LETTERS
Get a grip
IN THE midst of crucial Brexit negotiations, Islamic terrorism and a world possibly on the brink of a nuclear war with North Korea, why was the Defence Secretary forced to resign over drunken, infantile and lewd comments made years ago?
Pitiable they might have been, but hardly the actions of an aggressive sexual predator. The alleged victim, Andrea Leadsom, is a successful politician who has achieved much in a male-dominated career.
It’s hard to imagine her as someone who would be held back or intimidated by bawdy banter. CHARLES JACKSON, Newcastle upon Tyne. AS A teenager, I would say hello to a lonely, elderly gentleman who would lean on his garden gate as I passed by. One day he invited me in for tea and biscuits — and chased me around the kitchen table before I managed to make my escape.
Did I feel scarred for life by this incident? No, it taught me men will be men, even at the age of 80. We had our wires crossed: I thought I was doing my bit for society, and he thought he was going a-courting.
ANN CHERRY, Princes Risborough, Bucks. DURING my driving test, I was turning out of a junction when the examiner said: ‘I would release the hand-brake if I were you, my dear.’
I was astonished that he then passed me. While tapping me reassuringly on the knee, he said: ‘None of us is infallible, my dear.’ I certainly didn’t interpret his kind act as being something more sinister.
VAL ANNE LEE, Alresford, Hants.
Fighting back
COUNCIL houses for jihadis? As an infantry officer in the Seventies, I served in Northern Ireland; now, my fellow soldiers are being put on criminal charges.
Soon, it may be my turn. There is an alternative: join IS and rape and murder anyone deemed to be an enemy of the caliphate, then come back to the UK. I will be able to walk past the line of lads who fought for freedom from IS and are awaiting prosecution for their efforts.
Then I can go to social services, where I will be ‘understood’, and claim a council house. All cheers to murder and brutality.
PHILIP HODSON, Newmarket, Suffolk.
Taking a gamble
I WORKED in the betting industry for 22 years and agree that ‘crack cocaine’ fixed-odds betting terminals are evil (Mail).
The claim that staff are trained to spot problem gamblers is just lip service. We were told to bring punters tea or coffee so they would not have to move from the machines. Chairs were introduced for their comfort. Then debit card machines were installed so that when they ran out of cash, they didn’t have to leave the shop to go to an ATM.
PAM COOPER, Milton Keynes, Bucks.
Degree of failure
IT MAKES me smile that apprenticeships are seen as the latest idea. There were plenty of apprenticeships until the trades unions felt they were taking advantage of young people by not paying them the going rate.
That’s also why the health service is in such a state. Instead of nurses learning on the wards by caring for people, today they all need to have a nursing degree.
M. NOBLE, Wickford, Essex.
Card trick
DEBT is the country’s ticking timebomb. As an adviser for a financial services company, I was negotiating on behalf of a couple to reduce the payments on their overstretched unsecured loans.
Then they said: ‘ What about the credit cards?’ I found out they had 21! At the end of every month, they were able to take on another credit card to service the others.
When the new credit card company checked and found they were keeping up their payments, it was happy to give them another loan. The debt they had run up was 50 per cent higher than the value of their home.
LEON SLATER, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs.
NHS cutbacks vs waste
AS A health professional in the NHS, I have experienced how cuts are affecting the quality of service.
I am also a mother of a daughter who needs a major abdominal operation, but because of the shortage of beds, her surgery has been postponed.
The hospital is blaming ‘the winter season starting earlier’. Surely the NHS is there to treat patients, but instead we can now expect that any planned surgery will be ‘bumped’.
CHRISTINE RAMSAY, Stockton-on-Tees, Co. Durham. THE NHS claims it’s being starved of money, but following treatment for my mother, in my loft I have two Zimmer frames, a bed guard, a tray on wheels, bandages and medicines, all of which must be worth hundreds of pounds. I have been told I can’t return any of it.
After I picked up my repeat prescription last week, I realised after I had left the chemist that it was incorrect.
To my surprise, when I returned it, instead of putting it back on the shelf to be used for another patient, the pharmacist threw it in a bin and reordered my prescription.
The NHS’s problems aren’t down to a lack of funds, but because it’s being run by incompetent managers
who don’t care about the high cost of wasted resources. LOUISE BROUGHTON, Windermere, Cumbria.
Missing ambulance
HOW sad that grandmother Lynda Manning died waiting for an ambulance (Mail) after she fell and cracked her head on the pavement.
Lengthy waits after dialling 999 are far from uncommon. My wife, Eileen, had a nasty fall and finished up flat on her back on the garden path.
I rang 999 and was told they would send an ambulance as soon as possible, but in the meantime it was essential not to move her in case of serious injury. I rang again after an hour, and my daughter did the same after two hours, but to no avail.
As Eileen’s injuries did not appear to be life-threatening, she was seen as a low priority. So this frail lady of nearly 90 had to lie still on cold concrete for nearly three hours.
I put no blame on the ambulance service. But when the Government can spend billions on vanity projects such as HS2 and overseas aid, we certainly know where their priorities lie. GEORGE THOMAS, Horsham, W. Sussex.
Fighting my corner
A DISPUTE with neighbours over land (Mail) can take its toll emotionally and financially. My neighbours erected a fence that trespassed on my share of a courtyard.
I employed a surveyor to determine the boundary line, which my neighbours would not accept. After eight months of arguments, I asked my builders to remove the fence.
A court case decided in my favour, but though the legal proceedings cost me £4,320, I was only awarded costs of £3,328. Despite all this, I am glad I fought my corner. ANTONIA MOORE, London NW3.
Lost and found
ON REMEMBRANCE Day, my wife and I will think of our grandfathers who fought in World War I. They spoke very little of their experiences.
I have the postcard that my grandfather, a carpenter who was called to serve with the Royal Engineers, sent just before embarkation. Fresh out of training, he didn’t know what was facing him. CHRISTOPHER BROOKS,
Camberley, Surrey.
Pipe down!
LIKE Craig Brown, I am fed up with being bombarded by useless announcements.
Travelling by train, I was told I would face a penalty if I didn’t have a valid ticket, despite the fact I had already passed through a ticket-operated barrier.
Boarding a Tube train, I was instructed to consider others when using my mobile phone. But as soon as the doors closed, some idiot with a sound system started playing music and singing very loudly before passing a hat around.
BOB REEVES, Billericay, Essex.