Bertrand Russell’s bust in Red Lion Square

• YES, let us hope the Bertrand Russell bust receives a fine clean and wax, (Bertrand Russell is not looking so good!, August 27).

That would please the Americans who, in 1940, got him sacked from his New York City College post before he even began lecturing.

He was condemned as “lecherous, salacious, libidinous, lustful, venerous, erotomaniac, aphrodisiac, atheistic, irreverent, narrow-minded, untruthful, and bereft of moral fiber”; his appointment “endangered the public health, safety, and morals of the community”.

Bertrand Russell later reflected that urban New York in 1940 was at the same stage of enlightenment as his grandfather found rural England in 1868.

Russell would comment: “People would rather die than think. And that is what most do.”

So, yes, let us not forget “Bertie”, though maybe we should add that not only do we need people to think, but to think well and with fellow-feeling.

PETER CAVE, W1