Letters: Why fixing Britain’s pothole-ridden roads will be an uphill struggle
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SIR – You report (November 22) that councils that neglect roads may miss out on the £8 billion pothole fund.
I have yet to encounter a properly repaired pothole, so can only hope that when funding is received it is used effectively.
Brian Soutar
Warlingham, Surrey
SIR – The Government’s funding might be just enough to deal with the 5,035 miles of minor roads in North Yorkshire, but the rest of the country will have to be willing to go without.
David Seex
Thirsk, North Yorkshire
SIR – Road works need to become more efficient. Usually, after anything is completed, the temporary traffic lights remain for several days.
When I was a divisional highway engineer, I had patching gangs who did the necessary work in half the time. Drivers suffered minimal inconvenience. Indeed, back then potholes did not need to be reported then inspected before anything was done. I accept that traffic has since increased, but organisation today appears to be very poor, and I fear that government funding will not be used properly.
Ken Mitchell
Kings Langley, Hertfordshire
SIR – David Boyd (Letters, November 24), discussing the poor state of British roads, mentions the lack of cat’s eyes. Many of these have been withdrawn for some inexplicable reason.
At night, and particularly when it is wet or visibility is poor, it is very hard to discern clearly the lane or centre of the road, which is often marked only by dirty or faded white lines.
Combined with the glare of modern, ultra-bright headlights, this has created an unnecessary danger that was not there before.
Simon Bathurst Brown
Camberley, Surrey
SIR – The state of Britain’s roads is indeed dire, but I disagree with David Boyd’s criticism of modern car headlights (Letters, November 24).
During my time driving I have seen six-volt electrics, with their candle-like illumination, progress to 12 volts, while bulbs have evolved from incandescent to halogen, high-intensity discharge and LED.
My current vehicle even has swivelling lights that move depending on which direction you turn the steering wheel. Initially I thought this was just a gimmick, but I now miss it when driving my wife’s car.
Adrian Waller
Woodsetts, South Yorkshire
Taking back control
SIR – Steve Higgins (Letters, November 24) asks: “How do record-high net migration numbers square with the slogan ‘Take back control’, touted by Brexiteers?”
The answer, of course, is that they don’t. But the reason is that Remainers, not Brexiteers, were allowed to take control of the process of leaving the EU. Theresa May’s administration was a disgrace; Boris Johnson’s was little better; Liz Truss was undermined from day one; and Rishi Sunak’s premiership would be laughable if it wasn’t so tragically bad.
When will the Conservative grassroots take back control from the closet social democrats who have reigned supreme since 2005?
John Waine
Nuneaton, Warwickshire
SIR – I’m a lifelong Conservative voter but I won’t be supporting the party at the next election.
The Government was dealt a tough hand with Covid and the war in Ukraine. Mistakes have been made, but I can broadly forgive these.
What I can’t forgive is the apparently uncontrolled legal immigration, which is permanently changing this country and placing undue pressure on housing, public services and the infrastructure in general.
Michael Schultz
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
SIR – I am getting increasingly irritated by “lifelong” Tory voters threatening to abandon the party at the next general election, without mention of how they might vote instead.
I’d be interested to hear how a minority Conservative government or a Labour government – with or without help from other parties – will improve this country.
Graeme Brierley
Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire
The true fate of the Princes in the Tower
SIR – A panel of experts has now added support to the revisionist historian Philippa Langley’s claims that Edward V and Duke Richard of York – better known as the Princes in the Tower – were not murdered by their usurping uncle King Richard III (report, November 18), whose remains Ms Langley rediscovered in a Leicester car park in 2012.
She believes she has unearthed written evidence that the princes escaped, and that each then launched a failed bid to depose Henry VII in the late 15th century as the pretenders Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck (the latter’s face was beaten to a pulp before his public execution to render him conveniently unrecognisable).
If only my old professor at the University of Glasgow, J A F Thomson (who sneered at anything less than the simplistic culpability of Richard), were still alive to hear this.
The moral of the story for historians, yet again, is never ignore primary documentation just because it contradicts “accepted” historical narratives.
Mark Boyle
Johnstone, Renfrewshire
Boost for apprentices
SIR – The really good news among the raft of Autumn Statement announcements was that the apprenticeship minimum wage is rising significantly from April next year.
Pay for an apprentice who is under 19 or in the first year of their apprenticeship will rise to £6.40 an hour. This is up 21 per cent, so is well above inflation. It is also worth noting that this is only a minimum sum and that many businesses already pay their apprentices more.
