Our courageous Cold War pilots deserve a medal
DESPITE 20 years of flying in the RAF with five operational tours on fighter, bomber and strike aircraft, I am not entitled to a medal (Letters).
As a former RAF nuclear bomber captain on Canberrra B6 and Vulcan B2 aircraft, I served in Germany with 24-hour duties locked inside a secure compound in readiness for a short-notice strike on the Soviet Union.
In the early days, we used an American nuclear weapon, so a USAAF officer would insert the secret codes prior to take-off.
During the 1962 Cuban missile crisis and after President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, we were on the highest state of readiness, strapped in the cockpit for hours. On many other occasions we bade our fond farewells to our families because, though we didn’t tell them, these would have been one-way suicide missions.
The Canberra and Vulcan were designed in the Forties to fly at high level. There was a change of tactics to low-level attacks in the early Sixties after Gary Powers’s U2 spy plane was shot down over the USSR from 70,000ft.
Fuel consumption for low-level flying was so great that we would not have had sufficient to return to friendly territory after an attack.
Crews in RAF Germany could buy a commemorative medal, but this was purely a memento because it could not be worn on uniforms. So I support the calls for an official campaign medal.
It saddens me when young people ask: ‘What was the Cold War? Were we expecting trouble?’ Was it all in vain?
GEOFF DYER, Bleasby, Notts.
Wasteful NHS
I CAN’T believe Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is asking why some hospital trusts are paying ludicrous sums for standard items, such as £16 for rubber gloves worth 35p (Mail).
It’s not rocket science to draw up a list of the 200 most required items and the cheapest suppliers. The multiple layers of bureaucracy in the NHS should be fully audited and held to account before one extra penny of taxpayers’ money is allocated.
During a recent spell in hospital, I asked one of the hardworking nurses whether the administrative staff spent any time in the wards to see what really goes on. She replied this had never happened. IVOR SOROKIN, Hove, E. Sussex. NHS boss Simon Stevens is pleading for all the savings from leaving the EU to be paid straight into the NHS.
Such hypocrisy beggars belief. During the referendum campaign, we were urged to vote Remain or risk the NHS running out of its supply of labour from Eastern Europe.
The NHS should concentrate on collecting money owed by overseas patients and reduce the penalising PFI payments dumped on them by the Labour government.
BRYAN LACK, Banbury, Oxon. WITH the NHS’s overall purchasing power, all hospitals should be paying the same competitive price for stethoscopes and plasters. It should be using the same tactics as supermarkets.
PETER BRIAN, Stevenage, Herts.
Boost business
DO HUNDREDS more small businesses, shops, cafes and pubs have to close before the Government realises it has messed up with respect to VAT, corporation tax and business rates?
Laughably, the Tories claim to be the party of business, but if things carry on, they will be the party of ‘business-lessness’!
Let’s cut VAT and contemplate a simple sales tax to reduce costs and inject cash into enterprise.
As for businesses, could they not adapt co-operative principles for 21st-century needs?
In the case of pubs under threat of closure, locals, staff and regulars could form co- operatives with other pubs to share costs and spread profits for re-investment.
DON BROAD, Dartford, Kent.
Root out villainy
AS A retired policeman, I despair at the report that officers would not enter a travellers’ site in Ely, Cambridgeshire, to retrieve a stolen caravan (Mail). I recall an incident when bushes had been stolen from a garden centre by travellers. Their vehicle and its registration number had been spotted, and the details passed to the police. I went to the travellers’ site and found the bushes neatly planted around the caravans.
Did I wait for back-up or for permission to retrieve the plants? No, I pulled them out of the ground and arrested the suspect. It sent the message that the police would not tolerate such behaviour.
Sadly, the travellers on the site in Ely now know they can commit crimes and get away with it.
S. HAWKINS, Truro, Cornwall.
One rule for the rich ...
CAN anyone explain how the wealthy can pass all they own to an offshore bank, which is exempt from tax and take out a loan on the value, which presumably is not repaid, but if I give more than £3,000 to my children in any tax year, HMRC can include it when it calculates death duties?
M. E. TREW, Trowbridge, Wilts.
Crime and punishment
‘WHAT does it take to be jailed (Mail)? An available prison cell and a judiciary that applies the law. The reality is that the crime you commit is no longer relevant to the sentence you receive.
As the prison population rises and no additional capacity is planned, we had better get used to serious criminals receiving non-custodial sentences.
Then comes the attitude of the judiciary. In the case of Farhana Ahmed, who pleaded guilty to various terrorism charges, the judge chose to ignore the normal sentencing for this crime. Instead, he interpreted her guilty plea and that she had five children to care for as sufficient punishment.
Is it any wonder that terrorists don’t fear being caught in the United Kingdom? Name supplied, Accrington, Lancs. GIVEN the ridiculous number of court cases that end with criminals going free for the weakest of reasons, perhaps it’s time we turned our attention to how judges are appointed.
We need a strong judiciary that upholds and applies the law as a deterrent. Too many judges seem to hold ultra-liberal attitudes and seek any excuse to avoid sending offenders to jail. ROBERT BRYAN, Morpeth, Northumberland. THIS is what it takes to be jailed in my area: a man has been sentenced to 12 weeks for intentionally injuring a seagull. The murder squad and child protection and counter-terrorism officers should be concentrating on looking after seaside vermin. D. LONGDEN, Worthing, W. Sussex. REFUSE to pay your TV licence fee — that should do the trick. JOY TURNER, London W8. DON’T pay your council tax and jail is almost guaranteed. G. WATSON, Upminster, Essex.
It’s our BBC
IT WOULD be great if the BBC went ahead with a Netflix- style online service offering vintage sitcoms on demand (Mail).
Apart from the nominal costs of creating and maintaining an archive and of running the website, viewers shouldn’t have to pay for shows they already ‘own’. Hence the slogan: ‘It’s your BBC.’
F. HARVEY, Bristol.
Beware of the giants
I’M NOT surprised there was a warning about medical scenes before Doc Martin (Letters).
There was a warning before each Land Of The Giants episode on the Horror channel.
I first watched this series in the Sixties on children’s TV. But we played on bombsites back then and were a bit tougher.
S. MITCHELL, London SE8.