I was determined not to return to it and realised that what I wanted to do was read history at university.
Padre Martineau knew the university world He had had a distinguished career at Cambridge. He set out to build my confidence that I could do it and succeeded. Sir: I knew Bishop Robert Martineau (obituary, 3 August) when he was a chaplain with the RAFVR in what was then Southern Rhodesia He was the best chaplain I encountered in the services. I came from a working-class background: my family did not believe that university education was for the likes of us and I was forced to take a clerical job in local government. They cut off his head and brought it to the Parthian king as he was enjoying a recital of Euripides’ Bacchae. The actor took on the role of Agave, who tears his son to pieces, and cradled Crassus’ head while singing a Bacchic song of triumph.Mrs M LANCHHarrow on the Hill, Middlesex. Sir: The study of classics may be in decline, but it would be encouraging if journalists got their classical references right.

Anne McElvoy (“Never underestimate a rich man’s anger when forced to resign”, 9 August) confuses Croesus (king of Lydia in the mid-sixth century BC) with Crassus, a Roman millionaire of the first century. And the eastern empire against which he campaigned was the Parthian one, not the Persian

The parallels with Geoffrey Robinson are interesting. Crassus stood surety for some of Ceasar’s vast debts in 62 and was rewarded two years later with a place in the unofficial First Triumvirate, along with Caesar and Pompey the Great – a rich man plus a populist politician and a seasoned general.
The historian Sir Ronald Syme commented: “The lust of power, that prime infirmity of the Roman noble, impelled him to devious paths and finally to dangerous elevations.”But presumably Mr Robinson need not expect as grisly a fate as that of Crassus The Parthians trapped his army at Carrhae in 53. The RUC had to admit that there had been no weapon on which to base a case. The men are pursuing compensation for wrongful imprisonment, with one claiming actual physical assault by RUC interrogators.Until we get even-handed reporting of events in Northern Ireland, Hitler’s dictum will prevail that a lie repeated often enough unchallenged will come to be accepted as the truth.ARTHUR VALENTINEEdinburgh. Sinn Fein were duly suspended from the talks, neatly evening up for the suspension of the UDA’s representatives after a spate of sectarian killings in Belfast.
Six months later, with no press conference, flourish or mention even in the mass of the media this side of the water, the charges against all three men, including membership of the IRA, were thrown out and they were released.

Had he checked, with his claim of being privy to reliable republican sources, he would have known that he was dead wrong. At the time of the talks which preceded the Good Friday Agreement, the RUC Chief Constable, with great flourish, called a press conference at which he announced that three men, IRA members, had been charged with the murders of two drug dealers and that he had forensic evidence, including the weapon used, with which to implicate the IRA. Even Fidel Castro is not exempt from criticism.SABINE STEELWinchester. Sir: Fergal Keane repeats the canard that “Sinn Fein has previously paid the price for the IRA’s involvement in two murders” (“What kind of peace process ignores the Provos’ murders?”, 7 August).

And yes, people are becoming more outspoken and open in their criticism of their government. This means rationing even of staple foods such as rice and beans, empty shops – except bakeries – access to a doctor, but no available medication in the “peso pharmacies”, old ladies begging for money to replace their worn-out shoes, children begging for writing utensils (I shall never forget the expression of joy when I gave a schoolboy my pen) and everybody constantly asking for soap.And yet, most Cubans manage to be friendly, although I did detect not only welcoming smiles on people’s faces, but also resentment and anger at their divided society. This allows them to be part of the “dollar economy”, able to shop in well-stocked dollar shops and even buy prescribed medication in dollar pharmacies. In short, they manage to live decently.
The “have-nots” have to live within the “peso economy”.