EOIBD / C1 / Writing / Opinion and argumentation / Letters to the editor

Letters to the editor

Language and structure
Opening (Closing)

Dear Sir/Madam (In case you dont know the name Yours Faithfully)
1
Dear Mr X (Yours Sincerely)

Reason for writing (Who I am (not the name!), What I want, When and Where it happened)

I am writing with regard/reference to (the article which appeared when/where) to express my concern
about/disappointment with/dissatisfation with/disapproval of/support in favour of ...

Body (2/3 paragraphs Points from input material)

Firstly/To begin with/Moreover

In fact/Furthermore/In addition/Finally
(I feel) I must also (dis)agree with
I would like to point out that
According to your (article)/ Your (article) states that
Action Step/Desired outcome

I trust/very much hope you will (publish this letter in the next issue of your newspaper / magazine)
I would appreciate it/be grateful if you would
It seems only fair that you should
I look forward to receiving/seeing
In light of the above

Linking Words:

Addition furthermore, in addition to, in the

same way as, moreover, similarly

Opposition although, however, nevertheless,

nonetheless, whereas

Reference in all cases, in general, in many cases,

in most cases, in some cases,
regarding, with reference to

Cause and effect (result) accordingly, consequently, on the

whole, therefore, thus, unfortunately

Listing firstly, finally, in the first place,

secondly, lastly
 EOIBD / C1 / Writing / Opinion and argumentation / Letters to the editor

Purpose of letters to the editor

The purpose of a letter to the editor is to express your individual views about a current issue. Letters
to the editor are published in nearly all magazines and newspapers. Anybody can write a letter to the
editor, but generally, the composers of letters to the editor are those individuals who are passionate
about particular and topical issues.

Tone

2
The tone can be informal or formal, depending upon the publication in which it is to be published.
This is because the audience is the readership of any given publication. A letter published in The
Economist is likely to have an extremely formal tone, whereas letters to the editor published in
the Sydney Morning Herald have various tones, dependent on the audience that the composer of the
letter is targeting.

Features of a letter to the editor

A letter to the editor is an expression of opinion on a topical subject (usually one that has
been recently published in the publication to which it has been written).

A letter to the editor is a persuasive text, with the aim to express views to a wider public.

Effective letters to the editor rely on fact as well as opinion.

Letters to the editor are often responses to articles from the particular publication, or to other
letters to the editor.

Hints for writing effective letters to the editor

The secret to writing good letters to the editor is to combine persuasive language with well
researched evidence.

Short, concise letters are more likely to be published than longer, waffling letters (around
200 words is a good maximum length).

While some letters to the editor are composed in an informal tone, keeping a formal tone will
help your letters to carry an air of authority.

If you compose a letter to the editor on a subject that you know very well, be careful to not
use jargon and technical terms unless you are absolutely sure that your intended audience
will understand them.

The use of the first person is standard for letters to the editor.

Persuasive techniques are necessary for this task. You are trying to persuade people to see
your point of view. This means that you can use a tone that is outraged, happy or interested.
It also means that a number of persuasive techniques can be employed.
 EOIBD / C1 / Writing / Opinion and argumentation / Letters to the editor

Sample letters to the editor

Spectator letters
17 January 2015

The misguided bid to turn Alan Turing into an Aspergers

3 martyr
Im all for giving more respect to people on the autistic spectrum but not because theyre
special
10 January 2015 Toby Young

Sad professor
Sir: Toby Young has uncharacteristically failed to recognise that the Turing ofThe Imitation Game is a new
example of the time-honoured mad professor (Autism and the Turing fallacy, 10 January). We see this
type in the endless repeats of The Big Bang Theory, in which the character Sheldon Cooper demonstrates
all the characteristics of this Turing: rudeness, vanity, naivety and intellectual brilliance.
I note there was also a recent successful TV adaptation of Professor Branestawm, much-loved eccentric
boffin of my youth. Then there is Back to the Future, with Christopher Lloyds memorable performance as
the mad genius and DeLorean-loving Dr Emmett Brown. I dont think theres any call for outrage merely
because The Imitation Game isnt as funny as these other works.
Wynn Wheldon
London NW6

When did we become a nation of police informers?