Apprentices are paid a wage and there are no extra tuition fees for their off-the-job training with colleges, private trainers or universities. For employers, the estimated return on this investment is between £2,500 and £18,000 per apprentice. For businesses looking to fill skills gaps and balance their own budgets, that is an investment worth making.
Jennifer Coupland
CEO, Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education
London SW1
Telegraph’s freedom
SIR – You report (November 24) on the attempt by RedBird IMI, backed by Abu Dhabi, to take over the Telegraph.
The thought of an autocratic nation having any control over a British newspaper – especially an organ representing the very soul of democracy and free expression – fills me with despair.
Cameron Morice
Reading, Berkshire
NHS workforce
SIR – Francis Bown (Letters, November 23) discusses the introduction of a seven-day week in the NHS, claiming that it has been blocked by the unions.
I would dispute this suggestion. Rather, the unions are bringing common sense to an ill-thought-out proposal. Many senior consultants would be happy to alter their working weeks in order to provide a service on Saturdays and Sundays. But who would then cover the two lost days in the week?
In order to provide a full weekend service, a comprehensive staff expansion is required – not easy, given the NHS’s recruitment and retention difficulties. The current workforce is demoralised, understaffed, under-resourced and underpaid.
Colonel Douglas G Bryant FRCS
Northallerton, North Yorkshire
Logical luggage rules
SIR – My husband and I recently travelled by public transport all over Japan, where hardly anyone takes large items of luggage (Letters, November 24) on either the brilliant buses or the express trains. This makes travel both easy and comfortable. Most travellers reserve seats – and can also reserve a very limited space for luggage – in advance. However, this is seldom required because there are organisations that, for a small sum, will efficiently transfer large bags or items door-to-door overnight.
This meant that we could leave our heavy luggage at a hotel reception or private house, just keeping a small overnight bag with us.
The next day we would travel to our distant destination to find the cases waiting for us – often already in our hotel room – safe and undamaged.
Victoria Hamilton
Woodcote, Oxfordshire
SIR – On Sunday night in the late 1940s, Paddington station was always crowded with sailors waiting for the night train to Plymouth.
When it arrived, six sailors would climb into each compartment and toss a coin to see who slept where. The winners had the two long seats, the next two had the luggage racks and the losers had the floor.
A bit cramped, perhaps, but as the saying went: “A sailor can sleep anywhere, even over a barrel.” Happy memories.
Arthur W Webster
Rugby, Warwickshire
SIR – It wasn’t just suitcases that you used to be able to send in advance on the rail network. When Elspeth, my late wife, and I first moved to Yorkshire in the early 1960s, we had one important item of luggage that had to travel up in advance.
Flora, my wife’s horse, was sent by rail from Tiverton to North Ferriby station, via Hull, for the princely sum of £20. At Hull station, a porter gave her a bucket of water while her carriage was hitched on to the stopping train to North Ferriby.
There we met her, and walked her off the carriage and up the hill to her new paddock.
Mark Powell
London SW11
Seasonal salutations
SIR – Once again, your correspondents are intimating that they will not be sending Christmas cards this year because of the cost of postage (Letters, November 24).
That is an individual choice that I must respect – but are good friends really not worth 75p (a quarter of a cup of coffee)? We send and receive many cards, and it’s a relatively inexpensive way of keeping in touch with people we rarely, if ever, see.
Often there are a few lines of their news inside, or even that much-maligned (but for us welcome) item, a newsletter bringing us up to date. I design and make our own card at minimal expense, enabling us to give more money to charity. And as I sign each card I conjure up a vision of the recipient, and revive happy memories. One can’t do that with a “send all” email.
Dick Arnold
Chard, Somerset
SIR – I received my first Christmas card from a friend in New Zealand, stamped November 18.
It arrived on my doormat on November 18. New Zealand is 24 hours ahead, but surely this must be a record.
By contrast, I posted a letter to Oxford, a distance of under 10 miles from me, with a first-class stamp, and it took six weeks to arrive.
Kris Bartlett
Oxford
SIR – My cousin was once given a drum as a Christmas present (Letters, November 24).
My uncle said: “Why don’t you see what’s inside it?”
Problem solved.
Rob Peters
Beesands, Devon
Bringing work home
SIR – Years ago, when interviewing a young man for a position in my department, I glanced at his application (Letters, November 24).
Under “marital status” he had written: “made redundant”. The next few minutes of the interview were taken up with me valiantly trying not to giggle as my mind wandered to other possible ways of describing a marriage.
Linden Porter
Lane End, Buckinghamshire
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