Letters: Deporting people to Rwanda won’t fix Britain’s immigration problem
Fujitsu’s responsibility
SIR – Paul Patterson, Fujitsu’s Europe boss, has admitted that the company helped the Post Office in prosecuting innocent sub-postmasters (report, January 17).
To prolong their mental torture when he could have admitted responsibility many years ago must represent an epic dereliction of duty.
Cameron Morice
Reading, Berkshire
SIR – As an ordinary person, much like most of the sub-postmasters in question, I cannot rationalise the fact that, of the original £58 million compensation, £46 million disappeared in legal costs. How is this enormous charge possible?
Ian Smethurst
Congleton, Cheshire
Sturgeon on Covid
SIR – I’m considering running a sweepstake on how many times, when she appears before the Covid inquiry in Edinburgh (report, January 17), Nicola Sturgeon trots out her usual inquiry responses: “I honestly can’t remember”; “It’s difficult to recall with certainty”; or “My recollection isn’t vivid”.
Martin Redfern
Melrose, Roxburghshire
SIR – Mike Salter (Letters, January 13) is right to highlight the “drawn-out submissions and lengthy deliberations” of public inquiries into the Post Office, Covid and the Grenfell Tower fire.
They have a common characteristic: they involve politicians and other prominent people who still hold office. The suspicion that these are deliberately drawn out to protect powerful individuals is not abated by the recent announcement of the Covid inquiry to postpone the module relating to the vaccines until after the next general election.
Richard Scott
Kirkbride, Cumbria
Dutch tomatoes
SIR – Judy Williams (Letters, January 17) asks why, as we have the same climate as Holland, we can’t also grow tomatoes such as the ones she purchased recently.
The answer is that climate has little to do with it; if she travels by the (excellent) train service from Schiphol Airport to Utrecht, she will get her answer: acres and acres of glasshouses, all climate-controlled with heating.
Her desire to cut down on shipping is admirable, but there is a price for buying tomatoes outside of their natural growing season.
Steve Narancic
Wantage, Oxfordshire
Long road home
SIR – Dr Millan Sachania is correct that many people calibrate travel times against pieces of music (Letters, January 17).
In 2001 I was selected to stand as the Conservative candidate in Oldham. I would often listen to one of the Ring Cycle operas on the long journey up from my home in Gloucestershire.
At the start of the general election campaign it was all Siegfried and Die Walküre.
When I failed to take the seat and drove home, it was Götterdämmerung.
Craig Heeley
Badminton, Gloucestershire
SIR – Some years ago, I asked a friend (a heavy smoker) how long it would take to drive to Aberystwyth.
His response was: “About eight fags.”
Andy Pitt
Worcester
Finding clothes that fit
SIR – I would like to thank Lisa Howarth and Joanna Owens (Letters, January 13 and 15) for highlighting the difficulty older or smaller women have in finding clothes that fit in M&S – or anywhere else for that matter.
I have been able to rely on M&S in the past, but now even small sizes are far too long. I am 75 and just under 5ft tall, but would still like to wear fashionable clothes. Since the closure of Debenhams and my local Monsoon, it has become even more difficult. Next has a very limited petite section.
I have tried buying clothes online, but nine times out of 10 they have to be returned. I’ve just about given up.
Patricia Burgoyne
Chelmsford, Essex
Cathedral entry fees
SIR– One in four cathedrals now charges for entry (report, January 13).
Readers such as Gillian Grinham (Letters, January 16) regard the cost of visiting them as exorbitant. However, as someone responsible for running a large cathedral, I find the cost of keeping the doors open equally exorbitant. Nevertheless, Chester Cathedral is free to enter. We have a larger footfall than would be the case if we charged, and we find our visitors are often very generous in return.
May I suggest that those of your readers who have not yet visited come to Chester and discover this wonderful place and its beautiful city – free of charge?
The Very Rev Dr Tim Stratford
Dean of Chester
SIR – It is usually possible to enter a cathedral without paying if one attends a service, though a generous contribution to the collection would surely be appropriate.
I recall being in a congregation of two with my wife at a West Country cathedral, where this condition was rigorously enforced.
Maxwell Blake
London SW3
Self-driving etiquette
SIR – Keith Hewitt (Letters, January 17) describes his annoyance at motorists flashing a “thank you” after good deeds on the road.
He may not need to worry much longer, as self-driving cars will not be programmed for good deeds, meaning fewer thank-you flashes – presumably to be replaced by chaos at the many junctions that rely on good will to keep traffic flowing at rush hour.
Paul Schofield
Chawton, Hampshire
Secure messaging with tried-and-tested tubes
SIR – I was amused to read that the German chancellor is employing pneumatic tubes for document delivery (“Germany keeps 19th-century ‘air tubes’ to thwart Russian agents”, report, January 12).
As a graduate trainee at Harrods in the early 1980s, I used this system regularly but have never come across it since. It was always childishly satisfying to hear the “swoosh” as the tube and contents disappeared into the vast complex of pipes.
I wonder if the store is still using pneumatic tubes. They were a very efficient communication device.
Hilary Wilkes
London SW1
Football bureaucrats may kill the English game
SIR – The Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules, as they stand, will eventually dampen ambition and lead to the formation of a European Super League (“Premier League concerns leave Everton’s 777 deal on the brink”, Sport, January 17).
Football is a business opportunity for the mega rich, and these owners think differently from the over-controlling Premier League bureaucrats.
The Premier League won’t be so premier in future if these investors can’t make money. They will look to create their own cash cow, and the European Super League will probably be the winner.
I write this as a dedicated Derby County supporter with no axe to grind.
Roger A Lounds
Highcliffe, Dorset
SIR – Financially speaking, Premier League football is a complete disgrace, and the woeful ownership of Everton Football Club, discussed by Jamie Carragher (telegraph.co.uk, January 17), is a classic example.
The club’s purchase of the midfielder Jean Philippe-Gbamin is a good case in point. It spent £25 million on him, only for him to leave four years later on a free transfer – having played a mere eight games. If he played each game for the full 90 minutes, that works out at £34,722 per minute.
What other sport would allow such bizarre circumstances to prevail? My heart goes out to those devoted Everton supporters who have seen their beloved club hit the depths of despair.
John W Smith
Gloucester
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