I thought telling on friends, even for drink-driving, was contrary to our culture. It seems I was
wrong

10 January 2015 Matthew Parris

Sneaks on the line

Sir: Matthew Parris worries that we have all turned into sneaks (10 January). I enjoy Graham Norton as
well, both as an agony aunt in print and on the radio; but I suspect that the holier than thou reaction
about whether or not to report to the police someone who has had too much to drink at a dinner party is
due more to the type of person who phones in. I reckon if you ask a random 20 Brits in the street, you
would get the more mixed and liberal response Matthew Parris was expecting.
Annabel von Hofmannsthal
Somerset
 EOIBD / C1 / Writing / Opinion and argumentation / Letters to the editor

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Government-regulated

health
By THE WASHINGTON TIMES - - Thursday, December 4, 2014
Ever heard of the term "iatrogenic"? No doubt your doctor is familiar with it. It means caused by your
doctor during procedures, diagnosis, the administration of drugs, whatever. The third leading cause of death
4 is medical treatment. If you just consider the drug component, it ranks fifth as a cause of death. Before you
congratulate President Obama for attacking this scourge to human health, though, maybe you better consider
how this could be.

Drugs, medical treatment and food are the most regulated items in the U.S. economy. The U.S. government
determines what drugs you take at what doses, establishes directly or indirectly via subsidies (Medicare,
Medicaid and now Obamacare) the types of treatment and procedures, and has basically done a wholesale re-
engineering of the nation's food supply.

Forget cultural norms applying to food consumption, self-remedies or being anything other than brain dead
when subjecting yourself to your doctor, who has been trained to be a drug salesman in most cases. This
applies to medical procedures, risky or not, when connected to a government subsidy. Even the government-
funded research has been flushed down the federal toilet in a vain attempt to justify the corruption extending all
the way from the Harvard faculty to the halls of the National Institutes of Health and the board rooms of the
largest food and drug companies.

If you are still breathing at the age of 80 it will be a testament to the robustness of the human body to withstand
the government-mandated abuse that has been visited upon it over the past 50 years.

SAMUEL BURKEEN

Reston
 EOIBD / C1 / Writing / Opinion and argumentation / Letters to the editor

Letters to the editor New York Times

To the Editor:

Re Council Explores the Woes of Hailing a Taxi (news article, Dec. 4):

The profound influence of Uber and other taxi apps may foster overdue fairness for those New
Yorkers who encounter racial or destination discrimination when hailing a taxi. But so far, another
5 group wheelchair users is served poorly by the apps.

Our members in New York City report little success in getting accessible taxis through apps, and Uber
has fought accessibility requirements in Washington, Houston and other cities.

Ultimately, all taxis should be accessible and all apps should accommodate wheelchair users. In the
meantime, though, the City Council and the Taxi and Limousine Commission must fight hard to
make sure that wheelchair users arent left at the curb.

EDITH PRENTISS
Chairwoman, Taxis for All Campaign
New York, Dec. 8, 2014

To the Editor:

Re Architects of C.I.A. Interrogation Drew on Psychology to Induce Helplessness (front page, Dec.
11):

As president of the largest association of American psychologists, I and my fellow members are
outraged, saddened and pained that two psychologists allegedly devised and engaged in brutal
interrogation methods. They inappropriately and with disastrous effect tried to apply a classic model
of learned helplessness to torture detainees.

Regardless of whether it is an effective interrogation technique, torture is unethical, abhorrent and

morally reprehensible. That two psychologists and their company allegedly received $81 million from
this perversion of psychological science is shocking, and another reason psychologists as a group are
horrified.

The two psychologists identified in the Senate committee report are not members of the American
Psychological Association and are therefore beyond the range of our ethics enforcement program. But
regardless of their membership status, if the allegations are true, they should be held accountable for
inexcusable violations of ethical principles and legal standards.

There is no place in the field of psychology for people who are not respectful of human dignity and
committed to human rights.

NADINE J. KASLOW
President
American Psychological Association
Washington, Dec. 12, 2014
 EOIBD / C1 / Writing / Opinion and argumentation / Letters to the editor

Letters to the editor from The Star (Toronto,

Canada)
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors

Re: Premier seeks review of new prostitution law, Dec. 8

6
I was thrilled to see that, in a very courageous act, Premier Kathleen Wynne is asking
her attorney general to research the constitutional flaws of Stephen Harpers new anti-
prostitution law.

The law has been widely denounced as harming the very women who are said to be
protected but it nevertheless became law this week. Canadians are in desperate need of
an independent and objective look at this major piece of criminal legislation, which in
typical Harper government fashion manages to combine harshness with
ineffectiveness.

In the past, sex workers themselves and community groups have had to raise the funds
and spend the energy needed to challenge harmful laws. These penniless groups can
hardly be expected to mount another long constitutional challenge so soon after seeing
a victory at the Supreme Court turn into a legislative nightmare.

And I hope the Ontario review is accompanied by broader efforts to show Canadians
that other, much better laws, could have been implemented in Canada.

The federal government failed to properly consult experts and stakeholders when
drawing up the brand-new law, but there are many lessons from other countries that
can easily be publicized and discussed.

There is no golden solution but there are adequate laws in place elsewhere that
promote sex worker dignity while regulating public nuisances. Canada can do much
better than the brand-new anti-prostitution law.

