This unlikely coalition is no more likely than the miners and the disaffected youth of Brixton to bring the Government to its knees. Some of the reversals of left and right since the Eighties are none the less piquant. To have The Daily Telegraph defend unlawful disruption by truckers brings back memories of left-wing commentators wringing their hands over picket-line violence. So far the Labour Government has induced the Barbour-clad countryside to march on London, and the lorry-drivers to block Park Lane.

IT IS instructive to define a government by its enemies: Margaret Thatcher brought the ban-the-bombers and trade unionists on to the streets to protest, and stimulated the poor and disadvantaged to riot. Gosh.As one who hasn’t needed a comb for years, incidentally, I firmly believe that the only proven link in this area is an inverse relationship between hair and IQ.ALEX GALLOWAYLondon SE6. Anyone who didn’t believe that would either refuse to take part or would make up their answers to please (or fool) the questioner. So the research tells us that of those who believe that appearance is linked to intelligence a significant proportion believe that appearance is linked to intelligence. LETTER:

Blonde bombshell
Sir: So people make snap judgements about women’s intelligence based on their hair colour, do they (“Dumb blonde image is alive and well”, 10 April)?This emerges from getting 120 people to rate a model for intelligence, among other attributes, from pictures in which she wears different coloured wigs. But the only people who could honestly participate in such an exercise are those who believe that appearance has something to do with intelligence.

It is just this type of charge reduction that lies behind the decision of many defendants, having elected jury trial, to change their plea to guilty.To seek to limit the right to jury trial will only serve to reinforce the police in their racist charging practices and leave many black defendants vulnerable to unfair convictions before magistrates.Professor LEE BRIDGESDirector, Legal Research InstituteThe University of Warwick. This is the tendency – well documented in Home Office and other research – for black people to be “over-charged”, only to have the charges against them later reduced or dropped when they plead not guilty and elect for jury trial. No sooner has the ink dried on the official response to the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, than the Home Office has restarted its whispering campaign to limit the right of defendants to elect jury trial (report, 3 April).Such a move would severely undermine the efforts of black defendants to fight one form of institutional racism in the police. LETTER:

Juries and race
Sir: The Government’s commitment to an anti-racist criminal justice system has hardly lasted more than a few weeks. Letter: `Good’ teachers’ pay

Sir: It is a scandal how often schools avoid appointing teachers who are well qualified and experienced, but have reached the top of the pay scale, because it saves thousands of pounds if a probationer is taken on instead.
Similar cash limits will be placed on the number of teachers awarded extra money for the quality of their teaching – therefore all those who deserve the money will not get it, because heads will make sure that the money does not come out of their current account expenditure.Teachers will cease to share expertise, arguing that it is foolish to aid someone else to achieve a higher salary at the expense of their own chances.JOHN SCHOLFIELDMarket Deeping, Lincolnshire. If the World Trade rules do not allow this then they must be changed. The only argument against this is that biotech companies might suffer.Which is more important – their profits or our future?MARTIN HUGHES-JONESGreen Party Agriculture Working GroupTiverton, Devon.