Letters: Baroness Mone’s dishonesty is a lesson in why people mistrust politicians
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SIR – Baroness Mone (Letters, December 17) should be stripped of her peerage. She may not have broken the law by lying about her involvement with a PPE contract, but she breached at least two of the Seven Principles of Public Life, published by the Committee on Standards in Public Life: honesty and openness.
Too many politicians and holders of high office fail to tell the truth until they are found out. If politicians want to be held in high regard by the public, it is time to take action. The public should demand it.
Nigel Powell
Christchurch, Dorset
SIR – We should not criticise Baroness Mone and her family for making a £60 million profit on a small contract. No, we should save the criticism for the Government Commercial Function (buying department to you and me). What must it be doing if not getting a good deal for the taxpayer?
Brian Peel
Sutton Coldfield
SIR – First, given the misery Covid was causing, how could a right-minded individual make excess profits from that misery? Regardless of Baroness Mone’s part in concluding the PPE deal, how could anyone put £29 million in their personal offshore trust on the back of Covid?
Secondly, there are legions of professional buyers employed by Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, Next, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and many more, whose job it is to source clothing and other goods around the world. One call to the CEOs could have unleashed an army of professionals to work on the problem – and I’ll bet they would have done it for a nominal fee. Instead we had an army of civil servants buying from an army of cowboys and cronies.
Thirdly, when goods arrived and were rejected by the NHS on technical grounds, why were they not released to care homes and private users?
Jeremy Collis
London SW19
SIR – Daniel Hannan is correct to conclude that we, the public, embraced lockdown (“The Covid Inquiry has become a show trial – and the true sinners aren’t even in the dock”, Comment, December 17). But we did it to keep ourselves safe.
The Government told us that the world outside our front door was dangerous. I can remember clearly when I felt fear as I watched Boris Johnson and the scientists on the six o’clock news tell me I must stay at home to keep myself safe. Until then I had felt that it was all manageable. The effects of Operation Fear are still being felt, as thousands continue to be nervous about leaving their homes.
It wasn’t a desire for totalitarianism that made us embrace lockdown. It was the Government’s convincing campaign. I hope we will be more sceptical next time.
Sheila Ellison
Thatcham, Berkshire
Ukraine’s fate
SIR – Nato members who are dithering over their support for Ukraine (Letters, December 17) should reflect on the only three plausible outcomes of this war, irrespective of where boundaries may finally be drawn.
First, a neutral Ukraine poised to await a further onslaught from Russia; second, a subjugated Ukraine fully absorbed into Russia, with its resources redeployed to undermine a humiliated Nato; or third, an independent, sovereign Ukraine within Nato, whose considerable resources remain a staunch bulwark against Russian expansionism.
Given that backdrop, the European ditherers should hang their heads in shame. Likewise, the self-absorbed antics of the American political class are a disgrace.
David Pusinelli
Thatcham, Berkshire
SIR – You report (December 18) that there are now serious fears in America that, without continuing Western support, Ukraine could lose the war with Russia by next summer. At the same time, calls from Western democracies for Israel to agree to a one-sided ceasefire with Hamas are growing by the day.
When and why did the liberal elites who rule most Western democracies lose the moral fibre to fight just wars to their conclusions? And what are the implications for all of Western society?
Brian Gedalla
London N3
LTN exploitation
SIR – Lambeth Council said it welcomes local residents helping drivers to avoid getting fined by CCTV cameras, while knowing full well that large numbers of motorists are confused by low-traffic-neighbourhood (LTN) signage
(report, December 17). This is breathtakingly cynical.
Council highways departments have known for years – at least since they were introduced in Walthamstow Forest in 2015 – that poorly signposted LTNs can generate millions of pounds a year for council coffers. Here in Dulwich, Southwark Council raked in £8 million in £65 fines from only five cameras between January and December in 2021. We all know that councils need more money, but exploiting people’s confusion is dangerous and dishonest.
Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, recently said that he was looking at whether the Government could take steps to remove LTNs that don’t have public support. As this applies to most LTNs that have been installed, the sooner he takes these steps the better.
Richard Aldwinckle
London SE22
SIR – The public’s misunderstanding of traffic signs is engendered by a lack of consistency in their design.
The majority of signs preventing a particular activity are contained within a red circle. However, for “No right turn” and some other signs in the UK, there is a diagonal stroke across the symbol prohibiting that manoeuvre.
