Letters: The Conservatives are being punished for treating their core voters with contempt
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SIR – Rishi Sunak is imploring voters not to put Labour in power by switching to Reform UK, following the Conservatives’ Kingswood and Wellingborough by-election losses (report, telegraph.co.uk, February 16).
This is further confirmation – if any were needed – of the contempt with which Mr Sunak and his allies view the electorate.
It is not our fault that Labour will take power: it is his and his colleagues’ fault for running this country into the ground, taxing us to the gills, ploughing vast sums into ruinous net-zero plans and allowing apparently unchecked migration.
Voters are not fickle. They simply do not want the current policies of the Conservative Party.
Andrew Pearce
London SE3
SIR – Conservative MPs can hardly be surprised by the by-election results.
As a devout Tory all my adult life, I will not vote again for a split and warring party, many of whose members are publicly railing against Rishi Sunak as opposed to lending him their undivided support.
Anthony Haslam
Farnham, Surrey
SIR – Our basically two-party, first-past-the-post system is sadly predictable. Huge majorities don’t keep a government on its toes.
The Conservatives were handed a majority of 80 but have managed their own decline through disloyalty and in-fighting.
Perhaps what we need is a wider variety of credible parties – ones we feel it is worth getting up and going out to vote for.
Norma Murray
Ulverston, Cumbria
SIR – Reform UK is now polling and receiving double-digit percentages of the vote.
When, after five years of painful Labour policies, the 2029 general election comes round, don’t be surprised if this party forms a government – or at the very least enters into a coalition.
Christopher Hunt
Swanley, Kent
SIR – Am I the only one to look at the low turnouts of both by-elections and suspect that a huge Labour majority at the next general election may not be a foregone conclusion?
The 60 per cent of people who did not take part may have decided that, at this stage in an election year, it was simply not a particularly important vote.
Carolyne Trew
North Boarhunt, Hampshire
Navalny’s courage
SIR – I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny (report, telegraph.co.uk, February 16), who had been incarcerated in an Arctic prison.
After being poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent in 2020, he returned to Russia after his treatment – only to be arrested on what transpired to be one of many trumped-up charges, fabricated by the Kremlin.
Mr Navalny was the antithesis of the corrupt Russian regime and exposed it as such, ultimately dying for his laudable convictions.
It is also a tragedy that the only thing we appear to be able to do is read about these events.
Chris Learmont-Hughes
Caldy, Wirral
SIR – Anybody struggling to differentiate between a terrorist and a freedom fighter should consider the example of Alexei Navalny. He stood up against the might of the Kremlin and fought for the country he loved by political means.
There can be little doubt that he was killed on the orders of Vladimir Putin – and such killings are the tactics of terrorists.
Peter Wilcox
Oxted, Surrey
SIR – Earlier this week the American politician Marjorie Taylor Greene took a swipe at Lord Cameron’s plea for US support for Ukraine (report, February 15).
Now we learn of Alexei Navalny’s death. If America becomes more isolationist, Vladimir Putin will only become more emboldened.
Keith Punshon
Thirsk, North Yorkshire
Blaming Brexit
SIR – Gemma Wright (Letters, February 16) believes that Brexit has played a major role in Britain’s economic problems.
This is surely an unfair assessment. Brexit has never been given a proper chance to work because so many in Parliament and the Civil Service are opposed to it.
However, it is worth looking across the Channel. Farmers throughout Europe are gathering in their tractors to show their anger at the mountain of rules they are forced to abide by, along with the undercutting of their produce by cheaper food entering from outside the EU – one of the many reasons Britain voted to leave this costly and over-regulated union.
David Rammell
Everton, Hampshire
SIR – I must disagree with Gemma Wright. Brexit, in my opinion, has nothing to do with any economic damage this country may have incurred.
The overriding factor is the pandemic. Britain is still reeling from the consequences of Covid-19, and in this we are far from alone – in either Europe or the rest of the world. Another factor is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
I have to add, however, that the situation in Britain today cannot be compared with what we endured during the 1970s, when we had high interest rates, strike after strike, blackouts and rubbish rotting in the streets.
Judith White
Mellor, Lancashire
Vital smartphones
SIR – Sophie Winkleman, who has called for a ban on smartphones for under-16s (report, February 15), appears to be unaware how crucial it is that vulnerable children are able to access Childline’s online services using these phones.
