Letters: Tory MPs’ shameful disloyalty will prove the biggest vote-loser of all
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SIR – The Conservatives will lose the next election – not because of Rishi Sunak but because of the disloyalty shown by other members of the party.
Having another leadership contest now would be absolute madness, and it is very worrying that those calling for Mr Sunak to be replaced are unable to see this.
Lt Col Jeremy Prescott (retd)
Southsea, Hampshire
SIR – I am baffled by the constant sniping at Rishi Sunak. As one of his constituents, I find him to be an excellent MP, and I and many others regard him as one of the best prime ministers we have had in recent times.
He is an original thinker with integrity, courage and a clear vision for a better society. I have met and spoken to him, and, as a result, have changed my political views. I believe and trust him. Not every ill can be placed at his door.
Give the man a chance and allow him to do his job. No more experiments: let us move forward.
Bernard Borman-Schreiber
Leyburn, North Yorkshire
SIR – Camilla Tominey (Analysis, January 25) quotes a former Cabinet minister: “We know Rishi is absolutely useless but…”
Well, who chose him as leader? Not the grassroots members of the Tory party but the very same MPs who are now privately describing him as useless.
It’s no wonder there have been so many “Don’t know” answers in recent polls of voters’ intentions. The whole Conservative Parliamentary Party needs to get a grip before it disintegrates completely.
Frances Braithwaite
London SE6
SIR – As a former member of the Conservative Party, I am still inundated with emails from its campaign office.
Each one loudly boasts of “taxes cut” under the Conservatives. I have a business and pay myself from the profit it generates. Since the Tories won their majority in 2015, corporation tax has increased from 20 per cent to 25 per cent, while new taxes on dividends extract a further 8.75 per cent from my income. This hefty chunk is taken in addition to the plethora of increased duties and frozen thresholds.
Either the Tories’ campaign people deliberately lie or they are content to peddle lazy gibberish. Whichever it is, they must believe we are stupid.
Louis Ingram
Ledbury, Herefordshire
SIR – I second Dale Fletcher’s letter (January 26) about Penny Mordaunt. PM for PM.
Michael Marks
Shobdon, Herefordshire
Israel and the ICJ
SIR – The International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to “take all measures within its power” to prevent genocide from occurring in Gaza (telegraph.co.uk, January 26).
Why has it not ordered Hamas to do the same – and to stop hiding behind civilians and within hospitals?
There would be no more bloodshed if Hamas were to surrender.
Simon Malcolm
Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire
Better surveillance
SIR – One question arising from the horrendous killings which took place in Nottingham last year (Letters, January 26) is whether at the time Nottinghamshire police employed facial recognition video surveillance.
If there was no such technology in place, surely what happened must at the very least require the authorities to consider deploying it in all our major cities. There must be a high probability that, if the technology had been deployed, the killer would have been apprehended before he went on so cruelly to destroy the lives of three people.
If the technology was in place, it prompts the question: why was the killer not apprehended earlier?
Charles Samek KC
London EC4
Battle-ready Britons
SIR – I disagree with Isabel Oakeshott (“Britain will lose the next world war. It’s too woke to fight”, Comment, January 26).
I believe that, if the country faces an existential threat, the overwhelming majority will stand firm to defend our democracy and freedom, and put our petty differences to one side. This was shown to be the case in both world wars in the 20th century. The present recruitment crisis does, however, need to be addressed quickly.
Melvyn Holmes
Wakefield, West Yorkshire
SIR – Isabel Oakeshott questions whether immigrants or members of Gen Z would willingly take up arms if war broke out.
Should we really doubt that those who have given up so much – and in some cases risked their lives – to start anew in Britain might hesitate to defend the country that has welcomed them, and which they now call home? But why should it take their participation in a war to demonstrate their allegiance and belonging?
As for Gen Z, it would be a shame to mistake our attitude towards this country’s complicated colonial past for a resentment towards it, or indifference to its fate if war did arise. To interrogate history and avoid the mistakes of our past is to show loyalty to our country, not the opposite.
Harry Rogers
London SW11
SIR – My dad used to say that the Royal Marines saved his life. As a teenager, he found himself with nowhere to live, so he signed up.
National Service would give youngsters an insight into career opportunities within the Armed Forces, and would make it easier for the Armed Forces to approach and select recruits. Cadets would be involved in teamwork, learn about the importance of time-keeping and taking pride in their appearance, and acquire life skills. It would remove many from difficult situations at home. Discipline is needed to stop some teenagers going off the rails.
(My dad’s shoe-polishing was admirable, too.)
