Bust of Bertrand Russell

• I WONDER who, if anyone, looks after the bust and plinth dedicated to the philosopher and pacifist Bertrand Russell these days.

Walking through Red Lion Square in Holborn, I was slightly disappointed to see the plinth in a sorry state.

As a reporter on the old Camden Journal in the late 1970s, I wrote about the efforts to get the statue funded. The bust, by sculptor Marcelle Quinton, was erected in 1980.

Many luminaries of the peace movement were involved, including Sir AJ Ayer, Russell’s ex-wife Dora and Lord Fenner Brockway.

Most of the campaigners are long gone, but it has never been more timely to remember Russell’s brave stand against war and violence.

The appeal committee believed that Russell, a Nobel prize-winner, and one of the most important philosophers of our times, had not received the recognition he deserved.

A statue of Fenner Brockway stands not far from Russell in the square but in somewhat better condition.

JEAN GRAY, N22 

• Last week’s Hiroshima Day event was held in Tavistock Square (not Russell Square as we misreported).