I am convinced sadly that the agreement at Dayton is an unjust bad

I am convinced, sadly, that the agreement at Dayton is an unjust, bad peace and, thus, is no peace at all. I hope that I am wrong, but I cannot see this as anything other than the defeat of pluralism at the hands of aggressive xenophobia. I can merely hope that the Western powers are willing to act as more than mere midwives for this bastardised creation, so that the ordinary Bosnians, of all religions and none, can have a chance.Yours etc.,Hugh MurnaghanLancaster. From Ms Vicki Hird Sir: One of the key issues not covered in the outcry over patenting of life forms ("Government gave animal patents", 21 November) is that of need. In addition to the ethical and moral concerns, surely patents should be considered on the issue of whether we actually need the products? Woollier sheep, or cows which produce obscene amounts of milk are not needed to feed the world - they are produced by companies wanting to be first in the race to make money on their "inventions". Smaller producers eventually find their market flooded with the new produce and consumers have little choice but to buy it. Sadly, turning companies' vast R&D investments towards more long-term solutions to major food or medical problems is an unlikely prospect.Yours sincerely,Vicki HirdSustainable Agriculture,Food and Environment AllianceLondon, SW122 November. From Mr Richard Dunstan Sir: Nirj Deva, MP, is quite wrong when he states that "most [asylum] applicants arrive from the troubled countries of Eastern Europe, Romania, Russia, Poland and Yugoslavia" ("Another View; "Fair and firm on immigration", 22 November).

In 1995 to date, asylum-seekers from these countries have accounted for a mere 11 per cent of all applications. Nigeria alone has accounted for a greater proportion of applicants. More than 80 per cent of those seeking asylum in the UK are from Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Currently, the principal applicant nationalities are Nigeria, India, Somalia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Algeria. That is why most, if not all, of these countries would eventually be placed on the Home Office's "white list".

Because putting countries such as Romania - which accounts for less than 2 per cent of applications - on the "white list" would not make much impact on decision times and the backlog of some 85,000 cases.But Mr Deva is right when he says that this is - or should be - a debate about "efficiency". For it is the inefficiencies of the Home Office, and its failure to make the 1993 Act work, that are the root of the wholly undesirable misuse of the asylum process. Falling productivity in the Home Office's Asylum Division, and a severe under-resourcing of the appeals mechanism created in 1993, have resulted in it taking an average of 18 months to process cases. It is these delays and backlogs that have created the incentive to make an unfounded asylum claim as a means of circumventing immigration controls.The Asylum and Immigration Bill is misguided and unnecessary. Its implementation would result in a serious diminution of the Government's ability to meet fully its obligations under international law. What is needed is a substantial improvement in Home Office efficiency, and a proper resourcing of the procedures established by the 1993 Act.Yours faithfully,Richard DunstanRefugee OfficerAmnesty International (UK)London, EC1.

From Mr John S L Edwards Sir: C B. Moynihan (ex-Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy) writes that "The power output of the average wind turbine is set to double in the next few years", but he does not say why. The reason is that the latest turbine proposals are for much larger turbines - there is no magic technological improvement, nor can there be, because the output of wind turbines is directly determined by the swept area of the rotor. The wind power industry, having gained a few outrageous consents for 300-350 kW turbines over the hills of Wales, Cornwall, the Yorkshire Moors, the Lake District and other beautiful places, is now trying to exploit that precedent by massively increasing the size of turbines.Here in Gwent, on a beautiful hill above Caerphilly, Mynyddislwyn, there is a planning application by Sir Alfred McAlpine for a "demonstration" 1000 kW turbine that is as high as a 27-storey building and has a rotor with a diameter the size of a 20-storey building. Even if all further wind power stations were allowed to use such monstrous machines, more than 12,000 would still be needed to produce just one-tenth of our annual electricity consumption.I do not believe the public will ever accept these thousands of turbines, visible on every hill from every hill. The Chinese winning goal came with just 27 seconds remaining, killing off a South African fightback in which they had equalised after going a goal down in two minutes. BILL COLWILL reports from Cape Town South Africa's dreams of returning to the Olympics ended here yesterday when they lost 2-1 to China. They join Canada as the second of the three teams who will miss out.Elimination was hard on the Springbok women.