Sir: Thank you for informing us that the British Medical Association has updated the Hippocratic Oath on our behalf (report, 28 March). As a member of the BMA and a practising clinician in a teaching hospital, I have had no prior warning of this and would appreciate the opportunity to make some comments. While welcoming the excision of Apollo, Aesculapius and, "all the gods and goddesses", and agreeing to leave cutting people "labouring under the stone" to my esteemed urological colleagues, I nevertheless have some serious reservations about the proposed new oath. First, there is the removal of the vow to abstain from the seduction of patients. Had that part become unnecessary? Sadly not, as cases over recent years have shown. Many patients put themselves in a vulnerable and potentially compromising position with members of our profession, trusting that doctors will not take advantage. We should not hesitate to assert that we will not.Second, there is the agreement to carry out abortions "within an ethical and legal framework". The chairman of the BMA has stated his intention that this oath should come into use by every doctor from every medical school.

Will they be obliged to sign? Will abortion under certain circumstances become a duty?I welcome an update in the language of the Hippocratic Oath, but I deplore the change in its spirit. When our medical students graduate, I shall be advising them not to sign.HUGH J THOMSONConsultant SurgeonBirmingham. Sir: I was delighted to see the recognition given to the devastation wreaked on Whitehall by the current Government ("Whitehall ruined by Tory years", 31 March), belated though it might be. I suppose that one must be grateful to former top mandarins for seeing fit to salve their consciences by berating the Government, albeit from the comfort of their retirement and secure in their honours.

But how much more effective would their protestations have been if they had been prepared to fight harder against the downsizing and break up of the Civil Service while still in office. As a former senior mandarin who was made redundant last year after nearly 30 years - during which time my remuneration was abated to reflect the job security I was supposed to enjoy - I saw little evidence of anything other than slavish acquiescence to Ministers' arbitrary decisions. The result has been to risk the reduction of the Civil Service to a cadre whose driving force is not one of devotion to the public interest but pursuit of individual ambition. The nation is in danger of losing one of its most precious assets.JOHN DORKENLondon N10. Sir: April Fool! I hope you see the funny side ("Swampy joins political race", 1 April) I have no intention of standing for any election It is as much a farce as politics in general is a farce There are several points to doing this.

First to bring forward the issues involved; to offer solutions to the growing problem of pollution from roads and air traffic. I hope that the present political parties will take on board our manifesto and rethink their own policies. Lastly I would like to point out that direct action is far more important than voting All the main parties are pretty much the same. Most politicians have vested interests in road-building companies, car manufacturers or airports. People should take a stand to make a change.If you must register your vote, write "none of the above" on your voting paper, so people know how many people are fed up with being trampled upon by politicians and more importantly, the large multi-national companies who pull the strings.SWAMPY (D HOOPER)Manchester Airport Second Runway,Cheshire. Sir: Your article "How green is your party?" (26 March), ignored Plaid Cymru, although our policies are far more geared to sustainability that are those of the three main London-based parties.

Our programme for restoring full employment to Wales proposes investment and job creation in public transport, pollution control and energy conservation. We would fund our proposals partly through a carbon tax (whilst cutting VAT on domestic fuel), a "congestion tax" on car use in urban centres, and other environmental taxes. Plaid Cymru's four MPs have been more active in the House of Commons in pursuing a green agenda. In conjunction with the Green Party and Friends of the Earth, I introduced two bills which were later taken up by other MPs and are now law: the Home Energy Conservation Act and the Road Traffic Reduction Act. In this election, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party are the only parties backing all the points in the Real World coalition's "action programme".Although environmental issues are already higher up the election agenda than most commentators expected, this is not because of initiatives from the Tory, Labour and Liberal parties, but because of the widespread public annoyance about politicians trying to dodge the really important questions about sustainability and survival.CYNOG DAFIS MP(Ceredigion and Pembroke North, Plaid Cymru)House of CommonsLondon SW1.