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Alison Wolf writes: ''France far excels the UK in its ability to plan and implement public-sector policies coherently, notably in health, transport and education'' (Opinion, July 30). Really? If she had done some elementary research, or listened to or read the French media, she would have found that during last year's heat wave, health and social services in France were so dysfunctional that 15,000 people died and that road fatality figures in France are more than twice as high as in the UK. There's planning and implementation for you.

Wolf should avoid simplistic thinking that asserts that everything that is done on the other side of the Channel is better than what we do here.

P. M. Wetherill
Professor emeritus in French
Manchester University