It is also important to remember that now more than ever Muslims have a siege mentality which

It is also important to remember that now more than ever, Muslims have a siege mentality which has hardened following the atrocities in Bosnia and Chechnya, where we saw an apparent acceptance of persecution of large number of Muslims and entertained sophisticated political arguments mitigating the absence of force (military or political) to prevent this - remarkably similar to the arguments put forward by those who try to legitimise the Holocaust. Liberal Muslims are finding it progressively harder to convince the more orthodox that there is no "conspiracy against Muslims" in this world. Criminalisation of Holocaust denial while accepting Muslim genocide as a tragic consequence of war is ultimately dangerous.SHAHID HAQBarnet, Hertfordshire. Sir: To join the Labour Party, I would apparently have to say whether I am black, white or Asian. As long as people are persuaded to label themselves and others in this way, we shall never get rid of racism. Anyway, I would clearly be out of place with Labour, as I am pink with brown spots and a red nose P J STEWART Oxford.

Sir: Meg Carter does a useful service in pointing out that some organisations do take seriously the effects of bereavement on both staff and customers ("The business of death", 6 February). An 80-year-old lady recently phoned her bank to tell them her husband had died. The person on the receiving end could think of nothing better to say than: "We'll have to freeze your account." The upset customer was so taken aback that she had to contact her son to phone the bank later and point out that she and her husband had a joint account, and that some expression of sympathy would have been more appropriate. Our Bereavement Forum (of which Cruse is a member) has approached several banks and other organisations in the past few months offering professional help to train staff in handling bereaved clients and staff sensitively. Only a small number have even replied (mostly solicitors).We suggest that there is little point in spending vast sums of money to induce people to join a bank or any other such institution if they can be lost as easily as the lady mentioned above. The personal recommendation of a client treated with sympathy, along with an attempt to understand the shock, confusion, and adjustments needed, will give far more credibility than offers of free carriage clocks or pocket calculators.Rev BRIAN CRANWALLChairperson, Sheffield Area Bereavement ForumSheffield.

Sir: The two Welsh Guardsmen in the case reported in your "People" column ("Trio are cleared of giving guardsmen a battering", 8 February) are not members of the regiment which "fought off 4,000 Zulu warriors with less than 100 men at Rorke's Drift". The regiment involved in that battle was the 24th Foot, later to be named the South Wales Borderers. Rorke's Drift was fought in 1879: the Welsh Guards were raised in 1915, by King George V, to ensure that all the nations of the United Kingdom were represented by a regiment of royal footguards. CLIVE ALLENReading, Berkshire. Sir: The Rev Kenneth Wilson is to be commended for his forthright defence of a liberal interpretation of Christianity (letter, 8 February). However, in the key understanding of God, the scriptures are not so far from this non-supernaturalism as may be thought. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is one who is intimate to the real historical process as a dynamic agent.