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Letters and emails Kazakh presidents human rights record
I continue to be astonished at the hypocrisy of both David Cameron and Tony Blair in their dealings with the Kazakh regime of Nusultan Nazarbayev. You correctly highlight the lack of human and democratic rights that exist there (Report, 2 July). I visited Kazakhstan last November as part of a trade union delegation to investigate the killing of oil workers at Zhenaozhen. The ocial number of workers shot in the back by the police and killed is 12, as you report. However, after speaking to eyewitnesses and survivors, I am convinced that the actual number of those killed is nearer to 70. This gure does not include those who, a year after the attack, are still too injured to work. Neither does it include those who were rounded up and imprisoned for the criminal oence of publicly opposing the regime by being on the square at Zhanaozhen. Many of these, including the lawyers who tried to defend them, like Vadim Kuramshin, are still held in Kazakh jails. The Kazakhstan state ocially sanctions the repression of any opposition elements. This ranges from threats and intimidation, right up to murder. The activists that I spoke to claim that the situation is getting worse. Blair and Cameron are experienced politicians who are acting as apologists for one of the most repressive and corrupt regimes in the world. Cameron shows that he is more interested in getting deals for the 1% than securing human rights for the 99% in Kazakhstan as in the UK. Trade unionists in the UK and across Europe will continue to campaign for human and democratic rights in Kazakhstan, many of us organised under the banner of Campaign Kazakhstan. Mike Whale Secretary, Campaign Kazakhstan
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Some decimal points went astray in an item about new EU rules capping the cost of mobile phone roaming charges. The cost of sending or receiving a text message within the EU has been capped at 0.08 (not 0.8) falling to 0.06 (not 0.6), by 2014 (Roaming prices cut, 28 June, page 40). An article about Theresa Mays plans for a 3,000 cash bond to deter high risk visitors from overstaying in Britain said the Confederation of British Industry had attacked the scheme as highly discriminatory and very unfortunate. It was the Confederation of Indian Industry which made those remarks (Clegg stalls bond plan to deter illegal working, 26 June, page 7). Jill Finney, former deputy chief executive of the Care Quality Commission was wrongly described as a former deputy chair of the organisation in a leader column (Take care, 25 June, page 30). Homophone corner: A recent switch to hydraulic breaks may well have stopped him going over his handlebars (Froome res warning shot to rivals before Bakelants claims his moment in the sun, 1 July, page 11, Sport). Further corrections and clarications on guardian.co.uk include: Climate change poses grave threat to security, says UK envoy, 30 June. Contacts for Guardian departments and sta can be found at gu.com/help/ contact-us. To contact the readers editors oce, email reader@guardian. co.uk including article details and web link; write to The readers editor, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU; or phone +44 (0)20 3353 4736 between 10am and 1pm UK time Monday to Friday. The Guardians policy is to correct signicant errors as soon as possible. The editorial code of the Guardian incorporates the editors code overseen by the Press Complaints Commission.
I would not object to an increase provided that the job as MP was their only employment.
Martin de Klerk
Pedalling soup
I am amazed and angered to nd that Nottingham University is charging parents 20 per ticket to attend degree ceremonies this summer (Report, 1 July). Most other universities Leeds and Birmingham, to name but two give two tickets to families at no charge. I hope this will not become a model to be copied by others. Gill Jewell Leeds Not only is Novak Djokovic (Tennis, 2 July) playing the best tennis at Wimbledon, he is the best mannered. He seems to be the only player to make eye contact with the ball boys and girls rather than simply chucking the towel back over his shoulder, as most do. Anthony Garrett Falkland,Fife David Cameron claims he was hijacked at the EU summit over Britains rebate (Report, 29 June). Where the hell were GCHQ when you need them? Glyn Ford Cinderford, Gloucestershire Marie Paterson bemoans the coverage of classical as apposed to pop music (Letters, 1 July) but at least pop music is performed by the composers, whereas classical music, with some exceptions, is usually performed by a tribute band, often known as an orchestra. Derek Middlemiss Newark, Nottinghamshire Bob Elmes (Letters, 2 July) asks what expenses married couples face that unmarrieds do not. The rst is the absurd cost of a modern wedding and the second, perhaps as a result, is divorce proceedings. Richard Gilyead Saron Walden, Essex Every stage of the Tour de France is gruelling (Letters, 29 June). Noel Cullinane Leeds When did annual roll over and become year on year? Francis Treuherz London When are professionals consummate? Isnt it to do with sexual intercourse? If so, how do I achieve that status? Peter Leach Mold, Flintshire
Country diary
Fracking worse
Your correspondent David England does a disservice to the anti-fracking cause (Shale gas promises could be hot air, 2 July). He says that methane is 200% worse than carbon dioxide as a global warming gas the correct gure is 2,000%. This means that a small leak from fracking wells will more than cancel out the so-called gain by using gas rather than coal. Each molecule of methane is approximately 60 times more eective as a greenhouse gas than a molecule of carbon dioxide. But, over time, methane is very slowly converted to carbon dioxide through oxidation processes in the atmosphere. Averaged over 100 years, this makes methane about 20 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, that is, about 2,000% worse than carbon dioxide. A research group at Cornell University has shown that it requires only 4-5% leakage from fracking wells to cancel out the gain from using gas rather than coal. Dr David Hookes Liverpool