Seventy-five per cent of children who now reach out to the charity for urgent help do so online by using our live chat service, via email or by consulting the information on our website or message board.
I myself have seen how two suicidal children – one abused at home, the other seriously bullied for being gay – contacted Childline via the internet, and were both given the comfort and protection they desperately needed by counsellors using our live chat service.
I asked a group of young people visiting Childline whether they would prefer to phone or use the internet if they were suffering, and they all said they would find it easier to write. That is where children are these days, and where Childline needs to be to help them, and for that they need a smartphone.
Ms Winkleman would be very welcome to visit one of our bases to see our counsellors in action. This would, I believe, reassure her that smartphones provide vital help when children need it most. The solution to keep them safe is for the law to make the providers legally responsible and accountable for any harm they cause, which is what the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children has long campaigned for.
Dame Esther Rantzen
Founder and President, Childline
Lyndhurst, Hampshire
Proud Navy
SIR – I take issue with the letter (February 14) from Robert Hickman.
The Royal Navy has not “lost its mojo”. HMS Prince of Wales did indeed depart proudly from Portsmouth on Monday. From being at 30 days’ notice to sail and in a deep maintenance period, she was ready to go in just a week – remarkable.
The ship was not under tow, but the tug was attached as a precautionary measure in the confined waters of the harbour.
The F-35 jets disembark to an airfield ashore when the ship is alongside, and re-embark once the ship has reached the open sea.
This was a routine departure for a major Nato exercise, and there was therefore no need to line the decks with bands playing. And the white ensign was proudly flying from the “at sea” position.
Cdre John Madgwick RN (retd)
Langport, Somerset
Overground gimmick
SIR – The Mayor of London has decided to give the six Overground lines new names. I gather this came after a consultation, but would be interested to know who exactly was consulted.
The cost of new signage for these lines is in excess of £6 million. Is this really the best use of London taxpayers’ money?
Len Curtis
Cuffley, Hertfordshire
Fluoridated water
SIR – Only a very small percentage of water supplied to homes is consumed by individuals.
It would be madness to consign the rest of the proposed fluoride-treated water (Letters, February 16) to the drain.
A more sensible solution would be to offer bottled water with fluoride, and to insist on its use in schools – much as milk was supplied to every child in more enlightened times.
Tony Jones
London SW7
SIR – Greg Fell, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health (Letters, February 16), wants “robust regulation of sugary food and drink”. Of course he does – more power and kudos for his organisation’s members.
What we actually need, however, rather than more regulation, is for people to take greater responsibility for what they and their children eat and drink.
Geoff Hunt
Coulsdon, Surrey
When goalies take a hard-hitting approach
SIR – With regard to goalkeeping techniques in football (Letters, February 15), I well remember attending a match in around 1960 at Accrington Stanley, then in the fourth division. They were playing Doncaster Rovers, and I was standing right behind the goal.
All through the match the Doncaster goalkeeper and the Accrington Stanley centre forward, both very large in stature, would have an enormous battle every time the ball was crossed into the penalty area. In about the 89th minute the ball came in and both players jumped for it. I could see that the goalkeeper was deliberately not watching the ball and focusing on the centre forward. He then punched the centre forward in the face, and the man fell like a cut tree to the ground. The goalkeeper immediately turned around, picked up his flat cap and walked towards the dressing room without waiting for the referee to give him his marching orders.
John Smith
Gloucester
Clean break
SIR – My wife and I can empty our dishwasher in one and a half minutes during commercial breaks (Letters, February 16) and still have time to pour a drink.
Chris Yates
Peasedown St John, Somerset
SIR – Tricia Barnes (Letters, February 16) can do 500 steps during a commercial break.
If she watches the BBC, she should be able to see a whole programme uninterrupted and then train for the London marathon during the self-promotion break before the following one (Letters, February 14).
Bruce Denness
Niton, Isle of Wight
SIR – I’m not a Guinness-drinker (Letters, February 16) but recall its television advertisements from yesteryear.
In those days, you understood what an ad was promoting – unlike so many today – and the humour of the “funnies” often outshone the programmes they appeared between.
Anne Jappie
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
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