Dismantle and recycle that oil platform :LETTER

From Mr Gerald Mark Kandler

Sir: It is a sad indictment of our society that, in the same week as Brian Appleyard writes an excellent article concerning the spiritual bankruptcy of our money-worshipping culture ("Money makes the world go away", 14 June), and on the same day that it is reported that pounds 450m has been wasted on an unnecessary road in London's Docklands (report, 16 June), you defend the dumping at sea of the Brent Spar on the basis that it will save a multinational company pounds 34m ("Greenpeace, right or wrong"; leading article, 16 June).

Do you not see the irony in this, or can such potential damage always be passed off on monetary grounds? The extension of your argument is that to save relatively little money, all environmental pollution and damage are acceptable so long as profits are preserved.

Yours faithfully,

GERALD MARK KANDLER

London, N3

16 June