Rigorous studies carried out some years ago by Bonn University revealed that dishwashers typically use far less water than does manual washing. Since then, dishwashers have become even more efficient in terms of water use (and also power and detergents). Recent research in the UK and elsewhere shows that the consumption of water per cycle in a modern dishwasher is less than a third of that used to clean the same amount of soiled items by hand, typically about 18 litres compared with 63 litres. This assumes, of course, that the dishwasher is fully loaded, properly stacked, not pre-rinsed, and set on the right programme. So it’s sad that UK households have one of the lowest ratios of these ecologically friendly appliances in western Europe.

ROGER COOPER COSTA BRAVA, SPAIN Life in England, as viewed by the Dutch Sir: Recent letters (1, 2 & 3 March) about the facility of the Dutch with languages remind me of a holiday I spent there some years ago. When I congratulated our hostess on the excellence with which she, her husband and their two young boys talked to me in near-flawless English she explained that they acquired their knowledge of languages from the TV programmes they could receive. She went on to tell me, too, how they also gained their impressions of other nations’ lifestyles from soaps: the Americans came across as over-indulged, ruthless adulterers; the Australians as beach-loving hedonists, while the English inhabited depressing, run-down inner cities and spent much of their time in dingy pubs – the womenfolk with their hair in curlers and rarely out of aprons. HOWARD BICKNELL LANCASTER Westminster wind farm Sir: Campaigners against wind farms throughout Britain will be cheered by the rejection of the Whinash site in Cumbria (3 March). Here in Northumberland we feel powerless in the face of commercial interests which, with government support, can make local objections useless. Our wild and open spaces are currently threatened by industrial installations on a massive scale. Keep them near industry, or off-shore, but preserve our landscapes for posterity.

The best spot by far is over Westminster, where a plentiful supply of hot air should ensure highly efficient usage. DR MARGARET LEWIS HEXHAM, NORTHUMBERLAND Sir: To paraphrase the poet Wordsworth, “My heart leaps up when I behold a windmill on the hill”. To me these elegant structures are uplifting and symbolise working along with nature rather than destroying it. I am a lover of the landscape and I welcome the windmills with open arms. There may be a problem with birds but if we continue with our present attack on nature the damage to all wildlife will be far greater. JENNY CHAMBERS LEWES, EAST SUSSEX Women on trial Sir: While bemoaning the double standards facing women, Janet Street-Porter ( “She has let all of us women down”, 2 March) only adds to these. A disgraced male would not be held as representative of his sex, and told his few actions had let down half the population.

In placing expectations on women “to operate on a higher plane” Street-Porter illustrates her own hypocrisy. LAURA DIX LONDON W13 Sir: Janet Street-Porter tells us that “women don’t need equality – we are the superior sex, and should aim higher and be paid more than men.” Really? Does she also think that white people should be paid more than black people? Christians more than Muslims? Straight people more than gay people? I’m sure she doesn’t. So why does she find it necessary to single out men for such prejudice? Ms Street-Porter obviously feels it’s OK to do exactly what I’m sure she would criticise coming from men – denigration of the opposite sex. STANLEY KNILL DUDLEY, WEST MIDLANDS Jowell’s separation Sir: Presumably Tessa Jowell will now be able to prove that her financial affairs are separate from those of her husband by announcing that she is not intending to have them considered in any future divorce settlement? DR ANDREW GREEN BURSTWICK, EAST YORKSHIRE Wagner’s wars Sir: It may be that Francis Ford Coppola increased the popularity of ‘The Ride of the Valkyrie’ by using it in Apocalypse Now, (“A ten-minute guide to the Ring Cycle”, 1 March), but German newsreels showing parachutists dropping from Junker 52s over Crete in 1941 were accompanied by the very same piece of music Plus ?change! S U SJOLIN BURY ST EDMUNDS SUFFOLK Doomed… well, sort of Sir: So “The curse of Oliver” is it (3 March)? One actor dies 16 years after being in Oliver, two others take nearly 40 years to pass away, one doesn’t do very well in America and another becomes an osteopath. They don’t make curses like they used to, do they? PETE BARRETT COLCHESTER. In gently rolling countryside, not far from a tranquil lake, Chew Magna is the quintessential Somerset village.