Lincoln is not quite the right role model

http://www.theguardian.com/global/2015/mar/08/lincoln-not-quite-the-role-model

Version 0 of 1.

Martin Kettle seeks a British Lincoln (6 March). The latter as president deliberately started a war which killed hundreds of thousands of people by invading an independent state (Virginia/ the Confederacy) without any valid legal justification or authorisation (he refused to seek the judgement of the US supreme court). Perhaps Tony Blair is the man Mr Kettle is looking for.Alan SkedProfessor of International History, LSE

• The UK is rocked by sexual scandals and yet the BBC moralises on the atrocity in Delhi by claiming that this is a disease in Indian society (Editorial, 6 March). For the sake of balance, the BBC should at the outset say this is a worldwide problem in which Britain has one of the worst records. Where is the BBC documentary that looks into the harrowing tales of sexual abuse of that we have been hearing of almost everyday?Nitin MehtaCroydon, Surrey

• Am I ahead of the game? I have just been listening to a superb symphony by Florence Price, who was not only female (Letters, 6 March) but an African-American.Allan SaundersAldreth, Cambridgeshire

• And is the Guardian letterthon just open to the men? / (I had a letter published once. I can’t remember when.) / To close the gender pay gap will take just seventy years. / To close the gender letters-gap how long, ye Guardian seers?Margaret BeethamManchester

• As far as letters go / it’s good to know your slot / aiming for the lower page / keep them witty and keep them short.Kathleen ThompsonCambridge