LETTERS

Night of treachery

WHAT a night of treachery by Dominic Grieve and his fellow Tory Remainers voting against their own party. The hard work by Theresa May and the Brexit team over the past few months achieving a way forward with the EU has been undermined by these selfish diehards.

The EU must be overjoyed at the lack of support for our Government. At such a crucial time the 11 MPs should have shown support to their own party, not Labour. They have brought shame on Britain. DAVID MARKS, Wadebridge, Cornwall. I WANT Brexit and the sooner the better, but not on unfavourable terms. It is the duty of MPs to challenge the Cabinet if they do not believe it is acting in the best interests of the electorate.

I applaud their challenge — that is what democracy is about. MARJORY ORMSBY, Abergele, Conwy. I AM so angry at the treachery of the so- called Tory MPs who voted against the Government.

They seemed to disrespect the fact that the voters in the Referendum in their constituencies voted for Brexit.

Instead of representing our will, they sought to further their own selfish personal opinions. They should be deselected. COLIN RAMSELL, Nayland, Suffolk.

Crackdown on gambling

THE shocking revelation that 25,000 children aged 11 to 16 are hooked on gambling websites (Mail) should be a wake-up call for society.

We should not be surprised gambling firms have found yet another route for making money.

It is everywhere, from betting shops on High Streets — with addictive gambling machines that eat up your money — to TV adverts bombarding us with invitations to bet on the football matches we are watching.

When there is criticism, the industry cries crocodile tears and says it encourages people to gamble responsibly. We all have freedom of choice, but when our children are becoming addicted, we have to act. It’s about time the Government stepped in. DON TOWNSHEND, Chelmsford, Essex.

Ultimate penalty

NEW Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has said what most of us are thinking — a dead terrorist can’t cause any harm to Britain.

Those in the legal establishment and others who are outraged by this common sense statement are overlooking the fact that IS does not fight by the Queensberry rules, let alone the Geneva Convention. Any British citizens who have joined IS are traitors and our enemy. Name and address supplied.

Homes truths

WHILE not wishing to diminish the Grenfell tragedy, I have to ask why are so many people trying to make political capital out of it? Kensington & Chelsea council states it will have 300 new homes available by Christmas, double the number of residences lost.

Even so, only around 40 offers have been accepted. Some families have refused a new home because they feel they will then be forgotten in future plans. Others have rejected homes just a couple of miles away.

It is about time that politicians on all sides started to act positively to overcome the problems, working to allay people’s fears, rather than fomenting bad feelings by supporting unrealistic expectations. MARTIN HOWES, Telford, Shropshire.

All shipshape

READER John Darling is concerned about the amount of rubbish dumped at sea by cruise ships (Letters).

When I worked on a liner in the Sixties, sadly every piece of rubbish was tossed or pumped overboard. Today, it is completely different.

All ships are governed by stringent rules about disposal of the waste. Sewage and rubbish are stored on board and then unloaded in port. The only thing ‘dumped’ at sea is liquefied food waste, which is safe for wildlife to eat. Thus that, too, is being recycled. RICHARD SIROT, Deal, Kent. I TRAINED as a steward in the Merchant Navy in the Fifties and worked on Canadian Pacific liners.

The chief steward told me that if the Atlantic drained, we would be able to walk from Liverpool to New York on a road made from all the broken crockery dumped overboard from cruise liners. EDWARD J. SMITH, Camberley, Surrey.

Snowflake Britain

THE over-reaction to a few flurries of snow, with thousands of schools closed and many public services cancelled or delayed, is just another symptom of a modern public sector infected with institutional torpor.

As millions of private sector workers managed to get to work and do their jobs, we had to listen to the pathetic excuses of council leaders.

Please, spare us the ‘duty of care’ and ‘health and safety’ platitudes. This was quite simply idleness, a crass lack of personal responsibility and a dereliction of duty.

It was an international embarrassment and councils should hang their heads in shame. ANGUS LONG, Newcastle upon Tyne. GOING to school in the Forties and Fifties, I never had a day off because of bad weather.

The heating consisted of pipes running around the classroom fed by an ancient boiler that often broke down and an open fire in the school hall.

We had to bash the top of the milk to break the ice before we could drink it. At breaktime we were turfed out into a freezing cold playground,

where we had great fun making slides on the ice. Occasionally, a child would fall and break their arm — no one sued. Mrs JUNE GREEN,

Bagshot, Surrey. I AM pleased to say my old prep school, West House in Edgbaston, Birmingham, remained open when all the local state schools were closed because of the bad weather. Proper stoic chaps.

Oddly, while many other parents look down on the rest of us from their four- wheeldrives when the sun is shining they don’t seem to know how to use them in the snow to drive their children to school.

IAN GREEN, Malvern, Worcs.

Rolling news...

ALL you whippersnapper rolling pins can just get back into your kitchen drawers (Letters)! When we married, my new husband brought with him a beech rolling pin he had made at school in 1955. I am glad to say that both are still going strong! Mrs VALERIE HARRISON,

Plymouth, Devon. SIX generations of my family have used the same rolling pin. It was given as a wedding present to my great grandmother in 1863 and my granddaughters now use it. GEORGE RYDER,

Swansea. THE rolling pin I inherited from my mother-in-law was made during World War II by a German in a PoW camp at Hiltingbury in Hampshire.

It has lost its handles, but still does a good job. MARION LEWIS, Ringwood, Hants.

Lasting lifetimes

WHY the surprise about wooden kitchen utensils lasting several lifetimes?

My breadboards and rolling pin belonged to my grandmother and were remembered from her toddlerhood by my mother and in turn used by her and now by me.

Whether these were my grandmother’s 1909 wedding presents or passed on by her mother, no one now knows.

Will the next generation want them? Not if they are encouraged to think of everything as disposable. CAROLA MORTON,

Hereford.