i fnd the comments made about scouting laughable and made by a person that has now idea what happens in scouting or aware that it takes place all over the world by all races and religons. your writer should come along to the world scout jamboree in hylands park chelsford from 27th july and find out just how 45000 young people from all over this planet can get on and but us so called grown ups to shame. these young people age 14~18 will realy show him the meaning of working living and playing to gether means. A scout

Simon, Cardiff, Wales

Letter:
Sir:

For years, Mr Bush has been doing everything he could to ruin the Kyoto agreement. Were he a private person, pollution of a neighbour´s plot, of a common river etc. would be considered criminal, he would be called to justice and his attitude would be called antisocial. In high politics, there are no rules. If the G8 want to prove that their summits are of any value, they should tackle the one problem they are /together with China/ most responsible for - global warming. We all know this is the potentially mortal issue which we shall either start resolving immediately or our grandchildren will lead miserable and unworthy lives. Shouldn´t Mr Bush be plainly told: either you commit yourself to a comprehensive ´Greenhouse Gases Limitation Treaty´ NOW or we shall break off all personal contacts with you until the end of your pitiful mandate? Responsible politicians everywhere would have full public backing for their stance.

Martin Tucek, M.D., Psychiatri Hospital, Brno, Czech Republic

True, there are other beliefs that are just as "bonkers" as Scientology but guess what, those religions are FREE. I wouldn't want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to find out about Galactic Overlord Xenu and the body thetans. Which is contained in Scientology's confidential OT III. That's why it's a corporation, rather than a religion. It's just another Hubbard science fiction novel being tossed off as a religion. CULT! Yup, I said the C word.

Jason Bourne, Los Angeles, CA

Scientology as a belief system has no more evidence than any other thiest belief. Every argument he used against scientology could be used just as easily against Islam or Christianity, therefore having insulted scientology on the grounds of its followers personal beliefs i wonder if Mr Sweeny will now deal with all other world religions in the same provocative style. The point is Mr Sweeny would not insult these religions in such a fashion so why is it acceptable for him to insult scientology?

sam, birmingham, west midlands

I called in at my old Scout troup HQ a couple of years ago. The kids were a mixture of white English and Indian - a reflection of the area and the times.

Scouting in my day was flag-saluting and hymn singing - a reflection of the times, exactly like schools then.

Eugenics involves selective breeding - where does or ever was this a feature of scouting?

Tying up Jews? AA Gill is either being very silly or has been on unwholesome substances very much outlawed in Scouting.

Bob T., London, UK

It would appear that Gill's dislike of Hislop has clouded his tiny little mind to such a degree that he is incapable of giving any credible review of the programme.

James , Taipei, Taiwan

I'm starting to think that East Grinstead should be cordoned off ...

Benzo, Nr Chelmsford,

I'm not sure how you can say Scouting is a racist organisation as it has 28 million members in all but 6 countries in the world, with people of all colours and religions.

Greg Riggs, Southampton,

Joanne
"This is classed as slander!"

Not quite... Slander is a spoken thing whereas something written down is libel.....something Ian Hislop knows a fair bit about!!

Clare, london,

Hannah, not only does scientlology have great technology and the most successful drug-rehab programmes in the world, they have also managed to completely eradicate poverty in over 400 square feet of Kidderminster AND they can transmute base metals into gold.
I can't believe the bad press Scientologists get, if it hadn't been for them none of us would know the truth about the those rotten Thetans that were lured to the volcanoes and destroyed with atomic weapons all those thousands of years ago. The lack of respect shown for truths such as this and the holocaust being designed and implemented by psychiatrists is galling.
The sooner the rest of the planet embraces rationality and converts to Scientology, the sooner we can finally conquer the universe.

Hurrah for L.Ron. Hubbard!

Toby, Margate,

Very amusing

Foo, Edinburgh,

Brilliant review of Panorama.

I'm glad the BBC made it though. Car chases, shouting, sinister forces at work and A list celebs.

Like a Hollywood version of the Sweeny. If that's Scientology I'm all for it. Sure beats nodding off listening to the vicar's sermon every Sunday.

Stella, Manchester, UK

... Hislop looks considerably smarter than the menu gazer Gill, and certainly writes far mor intelligently

Ib, Homerton, UK

Boring, boring, boring. You only have to step foot inside a Church of Scientology and speak to a few people to see that the technology works, its drug-rehab programs are the most successful in the world, it has the tech to handle illiteracy. If someone has an issue with that then they must be pretty selfish and not thinking of helping their fellow man!

Hannah, East Grinstead, Sussex

Baden Powell believed in racial preservation. What is wrong with that? Blacks have a racial identity and no-one complains. So too Asians. Of course striking poses comes naturally to Scotchmen like Gill. His compatriots at Westminster closed all Scotland's asylum offices, ensuring that immigrants only go to England and that as we continue to see exclusively white television programmes from north of the border, not to mention all-white national sporting sides, there is not word of complaint from newspapers like this one. I suppose anyone might feel smug in those circumstances.

Ed Leary, Lincoln, England

I am sorry but the comments you have written about the program scouting for boys is unjust and have not been thought out. The statement that you have made saying "What he chose not to share with us was the airy racism that runs through it, which Baden-Powell had picked up from his peripatetic soldiering. It was a really repulsive knapsack of prejudices. I think scouting comes as a bob-a-job lot. You don’t get the knottying without wanting to truss Jews and Indians." makes all scouts past and present appear to be an anti-semitic group which are BNP members in the making. This is classed as slander! I myself am not in the scouts and I still find this comment insulting. The scouts are not there to tie up Jews, the program made no comment to Jews. On top of that what child has not played cowboys and Indians, are you telling us that every child that plays this game is also racists, because that is the comment you make!

Joanne Hawkins, Preston, UK

Yes, the Scientologists have obviously never heard the maxim 'Better to stay silent and appear a fool than to open your mouth and prove you are'. But then they're not alone in that.

eric, harrogate, uk

Scientology has a long history of pre-emptive strikes on the media - playing the man and not the ball is the order of the day. This situation is similar to their handling of Time Magazine's article "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power" in 1991. During the preparation of the article its author Rick Behar reported that he was tailed by private detectives and threatened by Scientology attorneys and intimidated by Scientologists. Scientology sought to supress the article (which described them as a "Ruthless Global Scam") with a $416M libel suit, but this was overturned. It begs the question as to why the "church" is so aggressive if it has nothing to hide?

I disagree with AA Gill as to the BBC only being interested because of the film stars - the BBC is right to be interested as they have recently started a recruitment drive in the UK, which has been accompanied by inappropriate approaches to Police and Parliament. Awareness of their activities needs to be raised.

Pawl, Manchester,

I agree, if the Scientologist had kept his head, the programme would probably have been passed by relatively unnoticed. However, having failed to do this, it seems crazy for them to release their clip of John Sweeney "losing it" ahead of the broadcast. Had they not done this then presumably Panorama would have left out the embarrising part, and the program would have only been seem by a few random left-wing Brits too poor to be of any interest to their movement .

But I am more curious about John Wood's comment above. From his URL I think we can assume that John is a scientologist. I've recently been looking for some good Scientology press, and if John describes an article calling Scientology "the most ornery, touchy, vindictive spiritual movement since the Spanish Inquisition" as "one of the most rational things I've ever seen written in a newspaper about Scientology", my search is over!

Nigel Smith, Sunnyvale, CA USA

That's one of the most rational things I've ever seen written in a newspaper about Scientology! Thank you for that. - johnalexwood - http://www.uptone.co.uk

John Wood, East Grinstead, West Sussex