Jacky Staff
Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh
SIR – Our granddaughter, like Matt Bayliss-Binks’s daughter (Letters, January 26), tried to join the RAF using its online portal.
She is well-educated and very keen, but spending seven hours shut in the dining room in front of a laptop was exhausting. She was failed for supposedly not concentrating.
It beggars belief. Are there no interviewers anymore?
C Warmington
Abingdon, Oxfordshire
Streamlined mail
SIR – Royal Mail (Letters, January 26) should abandon the six-day delivery obligation and deliver on the five weekdays. Weekend deliveries are not required by most businesses and are not essential for most people.
Royal Mail should also get rid of the two-tier postal system. The sorting and separation of mail is currently too expensive and uses too much manpower and storage space.
Richard Hartley
Redgrave, Suffolk
SIR – Much of Royal Mail’s plight stems from the competition posed by private delivery companies, which are able to cherry-pick their delivery areas.
Royal Mail has to deliver to the remotest parts of the United Kingdom. Their competitors exclude areas such as the Highlands of Scotland, enabling them to charge better rates.
Royal Mail deserves to be allowed to compete on a level playing field.
Richard A Hindle
Sheffield, South Yorkshire
Fooled by the pranks of a pitch-perfect parrot
SIR – My friend Peter Wood, the theatre director, had an African Grey parrot called Sid (Letters, January 26), who often accompanied him when he commuted from his house in Somerset to his flat in London.
Sid had a gift for mimicking telephone ringing tones, and would also – at the most inconvenient time – imitate Peter’s mobile, cackling when Peter was taken in.
Charlotte Graves Taylor
Oxford
SIR – A neighbour in the 1970s was a classical music impresario, and had a parrot with a wide musical repertoire. On one occasion, while the neighbour was giving Bernard Haitink a lift home from a concert, the parrot, sitting behind, launched into the Toreador’s song from Carmen. “Perfect pitch!” exclaimed the conductor, adding after a pause: “And tone”.
Dominic Weston Smith
Faringdon, Oxfordshire
SIR – I used to go to a pub where the bartender was called Jack and kept a mynah bird at the bar. Every time someone ordered a round the mynah bird would say, “And one for Jack” – to which Jack would reply, “That’s very kind of you; I will have a half of bitter.” He got plenty of free drinks.
Peter Gilbert
Thames Ditton, Surrey
SIR – As a special constable in Shropshire I attended an address to investigate the attempted theft of a trailer. The homeowners invited me into a small kitchen, which contained a caged pet bird.
While I was learning about the case the following words emerged from the cage: “Help! Help! They’ve turned me into a budgie.”
Chris Jones
Mold, Flintshire
SIR – It is not only parrots that like to repeat what they hear.
When our daughter was young, her father used to drop her off at the childminders on his way to work. She was obviously listening to him on the way, and could later be heard saying, while playing with her friends or toys: “Go on, go on – it is a bloody roundabout, you know.”
Val Graves
Tilehurst, Berkshire
The bin cycle
SIR – Dave Holtum (Letters, January 25) brought a smile to my face with his assertion that the first green bin collection marks the beginning of the year and heralds the coming spring.
During the pandemic, with bin collection being on a Wednesday, Tuesday was designated as bin preparation day, and Monday as bin preparation eve. It passed the time.
Ray Davies
Llandrindod Wells, Radnorshire
SIR – Dave Holtum is fortunate indeed. Our council has announced that it will lengthen the winter non-collection period as well as charging for green waste collection, previously free.
Neil Bunyan
Bedford
Childhood wonder
SIR – I loved Alice in Wonderland when I read it aged eight (Letters, January 24). Perhaps the Queen, who found it scary, was exposed to it too young.
In retrospect, Alice showed a remarkable resilience to adversity, matched only by that of Winnie-the-Pooh. Please don’t let Lewis Carroll be subject to trigger warnings – or AA Milne to Tigger warnings, come to that.
Fiona Wild
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Salted tea
SIR – The addition of a tiny pinch of salt to an over-brewed cup of tea (report, January 25) results in a chemical reaction which pushes a precipitate of the bitter tannin to the bottom of the cup. There is no magic involved.
James McNie
London SW1
SIR – A pinch of salt works equally well with scalded or bitter coffee.
John Newbury
Warminster, Wiltshire
Dark art
SIR – I am a wet shaver, using a brush and soap, and have been for many years.
Yesterday morning, however, I realised that I was shaving with my eyes tightly closed, and that this was clearly a habit.
Am I alone in this idiosyncrasy – or do I, perhaps, have a band of brothers out there?
Tim Pope
Weybridge, Surrey
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