Can we all assume that his return to the UK will be accompanied by a bill for the hugely expensive rescue operation and subsequent repatriation?S MACKINDERDOWNHAM MARKET, NORFOLK Curries and cricket Sir: It has been widely reported that the England team roused themselves to victory by playing Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" in the dressing room prior to the final session People have commented that it seemed a strange choice. Knowing the undergraduate humour associated with sports teams, and given they are touring in the home of the curry, I suspect it may have something to do with the fact that "ring of fire" is also a euphemism for the after-effects of a vindaloo.STEVE TRAVISWEST BRIDGFORD, NOTTINGHAM Expensive water Sir: Diana, Princess of Wales, would be appalled that so much money has been spent on her memorial fountain in London's Hyde Park (report, 22 March). The Public Accounts Committee has criticised spiralling costs and problems. How ironic that this appeared just before World Water Day, when we are encouraged to think of the billion people who lack access to safe, drinkable water.It would be more fitting to have spent the money on supporting charities like WaterAid or Bristol charity For-Ethiopia, doing vital, practical water projects in developing countries.MIKE FROSTBRISTOL Civilising idea Sir: With all this talk of civilisation for Iraq, I am reminded of what Gandhi said when asked about Western civilisation: "It would be a good idea".ANDREW PRINGBRADFORD Lunchtime lobby Sir: The headline on Pandora's lead story (23 March) is inaccurate. The lunch with the Home Secretary attended by the women's lobby was entirely on the record, as everyone present was aware.KITTY DONALDSONCHAIRMAN, WOMEN'S LOBBY PARLIAMENTARY PRESS GALLERY HOUSE OF COMMONS Funding cuts Sir: You report that David Cameron thinks that the job cuts being made in our NHS as local management learns to live within its means are "extremely serious" ("Cameron blames Brown for NHS job cuts", 24 March). How many more cuts would have been necessary had the Tories prevailed on all the occasions when they (including Mr Cameron) voted against increases in health service funding?BRIAN HUGHESCHELTENHAM, GLOUCESTERSHIRE. Over 70 million Africans and an even greater number of farmers in the Indian sub-continent will suffer catastrophic floods, disease and famine if the rich countries of the world fail to change their habits and radically cut their carbon emissions.

The stark warning, contained in a private Government document commissioned by Gordon Brown, comes days ahead of an announcement that will show Tony Blair backing away from his promise to "lead internationally" on climate change. The Government has decided to delay setting targets for industry to cut carbon emissions until other EU governments set theirs. Previously, Mr Blair has made a virtue out of leading the way in Europe.. "We had the cheetah in the bedroom with us. He slept all night, but we didn't because we had old army beds. He had the run of a corridor." Jan Leeming, the former BBC newsreader, has just spent the night with a cheetah. "This morning, I was having a shower when a little head peeped round the door," continues the writer and broadcaster, better known for her five marriages and being one of the first prominent women in television news than her interest in wildlife. Leeming, at 64, is now training to become a cheetah handler.

The face of news on the BBC in the 1980s has been touring schools in small towns on South Africa's West Coast as part of a conservation programme to raise awareness of the plight of the big cat. And in the hostel where she stayed last night, in a place called Aurora, she shared a bedroom with Shadow, a 10-year-old male cheetah, and his handler Dawn Glover.It is all part of Cheetah Outreach, a project started in January 1997 by former fashion designer Annie Beckhelling. After seeing the problems faced by cheetahs in Namibia, where they are now a protected species, Beckhelling became involved with the Cheetah Conservation Fund in 1992. She owned her first cheetah in 1991, and came up with the idea of using tame cheetahs as "ambassadors" to educate the public about their diminishing numbers.With a hectare of land provided by the Spier Wine Estates in Stellenbosch, 25 minutes drive from Cape Town, Beckhelling set about breeding cheetahs in captivity.

She established an education programme with Shadow, who was one at the time, and a six-year-old male called Inca. In the first year alone, Cheetah Outreach visited 50,000 men, women and children at schools, community centres, shopping malls and public events. With the arrival of three cubs later that year, the project started to grow."A hundred years ago there were about 100,000 cheetahs in Africa. Now in South Africa there are about 600, and in the whole of Africa, a couple of thousand. If these conservation programmes weren't maintained, in about 15 years they'd be extinct, because their habitat is being encroached by farmers and what the cheetahs feed on is being destroyed so they are coming nearer to farms and farmers shoot them," explains Leeming "Today there are fewer than 10,000 cheetahs worldwide. In addition to the loss of their natural habitat, cheetahs have suffered from poaching and competition with larger predators and ranchers."Despite Beckhelling's best efforts, projects such as Cheetah Outreach struggle to make a meaningful difference to the declining numbers of the cat, which needs large expanses of land to survive.

Although the cheetah is the fastest land animal in the world, able to reach speeds of more than 110km per hour, it is reluctant to fight. As a result, it loses much of its prey to more aggressive predators, such as lions and hyenas. Its sensitivity means it is less able to cope with the disruption caused by massive human population increases than other animals.Leeming became involved in the Cheetah Outreach almost by chance. "Just before Christmas I bought a cheetah print by the artist Paul Dickson. His wife took my money and we talked about cheetahs and Cheetah Outreach.