Sir: I have to correct Arthur Pottersman’s cockney abbreviations (letter, 21 May) I was born in Bermondsey and have lived all my life in SE1

Innit and arxed are definitely creole patois The cockney is ain’t it and arst’d. The cockney ain’t it is used at either end of sentences as a question: “Ain’t it cold aat?” or “It’s cold aat, ain’t it?”. It’s “just a look”, it’s “whatever”, it’s kids out having a good time, it’s Generation X. Maybe to some this is the classic face of addiction, but the irony is that a true addict would almost always go unnoticed in a crowd.Don’t burn us all as witches.

Before blaming the fashion industry for glamourising an addiction, society should ask itself why there is such a problem today. However, what would be truly radical is if any of Barbie’s friends looked anything other than anorexic. Or is the idea of a cuddly doll just too shocking?

ANDY PEARSON
Liverpool. Sir: I feel compelled to respond to your article “A smack in the face for gurus of heroin chic” (23 May), which featured an image of my recent catwalk show. I was dismayed to find that the photograph had been used to give the impression that I was both glamourising and condoning heroin. It is too easy to jump to conclusions.
Every season I design clothes that are inspired by the people I see around me, particularly in London.

This city has always been a fundamental starting point for music, fashion and style worldwide, and my show was designed to highlight one area of London’s eclectic tastes.Putting models in black dresses, with unkempt hair and ravaged make-up, does not necessarily mean they are on smack. In practical terms, an allowance of pounds 33 per week would purchase two hours of interpreting. This judgment will not resolve the fundamental problem of the shortage of registered qualified sign-language interpreters – there are fewer than 100 in the UK – or the lack of funding for training more of them.
STEWART SIMPSONChief ExecutiveCouncil for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf PeopleDurham. Sir: I find it most refreshing that Barbie’s new friend is portrayed in a wheelchair (report, 22 May).

However, its effect in extending opportunity and choice for deaf people will be largely symbolic. Sir: The House of Lords’ decision in the case of Rebecca Halliday (“Woman deaf since birth wins new deal for disabled”, 22 May) is important for its recognition of the communication needs of deaf people. A similar programme to that developed by the World Health Organisation to eradicate smallpox seems to offer a model for action if the multilateral will could be found. In the meantime, casualties will continue as a visible reminder of political instability in the Third World and vast greed and almost unbelievable hypocrisy in the West.T G OLIVERAssault Engineer, Royal Marines (retired)Exmouth, Devon. Landmine warfare is a complex and emotive subject not entirely understood by princesses and politicians, except where publicity is sought that may help to focus public opinion on the carnage wreaked by the indiscriminate use of these weapons.
Britain’s ban on landmines may be laudable, but the world powers have little or no interest in engaging in a crusade for the removal of millions of such devices in countries which offer no political or economic advantage in return The Gulf battlefields straddle vast oil resources. Sir: One of the arguments used by republicans is that the institution of monarchy is somehow incompatible with modernity and growth.

How strange, then, to see in the World Economics Forum’s report on global competitiveness (report, 21 May) that of the 20 most competitive nations 11 are monarchies and another, Hong Kong, is a crown colony. DONALD FOREMAN
Secretary-GeneralThe Monarchist LeagueLondon WC1. Sir: Only the naive and ill-informed will applaud the decision by the Government to ban the trade in landmines (report, 22 May), believing that this will result in a cessation of their use and an end to the casualties caused by these insidious devices. Bosnia does not; and mine-clearance in the Third World has become the prerogative of Western Christian charity groups.The clearance of minefields should be seen as a global problem requiring a global solution.