Ed Caesar's attack ("How is mise-en-scene used to create atmosphere on Blind Date" 16 August) is typical of the ignorance which prevails about what A-level media studies is actually about.Most UK citizens in the 21st century get much of the information they they need to function from the mass media and young people learn the values of the society around them from consuming media products. If you ask the general public what it likes in the arts, don't expect the high-brow and obscure, expect the pleasantly familiar.JEROME COOKCANVEY ISLAND, ESSEX Media studies vital for our democracy Sir: As a teacher of A-level media studies I am used to the annual outpouring of derision upon the subject I teach. Just as with the BBC's Big Read, the general public is encouraged to choose what paintings or books it likes, only to be put down by critics because Titian or Madame Bovary does not make it onto the list.What is wrong with The Fighting Temeraire or 1984? These are things that are familiar and endearing to the general public; and it is frustrating to be patronised by some critic after being asked what I like in the first place. Fear of terrorism is the cause, which I am working to overcome, with the Metropolitan Police, Transport for London and many others across London.The LRC's linking of their sales decline with the congestion charge does not help efforts to encourage people to visit central London by the most practicable means, which will remain public transport, partly funded by a congestion charge set at an appropriate level.KEN LIVINGSTONEMAYOR OF LONDON CITY HALL LONDON SE1 Sneering at the people's taste Sir: It's very snobbish of Tom Lubbock to sneer at the peoples' choice of paintings ("Are these our 10 best paintings?", 16 August). In fact, 90 per cent of central London visitors come by public transport.
Furthermore, since the congestion charge increase, there have been only 1,000-2,000 fewer cars per day paying the congestion charge.So the 9 per cent sales drop has nothing to do with the congestion charge increase. Defensive carping by the likes of Mr Buerk do nothing to help reach this equilibrium.JENNY WESTAWAYMEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER, FAWCETT SOCIETY JANE CUSSONS CHIEF EXECUTIVE WOMEN IN FILM & TV LONDON EC2 Don't blame road charge for sales drop Sir: The London Retail Consortium claims that the recent drop in sales, as a result of the terrorist attacks, is "compounded by the 60 per cent increase in the congestion charge" ("London retail sales plunged in aftermath of bombings", 16 August). On the creative side, only 12 per cent of British films were directed by a woman last year, and even worse, their share of the aggregate budget was only 3.6 per cent.Choose any walk of life and there will be a statistic to show the balance of power is still very much with men. However, the crux of the matter is not that one sex wants to vest power from the other, it is that both sexes should be equal, in partnership with each other. Within the media, whilst there certainly have been a number of women in "big jobs" at the BBC, the notion that "almost all the big jobs in broadcasting were held by women" is blatantly untrue. The subliminal damage caused by suggesting that the "shift in the balance of power between the sexes" has gone too far should not be underestimated.Organisations such as Fawcett and Women in Film & TV are constantly battling the myth that in today's society men and women are equal They are not. Only 20 per cent of MPs are women, only 2 per cent of executive directors of the FTSE-100 are women and the hourly pay gap between the sexes stands at 20 per cent for full-time workers and 40 per cent for part-timers.
Since "the evidence of climate change has become too stark to ignore" it is incumbent on us all to make difficult lifestyle changes.Will you now dispense with your travel and motoring supplements (and pages advertising low-cost air travel and performance motor vehicles); remove the travel link from the top of your web pages or at least those pages recommending travel to destinations only reachable by air; ditto the motoring link; and stop wrapping your Saturday edition in a plastic bag.DR DAN MELLEYLONDON W10 Balance of power remains with men Sir: Whilst everybody is entitled to ride their own hobby horse, it is disappointing that somebody as well-respected and influential as Michael Buerk has chosen such a dangerous one. The frequency with which you address global warming is entirely appropriate to the seriousness of the problem. British journalists do a better job, but The Independent has been a cut above the rest. But that would simply be the real cost of doing those things in a sustainable manner, rather than relying on polluting technologies but passing their cost on to society as a whole.In the meantime, I fear that at some point it must become a cruel joke to raise hopes over each new "sign" that America is going to take action on global warming. Until some obvious disaster occurs, we can pretend that there is still time to "prevent" global warming, but it is probably already too late.