Mariana Valverde, Professor, Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies,

University of Toronto

Its welcome news that Premier Kathleen Wynne has asked Ontarios attorney general
to examine the constitutionality of the new laws on sex work.

A year ago, the Supreme Court ruled the previous laws were unconstitutional. But as
sex workers have outlined time and again, these new laws will replicate the very same
harms. In fact, the new laws go even further than the old ones in undermining the
ability of sex workers to control their working conditions and protect themselves.

The federal government has largely repackaged the same harmful provisions in new
wording and slapped a new label on them. This is old wine in new bottles.

Theres something truly cynical about adopting laws that harm sex workers while
proclaiming a desire to protect women. The provincial attorney general shouldnt fall
for it, and neither should the courts.

Richard Elliott, Executive Director, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, Toronto

 EOIBD / C1 / Writing / Opinion and argumentation / Letters to the editor

Letters to the editor from The Irish Times

http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/

Time to turn off tap on cheap alcohol?

Mon, Dec 15, 2014,

7 Sir, The decision to proceed with a minimum unit pricing (MUP) policy for alcohol in Northern
Ireland reflects the increasing conviction of policymakers of the effectiveness of price in the fight
against alcohol harm. The challenge to Scotlands bid to introduce an MUP of 50 pence remains tied
up in the European courts, but there is confidence that this challenge by the drinks industry will be
overcome.
The consequences of alcohol harm in Ireland are visible to many and catastrophic. The death rate
from liver cirrhosis has doubled in both men and women in Ireland in the last 20 years, reflecting the
doubling of per capita intake of Ireland in Ireland in the last 50 years. MUP, which establishes a floor
price below which alcohol cannot be sold, has proven to have had significant positive and rapid
benefits on health and crime in Canada, where MUP has already been introduced. The Northern Irish
Department of Health estimates that introduction of MUP there could save 63 lives a year; in the
Republic the figure for lives saved would be much higher.
Those who argue against MUP suggest that moderate drinkers would be penalised. This is quite
simply not the case. MUP will in fact have the greatest impact on harmful and hazardous drinkers. A
recent UK study of patients with liver disease demonstrated that the impact of a minimum unit price
of 50 pence per unit on spending on alcohol would be 200 times higher for patients with liver disease
who were drinking at harmful levels than for low-risk drinkers. If we take a MUP price of 60 cent in
the Republic of Ireland, this would not change the price anyone pays for a drink in a pub or
restaurant, as these, for the most part, already sell at well above that MUP. A bottle of wine costing
8 at present, or a 700ml bottle of spirits at 14, would still cost the same. What would change is the
price of the cheapest and strongest wine, cider and beer, mainly or completely in the supermarket
and off-license sector. There is also strong public support for MUP in the Republic of Ireland. In a
survey from 2012, almost 58 per cent of respondents were in favour of establishment of a floor price
below which alcohol could not be sold. In summary, there is overwhelming evidence for the benefits
and targeting of a MUP for alcohol, there is a high level of public support, and now we see a
commitment to and steps to implement it in Northern Ireland. The time is now right for turning off
the tap on strong cheap alcohol in the Republic of Ireland. Yours, etc,

Prof FRANK MURRAY,

President,
Royal College of Physicians
of Ireland,
Frederick House,
Dublin 2
 EOIBD / C1 / Writing / Opinion and argumentation / Letters to the editor

Letters to the editor from The Irish Times

http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/

8
Pope Francis and family planning
Thu, Jan 22, 2015,

Sir, Contrary to media reports, Pope Francis did not recommend a maximum of three children.
He simply referred to experts quoting this figure, which, incidentally is the minimum required for
replacement of the population.
Overpopulation is not a problem worldwide when, in fact, most countries in Europe are not even
replacing their populations.
Developing countries would not have this problem either if sufficient support were given to them to
develop their economies, often stifled by our protection of our economy.
I find it very hard to understand the lack of promotion for natural family planning. After all we are in
an age when health and a healthy lifestyle are to the fore. Yet women are willing to put their health at
risk by taking the Pill, etc. Every pill has a side-effect and, it should be pointed out, it also contributes
to the coffers of the vast pharmaceutical companies. After Humanae Vitae, scientists were
encouraged to update methods of natural family planning, especially by Pope Paul VI. This has
resulted in this method, especially Na Pro, being as effective as artificial methods and without the
endangerment of womens health.
This is an age of choice, as we are constantly reminded. Why not choose the healthy way of planning a
family over that of commercial profit and at far less expense? Na Pro has also benefitted very many
couples who have fertility problems. A win-win situation all round! Yours, etc,

MARY STEWART,
Ardeskin,
Donegal.