How they got it right on 54BC and all that | Brief letters
Forecasts that the Muslim population of the UK and other European countries could increase substantially by 2050 (Report, 30 November) presuppose that all children of Muslims will grow up to be Muslims. While many children inherit their religious beliefs from their parents, others read widely and reason for themselves. Some of those children will follow other religions, or no religion. How many people of Christian heritage in the UK are Christians? How many Britons of Muslim heritage will be Muslims in the year 2050?
Dominic Rayner
Leeds
" I am delighted David Boyle (In Brexit, as in war, the lions are being led by donkeys, 29 November) praises the brilliant but neglected book On the Psychology of Military Incompetence, by the late Norman Dixon. It should be read by all ministers and Whitehall mandarins as well as Sandhurst cadets. The chapter headings offer clues to the author's thesis - and their contemporary relevance. 'Bullshit', Authoritarianism, and Mothers of Incompetence are just three of them.
Richard Norton-Taylor
London