This format is generally used on the Continent as a clear way of communicating prohibition. Why not have a consistency and use the diagonal line on all prohibitive signs?
Robin Beynon
London SW14
’Tis the season to learn how to blow out candles
SIR – Your photograph (December 17) of Prince Louis blowing out a Christmas candle reminded me of the tip I received many years ago from a good friend.
The safest and most effective way to do this is to put a finger in front of the flame and blow hard. This may sound strange, but it deflects the blast to both sides of the candle and thus ensures that wax isn’t blown in all directions – which is important when near the church altar and its cloth.
It also ensures that the candle itself does not get messed up, as so often happens when using a candle snuffer, which may also dribble black deposits. At this time of year, it’s worth knowing.
Charles A C Field
Hinton-in-the-Hedges, Northamptonshire
Teaching tax
SIR – In the 1960s, during my last year in school, my class was taught the fundamentals of taxation to help prepare us for the world of work (“Teenagers to learn how to fill in tax returns”, report, December 14).
In the 1980s, as a junior manager at the Inland Revenue, I was asked by a sixth-form college in north London to explain the tax system to pupils who were in their final year (during which I would receive comments such as: “My Dad’s a taxi driver and he says he doesn’t have to pay tax”).
As a school governor in the 1990s. I once asked if the school’s general studies lessons included advice about banking, credit cards and taxation. I was told that teachers were not qualified to deliver lessons on these subjects.
Rishi Sunak will need to ensure that school staff are given the necessary training before he can fulfil his promise that taxation will be taught to teenagers.
Ian Burton
Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
SIR – It was my good fortune at 11 years old to have received German lessons rather than French at secondary school (“Teacher shortage threatens language lessons”, report, December 17).
I was given no choice, but it proved to be a pivotal moment. I continued learning the language through secondary school and as an undergraduate, and it was instrumental in my subsequent career. It was also without doubt the key to meeting my wonderful wife more than 40 years ago.
I do hope learning languages does not become a matter of history.
Richard Holden
Ledbury, Herefordshire
Nelson in the pub
SIR – My favourite pub is the Lord Nelson in Southwold. On one occasion I was standing outside it when a young couple (in their mid 20s) walked past. The woman looked up at the pub sign and remarked: “He must have been a famous captain” (Letters, December 17).
On another occasion, I was inside the pub and overheard a man tell his son that Nelson had defeated the Spanish Armada.
Then there was the middle-aged man who told his middle-aged friends how Nelson had won the Battle of Sole Bay (1672). He went on to say that he didn’t know where Sole Bay was.
John Cooper
Southwold, Suffolk
Slick service
SIR – After reading Annabel Denham’s article, “Christmas is exposing the gulf between workers and the workshy” (Comment, December 21), I had to share my experience.
Two Fridays ago at 8pm, I reported that I had lost my passport, and submitted an application for a replacement. I received a phone call from an official to check I was the applicant. Having emailed my photograph for verification, the official checked the authenticity and acknowledged my application. This took 45 minutes. A new passport arrived the following Wednesday.
My thanks to the Passport Office. Excellent service.
David Brough
Blakeney, Norfolk
SIR – I needed to amend a Travelodge booking but could find no reference to it in my computer files. I knew it had been processed because my debit account had been charged.
With some trepidation I called the help-desk freephone number. The phone was answered on the second ring, the operative quickly identified that the email address I had given was wrong, and the problem was fixed immediately. The whole process took less than five minutes. Well done, Travelodge.
Hugh Davies
Yeovil, Somerset
Entry to Sandhurst
SIR – I disagree with your correspondents who argue against the proposal that Royal Military Academy Sandhurst lower its entry standards for officer cadets (Letters, December 17).
When I applied for medical school admission, one university informed us that if it thought an applicant deserved admission it would offer a place subject to achieving three grade Bs at A-level. For those about whom it was unsure it would ask for three As. Anyone who achieved this deserved their place and would be admitted.
The same will apply to Sandhurst. The exit standard remains the same. Those who are deemed to be just below the current entry standard would be able to prove their worth, knowing that they will be failed if they do not meet the qualification standard at the end of the course. How many late bloomers have been deprived of a military career, to the country’s disadvantage, because at 18 they were not admitted?
David Hemingway
Leicester
Brass from beyond
SIR – A trombone player I knew played and sang at his own funeral (Letters, December 17) – via a recording of his band. The song was Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’ve Gone.
Bob Cox
Rainham, Kent
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