Only one hunt of any type can exist in any given area and 70 per cent of the country which includes just

Only one hunt of any type can exist in any given area, and 70 per cent of the country (which includes just about all the suitable areas for drag-hunting) is already apportioned to existing drag hunts.Thus in my area the Surrey Union hunt, of which I am a member, could only turn to drag-hunting if the Kent and Surrey Bloodhounds agreed to close down and hand over their territory. Anyway, if hunting is banned his sale value would collapse and I wouldn’t be able to afford a replacement anyway.It is often blithely said that hunts themselves would “switch”. Like most fox-hunters, my horse would not be suitable for drag-hunting and I would not sell him to buy a more expensive drag-hunter. One can go fox-hunting or sailing on a comparatively modest budget at the bottom end of both sports (which is where most of us are), but power- boat racing and drag-hunting require a serious outlay of money at the outset for just the basic equipment.One insurance proposal I received for my horse put drag-hunting in a higher risk category than “ordinary” hunting, alongside polo. Drag-hunting is

too expensive
Sir: Paul Bell (letter, 18 June) proposes drag-hunting as an alternative to fox-hunting. There are a number of reasons why this won’t happen.It might be possible for an individual to move from one to the other, but drag-hunting is to fox-hunting what power-boat racing is to sailing.

The decision to create an Astronomical Technology Centre in Edinburgh cannot be popular with everyone, but I do urge the minister for science and technology to make this tough decision quickly for the benefit of British astronomy.Professor ALAN WATSONPro-Vice-ChancellorUniversity of Leeds. Last February my committee had to reduce the expenditure on the Ground Based Telescope facilities by pounds 7.3m (nearly 10 per cent) over the four-year period from April 1997.This forced the recommendation that UK support for three telescopes (the UK Schmidt, the Carlsberg Meridian telescope and the JKT) should be withdrawn, along with cuts in the development programmes on other telescopes, including the world-class Merlin radio telescope at Jodrell Bank.To maintain both RGO and ROE at their present levels is not feasible. Regrettably this will also lead to the run-down of the Royal Greenwich Observatory at Cambridge, as the possibility of continuing to maintain both facilities is unrealistic.PPARC would have to close more telescopes and reduce much necessary development on the facilities that we have left. All in the party should now unite around him.Sir BRYAN NICHOLSONKingswood, Surrey. Scottish choice

for astronomy
Sir: I write, as chairman of the Ground Based Facilities Committee of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, to express my agreement with the views put forward by Professor Rowan-Robinson (Letters, 12 June).I believe that the location of the PPARC Astronomical Technology Centre at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh is highly desirable. Ken Clarke’s clear lead in all the polls of opinion will be further strengthened. That broad basis of support will enable him as leader to carry through a radical review of policy and structure.

Many of us have been crying out for an inclusive not an exclusive approach, and this is what today’s [18 June] events show Ken Clarke will genuinely provide.Principle will not be compromised, indeed it will be enhanced, when strong individuals join together in common sense. Call it a pro-European version of splendid separateness, or call it sceptical realism – after the Amsterdam summit, it starts to look like progress.. Tories must

unite behind
Ken ClarkeSir: John Redwood’s support for Ken Clarke affirms in the clearest terms his ability to unite the Conservative Party. Such success does not come easy: Gordon Brown’s problems with the sterling exchange rate are probably only just beginning. It would remain a logical consequence of commercial integration. But above all, the Blair government can offer its success – showing the Italians, the French and the Germans that national reforms within a European framework can reduce joblessness, enhance growth and foster trade on the basis of stable exchange rates.