I am so depressed.MARIA DUGGAN London N10Sir: The medieval Popes are turning in their graves. If only Lord Hutton had been around when Copernicus, Galileo and Columbus challenged their establishment orthodoxy, we would still believe that the world was really flat.Woe, Lord Hutton, for you have badly let down the people of this country. With utmost wisdom and absolute independence Hutton has spoken: "The Emperor is not naked."Defence correspondents and their bosses need reeducation if not flogging, and the victim caused his own problems as he was a "difficult man to help". There can now be few people - government ministers and spin-doctors aside - who regard him in that light. The report is yet further evidence (if any were needed) of this country's slide toward US forms of judicial-political cosiness.One is tempted to adapt Humbert Wolfe's poem: "One cannot hope to bribe or budge,/Thank God! The honest British judge/But, seeing what the man will do/Unbribed, there is no reason to." Rhyming "twist" with "journalist" (as in the original) seems altogether less appropriate now.CHRISTOPHER NORRIS Professor of Philosophy, University of Cardiff CardiffSir: So it's conclusive then. Lord Hutton worked hard at promoting his own image as a Radamanthus-like character serenely indifferent to the hurly-burly of everyday politics. For there is - one hopes - a limit to public patience with the guile and hypocrisy of those who are now parading their affronted dignity before us and seeking to ensure that the Hutton whitewash will be the last word on this matter.It is a pity that the BBC management caved in so quickly, no doubt because even in their worst-case predictions they had not supposed that the report would exhibit such a closing of establishment ranks.

Its sole redeeming feature is the sheer extent to which it obfuscates the issues and manages to undermine its own authority by "vindicating" those most gravely at fault and casting blame where none is deserved.That it presents so grossly selective and distorted a picture of what went on in the lead-up to war may yet turn out to be the Government's undoing. I would suggest a spot of self-whitewash.RONALD MILLER Stone, Staffordshire The limits of the public's patience Sir: The Hutton report will surely go down among the most shameful episodes in British judicial history. You appear to be continuing your policy of spreading doubt about everything involving this Government. Just because you are a journalist does not make your views the right ones on every issue all the time!STEVE WALLIS Eastbourne, East SussexSir: What do you mean "whitewash" (front page, 29 January)! Hutton was not asked to investigate why we went to war. Just because some journalist did not get the government scalp they expected and desperately wanted does not mean that the report was fixed or biased.I find it amazing and arrogant that for all this time the death of David Kelly was assumed by the media to be the Prime Minister or Defence Secretary's fault and when it does not turn out to be so, they turn their grievances onto Lord Hutton instead of doing the honourable thing and apologising.

But why should we believe your judgement of that evidence more than his?J KAY Faculty of Law, University of the West of England, BristolSir: I am truly astonished at the attitude of some of the media, both broadcast and print, towards the Hutton report. If you think Lord Hutton misinterpreted the evidence and was wrong, then say so. But the task for which judges are trained is to make decisions, and if the evidence as he saw it pointed towards the BBC being at fault, no considerations of "balance" should lead him to feel he had to criticise the Government as well. The media (who are just as powerful an "establishment" as the Government) should be listening to the judge and show they are capable of directing a critical searchlight on themselves.JANE GERSON WinchesterSir: You, and many others criticise Lord Hutton's report for being "unbalanced". Now, despite Gavyn Davies's resignation, they are still unable to accept that journalists, just like everyone else, should be subject to proper accountability and management.Shoddy journalists like Gilligan have turned the fine principles of investigative journalism into the cheap tactics of smear campaigns. But as Hutton hasn't submitted to the desires of the media village, the approval he got in the summer has turned to bitter cries of "establishment stooge".The BBC's original problem was not any threat to their journalistic freedom but an arrogant refusal to undertake accountable management procedures.

• Judgement on Tom must come a lot lot later
• 
• Certainly Birch would never suggest such a thing
• 
• At that point the plan went slightly askew
• 
• Another classic Agassi fightback appeared to be on the cards
• 
• George is a workaholic and I learnt that from him
• 
• 'Call off the Search' is out now on Dramatico
• 
• I first met Mettler at a festival before I saw his film
• 
• He's just perverse enough and his sense of humour is amazing
• 
• For a change such novels even expect the reader to do a little work
• 
• I'm always conscious that the risk of not making it is high
•