Spectator letters: Indian soldiers, wigs, PR and 1984

We do remember them

Sir: I applaud Tazi Husain’s defence of the role played by Baroness Warsi at Westminster Abbey during the first world war and his own role in driving forward the Tempsford Memorial Trust (Letters, 23 August). But he is mistaken in believing that soldiers of the Indian army (and other Imperial forces) are not commemorated. The whole point of war memorials in the UK is to remember and honour the fallen of the town, village or institution that they came from, in that place. Few if any UK residents who fell in 1914–18 would have originated from the subcontinent. The proper place for such memorials would be their home towns in India (I use the word in its imperial, not current, context). However, he may be reassured that all fallen Indian and other Imperial troops are commemorated by name either in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery where they lie (or their ashes lie, in the case of Hindus) or on memorials to the missing such as the Menin Gate and the Neuve Chapelle Memorial. The latter is specifically dedicated to Indian soldiers who have no known grave and is architecturally based on Indian features. They have not been forgotten or ignored.
N.J. Ridout, Lt Col (Ret’d)
Ingham, Lincolnshire

Wigging out

Sir: Apropos Dot Wordsworth’s observations on the University of Bedfordshire’s recent advertisement for its law degree (Mind your language, 23 August), it is not only the use of an image of a gavel that suggests a certain lack of knowledge on the part of the advertising people. Keen-eyed observers will also note that the wig worn by the young lady in the advert resembles neither the bar wig nor the bench wig in use in English courts, but rather the one worn by the Prince Regent in Blackadder the Third. Perhaps the advert was originally intended to promote the university’s drama course?
Aidan Murray Crook
London N8