn to read and write unless they can first speak and listen (“How art of conversation between parents and children has died”, 3 April).There are many reasons for this, but a major one is the Government’s reduction by stealth of the school starting age, meaning that children as young as four are having far less time to develop the requisite foundational skills before they are haplessly forced into developmentally inappropriate formal learning.Until sanity is injected into the system, with children starting formal schooling at six to seven (routine in Steiner education and much of continental Europe), this malaise in child behaviour and learning will continue , no matter how many desperate “initiatives” our clueless politicians throw at the problem.DR RICHARD HOUSERESEARCH CENTRE FOR THERAPEUTIC EDUCATION ROEHAMPTON UNIVERSITY LONDON SW15 Costs of amnesty on illegal immigrants Sir: The Institute for Public Policy Research’s claim that giving an amnesty to illegal immigrants would net the Exchequer £1bn (report, 31 March) is based on simplistic assumptions. So it is up to us now to reform societal perspectives and improve life.

But access to care is not enough:; dignity in care must be the standard setting.LIAM BYRNECARE SERVICES MINISTER DEPARTMENT OF HEALTHSir: Your leading article (27 March), is right that the NHS is not solely to blame for the carelessness society shows older people, but as the place where the most vulnerable people of any age congregate in large numbers, its attitudes mirror and highlight that of society as a whole.If behaviour toward older people is the result of a tectonic shift in societal attitudes, then catastrophe theory dictates there is no going back. The Treasury estimates claims could amount to £7bn because they stretch over three decades.Yet the claimants reckon the amount is in the region of £100m to £2bn due to technical restrictions on what can be claimed.Chris Morgan, the head of the EU law group at KPMG, said: “[It] was an unlawful, unrelievable, double tax on foreign profits suffered by UK parent companies. Yet we don’t damage the environment by existing, we damage it by consuming. In which case, a fairer, more effective alternative to infanticide, war or bird flu would be to limit individual incomes. I suggest £5,000 per person per year, confident Mr Harris will be the first to volunteer for this scheme.JASON MADANSHEFFIELD Dignity in care must be standard Sir: As principal users of the NHS, older people have been the principal beneficiaries of our record NHS investment (“The great betrayal: how the NHS fails the elderly”, 27 March).We know 100 per cent of all hospitals that treat stroke victims now have specialised stroke services, there has been a five-fold increase in cardiac treatment for the over-75s, a 29 per cent increase in cataract operations and a 19 per cent increase in hip replacements.There have also been significant increases in health-prevention measures for the over-65s, with increased breast screening, flu vaccination and smoking cessation.We have also had major investments in community services with delayed discharge from hospital cut by more than two thirds and we have met our target on supporting older people to live independently at home. Second, as a conservation charity, our carbon-balanced programmes are linked firmly to the preservation of biodiversity.It is unrealistic to think people will stop flying. And although technological improvements to reduce reliance on fossil fuels look promising, we are a long way off a time when hybrid cars are affordable for all.

At present, protection and expansion of forests, our major carbon sink, is essential and it would be foolish to rule out carbon offsetting as a useful contribution to combating climate change.JOHN BURTONWORLD LAND TRUST HALESWORTH, SUFFOLKSir: I note that the Government intends to offset the costs of all their flights by making a payment to agencies working on reducing carbon emissions in developing countries (report, 4 April).Does this mean the UK taxpayer will pay twice, once for the trip and again for the offset? I would much prefer many trips were not made, or that cabinet ministers and senior civil servants paid the offset themselves.BRYAN BAXENDALEALDERSHOT, HAMPSHIRESir: Bob Harris (Letters, 5 April) claims population growth is the single biggest cause of climate change. By protecting and regenerating forests we will be helping to counterbalance this effect.Unlike some other offset providers, the World Land Trust’s carbon-balanced programme first aims to ensure businesses and individuals requesting offsets are given comprehensive advice on reducing their emissions. But he is mistaken in thinking there is no place for carbon offsets. Destruction of forests and the associated release of carbon through burning and decomposition accounts for a quarter of all anthropogenic carbon emissions. Against the siren call of the biofuelophiles, which temptingly intimates we don’t actually have to change our lifestyle to survive as a species, we in the Green Party say true green solutions to the huge threat of climate change involve reusing old vegetable oil, small-scale biomass burning for heating, installation of solar-heating systems, erection of wind turbines, investment in wave and tidal power systems, implementation of energy-efficiency measures, and reducing demand for energy (by taxing airline fuel fairly, and by introducing a carbon rationing scheme to reduce unnecessary air and road transport), and not industrial-scale biofuels.CLLR RUPERT READ AND CLLR ANDREW BOSWELLNORWICH GREEN PARTY, NORFOLKSir: I am in complete agreement with Duncan Law (Letters, 3 April) that emissions reductions are essential if we are to prevent the devastation that climate change will cause.