LETTERS

It’s a crime

I AM surprised Crimewatch is being axed because of poor ratings. Why does the BBC worry about viewing figures? It doesn’t have to sell advertising, as its income comes from an enforced levy, the TV licence.

Surely the whole point of the BBC is to deliver information to the nation that is valuable, but not necessarily watched by the majority. No commercial stations could afford to take over this important role. MICHAEL PRITCHARD,

Penn, Bucks.

Schoolboy error

ONE issue was not tackled by teacher Wendy Cascio in her explanation for white working-class boys under- achieving at school (Letters). Eight out of ten teachers at my 15-year- old son’s school are female, many of whom are unmarried and without their own children.

Handling teenage boys can be problematic and needs sensitivity and experience. But I have noticed there is a penchant for pettiness and referral to parents, instead of dealing with issues as and when they occur.

There are too many teachers with pastoral care responsibilities and too few experienced, inspiring educators who bring their subjects alive and make pupils interested in learning.

JOHN NELSON, Wirral, Merseyside. HOW dare the Government berate schools for ‘teaching to the tests’? Who is responsible for that?

I was a teacher for 43 years and had to endure a rich, vibrant and interesting curriculum systematically eroded and turned into a narrow, unimaginative, boring regime at the behest of successive ministers for education — none of whom had teaching experience.

JANE E. BURKE, Mansfield, Notts.

View from Europe

THERE is one group of people who have not been asked what they want out of Brexit: the citizens of the remaining 27 countries.

Are they worried about freedom of movement when fewer than 1 per cent of them have moved to the UK? Will they fret about the European Court of Justice when our continued participation or lack of it won’t affect their lives?

What they do fear is the effect on their jobs if a sensible trade agreement can’t be reached.

BILL HODGES, Eynesbury, Cambs.

Spot the clues

HOW many clues do the Remainers need (Letters)? The pig in a poke Common Market morphed into the EEC and then the EU.

A flag, an anthem, a Parliament, an amalgamated Presidency, a foreign secretary, embassies worldwide, perhaps open borders, a single currency, moves to harmonise tax rates, a unified trade negotiating team and perhaps soon an army. It has always been the plan of Euro-zealots to create, step by step, the United States of Europe. Yes, divorcing ourselves from this ‘project’ will present difficulties, but even if reasserting our nationhood means we are a little worse off, at least Britain will be a country, not a county.

DAVID TAYLOR, Stourport, Worcs. IN ORDER to be so specific about the so- called Brexit settlement figure, would I be correct in thinking the Commissioners have finally been able to have the EU accounts signed off by the auditors?

P. CUTMORE, Durham. IT TAKES a halfwit to think that any deal, however bad, must always be better than no deal. But it takes a complete idiot to state this during a negotiation. WILLIAM OSWALD, Leintwardine, Herefordshire.

Border disorder

REGARDING the border in Ireland, surely the answer is to build checkpoints as ordered by the EU, and then not man them.

SHIRLEY HARRIES, Angmering, W. Sussex. THE OECD says Brexit will be as damaging as the Blitz for Britain. Well, that’s the first time they have remembered the war.

RONALD BAL, Farnborough, Hants.

Daft sex test

IF THE NHS is to ask us to identify our sexuality in order not to discriminate against LGBT patients, I shall ask the doctors, nurses, care assistants and receptionists involved in my treatment to identify their sexuality, too.

And how about the senior NHS management who came up with this daft idea? Surely the taxpayers’ money that will be wasted on this form-filling would be better spent reducing waiting lists for all.

T. OSBORNE, Bexhill-on-Sea, E. Sussex. I WAIT three weeks for an appointment with my GP. I sit for 40 minutes on a hard seat in the clinic.

My back hurts when I stand up. My hips hurt when I walk. My knees hurt when I sit down. When the GP asks about my sexuality, my reply is likely to be unprintable.

D. TRAYLER, Hornchurch, Essex.

Perfect pitch

I HAVE fond memories of playing football in the Fifties on the pitches at Hackney Marshes (Mail).

You changed in sheds, with the opposing team sitting on the facing bench. Then you carried the goal posts to your allotted pitch.

If you were lucky, you would have a referee. Otherwise you would have to ask a spectator or one of the managers to step up to the task.

There were no nets so you had to chase after the ball if it went on to the next pitch or, worse still, fell into one of the streams. The traditional leather ball was heavy when it got

wet. After the match, there were no showers, only a trough with a cold water tap.

But with more than 100 pitches, the rainbow of colours of the football shirts was a sight to behold.

R. GRAY, Felixstowe, Suffolk.

Price of care

DOES anyone in Government have any idea about the reality of care home fees?

Care minister Jackie DoylePrice has said pensioners should not think of keeping their homes as an asset to pass on to their children if they need to go into a home.

The Prime Minister has rejected this, saying families who have worked hard should be able to pass on their home.

But the truth is that anyone with assets above £ 23,250 must fund their own care.

The proceeds from the sale of my mother’s modest house was spent on a nursing home while my elder brother’s home was sold by the Court of Protection to pay for his care.

Name and address supplied.

Just muddle along

THE Eccentric Party proposes that Britain adopts a radical new plan of replacing the beleaguered Theresa May with no one at all and leaving the post of prime minister permanently vacant.

As plotting against the Prime Minister gathers strength, the country has largely agreed with the Tories that there are no suitable candidates, so Downing Street should be left fallow for the future.

There’s no shame in admitting there are no credible candidates for leadership and that we should just muddle along for a bit. Better no deal than a bad deal, we say.

Mrs May is essentially a vacancy at the top, so we’d just be making it formal.

We could still declare we want a great deal that works for everyone even without having anyone actually in charge of the country.

LORD TOBY JUG, The Eccentric Party of Great

Britain, Cambridge.