And so to Manchester United and Bayern.Barcelona a theatre of dreams? No, this was the theatre of life. Let the Germans once more pick over the melodrama of the Nou Camp for portents of national decline No such introspection for us. No matter that Manchester’s winning goal was scored by a Norwegian. That finale, scripted in heaven when the earthly battle seemed lost, has restored our faith in what we like to think of as the essence of Englishness: grit in adversity, a never- say-die spirit, the dogged certainty that however poor the start, we will prevail in the end.So let Belgrade take note.

There is a massive moral element in the policies of that self-proclaimed football fan Tony Blair towards Slobodan Milosevic – a Christian conviction that right must confront and overcome evil. That conviction has pressed Nato closer to the ground-war option in the Balkans.”God is English,” was the verdict of the French sports newspaper L’Equipe on the miracle of Barcelona. They can only add to our Prime Minister’s sense of certainty that his cause is righteous. Sport is said to be a substitute for war, but could not Manchester United’s moment of glory, in a curious way, be a preparation for war?There’s only one problem with this theory. Sport may be the theatre of life, and both Mr Blair and English football are on a roll But life can change very fast.

What price a Kosovo ground war if England gets beaten in the vital Euro 2000 qualifier next month by those soggy, peace-loving Swedes who aren’t even in Nato at all?. Sir: Anyone investigating whether any food is harmful to humans has to give one of only two answers: either potential harm has been found, or it has not been found. The second answer means the food may or may not be harmful.
If proof that a food is harmless is needed before anyone eats it, we will never have any new foods. The answer is to use judgement and common sense – the qualities that would have told us that feeding animal parts to herbivores was asking for trouble.If we take this approach, we will accept foods altered to make them taste better, but will reject foods made lethal to insects on the grounds that it is highly likely that some people will, at the very least, be allergic to them, and that they will upset the ecological balance.Similarly, plants altered to enable them to survive heavy doses of herbicide are liable to have some harmful herbicide residues, and to have serious ecological effects, and should not, in my judgement, be grown or eaten in Britain. However, no one has a monopoly of intuition on these matters.Dr ERNEST RUDDYork. Sir: As one who took some part in the selection process for Labour candidates for the greater London Assembly I must challenge Ken Livingstone’s description of this process (“Do the control freaks really want Labour to lose London?”, 26 May).

It seemed to be very similar to that used by any large organisation for senior recruitment, and I can find no element of the exercise that was unfair or arbitrary.
Full job descriptions were sent out with the application forms, and when I was initially rejected, the invitation to appeal included information on the areas where my candidacy was considered weak, enabling me to focus my appeal, which was successful.At the briefing day for candidates, it was made clear that the selection panel process ahead would include testing our ability to promote, support and defend against criticism the policies and proposals of the Government. Can that really surprise anyone, or be regarded as unfair or discriminatory?If I were recruiting at work, I would not appoint a candidate who had gone on record as saying that a major plank of the programme they were to implement was “barmy” (Ken Livingstone on a directly elected mayor), and I would advertise for candidates in the appropriate specialist publications.Selecting people who can’t do the job is disastrous, and contributed to some of the local government mistakes of the early 1980s, including those of the GLC. Some of us have learnt from that; Ken obviously hasn’t.ANNE ST CLAIR MILLERLondon N16. Fasting, Feasting by Anita Desai (Chatto & Windus, £14.99, 224pp)

Fasting, Feasting by Anita Desai (Chatto & Windus, £14.99, 224pp)

Independent on Sunday review by Amanda Hopkinson
A career Leaving home.