SIR - In an international league table some time ago, British schoolchildren were well down the list in the important subjects - maths and science.

Finnish children came top in science and top overall, while New Zealand schoolchildren were top in maths.

New Zealand, of course, had one of the first two men atop Mount Everest and the world's first national health service, nearly ten years before us.

Maybe we should import a few science teachers from Finland and maths teachers from New Zealand. But then we think we know it all.

Eric Firth, Wellington Street, Wilsden