But, in 1989, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) banned the ivory trade and demand fell off around the world.Since then it has remained low and, in Japan, once its centre, ivory-carving seems to be gradually dying out as a craft, according to Dr Bradley Martin, an ivory expert.While the state-owned ivory carving business of China had gone out of business, small ivory carvers were now flourishing in unlicensed factories and China's rocketing economy was giving people the money to buy their products."Private capital has now come into the Chinese ivory trade," said Dr Stiles, who has just returned from a visit to the country. China is at the centre of concern over a revival of serious demand for ivory, zoologists working to save the African elephant said yesterday. Rising levels of wealth among the Chinese may enable many millions to buy ivory items, said Esmond Bradley Martin and Daniel Stiles of the conservation charity Save The Elephants. Yesterday I bought some festively packaged and labelled Christmas Mince Pies. They were marked: "Best before November 17th"!RON DAWSON Winterborne Stickland, Dorset.

Is this any different from working while receiving state benefits, or paying cash to self-employed people to avoid VAT? I sometimes wonder if our household is unique in being willing to pay taxes to pay for the state services which we also expect to receive.LIZ REASONSTEPHEN ANDREWS Charlbury, Oxfordshire Eat up Sir: Adrian West's assertion (letter, 22 October) that the date of Christmas Day is an arbitrary one has the support of at least one Supermarket chain (Tesco). It is common practice for accountants to suggest that a male company director put his wife on his payroll as a way of avoiding income tax. This would end suggestions that speed cameras exist as a means of raising revenue, and drivers would continue to suffer a financial loss if their motor insurance premiums increase with each endorsement.MARTIN COPSEY Peterborough Tax avoidance Sir: It is not only MPs who employ their relatives ("May was unhappy about payments, says sacked aide", 21 October). It would, however, impose substantial costs on consumers in poor countries. It would also prevent trade between poor countries, which probably promises more immediate gains for agricultural producers than trade with rich countries.Professor J R SHACKLETON Head, Westminster Business School London NW1 Get well soon Sir: I would like to say how very much I wish Tony Blair a full and speedy recovery from his current medical troubles. If I were a religious person, I would be praying for him to be made well. I don't want to lose him as Prime Minister, or leader of the Labour Party, because of ill health.

I want to see him dumped by the party when they are decimated at the polls because of the monstrous action of invading Iraq, and the lies that he told, and that his MPs blindly accepted.MIKE PERRY Ickenham, Middlesex Rubbish idea Sir: Those protesting about dustbin emptying charges in Ireland (report, 20 October) appear to have missed the point. As with sewage charges, we do not pay to have our individual detritus removed, but rather we pay for the privilege of living in a world that is not ankle deep in everyone else's!DAVID COLLINS Kidderminster, Worcestershire Penalty points Sir: Much of the cynicism regarding the true purpose of speed cameras could be removed if drivers caught by these devices were awarded penalty points but no fine. But what policy is seriously proposed by anti-globalisers?Protectionism by poor economies would not redress the imbalance between rich and poor. Several anti-trade commentators are quoted, but there is nothing in the piece to suggest that there is an alternative view. The issues discussed included HIV/AIDS, inter-communal conflict, and the marginalisation and oppression of outcasts and minorities.