LETTERS

Tackle knife crime

The shocking statistic that the murder rate in London now exceeds that in New York will lead to the demand for a more robust stop-and-search policy by the Met (Mail).

While this would be a welcome move, I don’t think this measure alone will reduce the number of young people dying needlessly.

Once the culture of carrying and lethally using knives has become embedded, only drastic action will work. Any person found to be carrying a knife should get a mandatory five-year prison sentence, without any pleas for mitigation.

Will the Government be bold enough to introduce such a measure or will the death toll continue?

Peter Henrick, Birmingham.

Deprived pupils

Why are teachers dipping into their own pockets to help clothe and feed some pupils (Mail)?

I come from an age when there was real poverty, not the slide rule used now that is supposed to calculate it.

I was one of ten children and our home did not have running water, but our mother would make sure we were all fed and washed before going to school. It was a matter of pride.

Might I suggest to teachers that if pupils turn up hungry for school, their first action should be to contact Social Services. The children’s home conditions need to be investigated as there may be more serious issues behind closed doors.

The Nanny State has gone too far, and parents must start taking responsibility for their situation.

I feel sorry for the children from these homes, as it is not just food they are missing, but simply throwing money at the problem will not solve anything.

Brian Foster, Walsall, W. Mids. I’M AMAZED children from poor families are having their clothes washed by teachers. Being poor doesn’t mean you can’t bathe your children or wash their clothes.

Gill Lawrence, Bletchley, Bucks.

Marriage woes

POOR Meghan Markle is discovering that having been married cannot be wiped from your record like a criminal offence can, and you can’t prevent anyone from revealing the details.

Those in the public eye also have to endure the circumstances that led to the split being revealed, which turn out to be no different from the reasons causing every other marriage break-up. JOHN EVANS, Wokingham, Berks. IT WAS very thoughtful of Meghan to post her wedding ring to her former husband. I threw my ring over the garden wall, and very satisfying it was, too! YVONNE SULLIVAN, Holmfirth, W. Yorks.

Hand of friendship

I Think we should offer the EU friendship, co- operation and free trade in the Brexit negotiations, though I think it is unlikely that this will be reciprocated.

With one year to go, business is rightly concerned at the uncertainty. If the EU imposes duties on our exports, our politicians must have the guts to do the same to them.

As a result it will be cheaper for us to buy goods manufactured in the UK, which I for one will certainly do.

David White, Herne Bay, kent. Speaker John Bercow and Theresa May’s deputy David Lidington have ruled out the chiming of Big Ben on Brexit Day, March 29, 2019.

They will not stop the joy felt in the hearts of the people of Britain. We shall ask for the church bells throughout the land to ring out on that glorious day and celebrate with fireworks and street parties.

These politicians can be as mean as they like, but they certainly won’t break our spirit.

SANDRA HAYWOOD, kirkby-in-Ashfield, notts.

Heads must roll

We Have been told NHS problems will extend to the summer and beyond at the same time it has been revealed that some health bosses have used taxpayer-funded credit cards to pay for helicopter lessons, go- karting and five- star hotels, racking up £5.8 million in two years.

The Prime Minister and the health Secretary need to get a grip on this situation and get rid of the senior Nhs executives who are abusing the system.

BRIAN BEST, Hazlemere, Bucks.

No association

HOW disappointing that Alan Sugar would stoop to associating Jeremy Corbyn with Adolf hitler.

Comparisons to hitler for cheap rhetorical effect have become so commonplace that they have lost all impact and merely become a lazy way to insult people in politics with whom we strongly disagree.

hitler said and did truly terrible things. his goals weren’t to raise tax on high earners and renationalise the railways.

he isn’t one of history’s greatest villains because of making a manifesto that didn’t add up. EMILIE LAMPLOUGH,

trowbridge, Wilts.

Protect privacy

COMMON sense tells us that the percentage of transgender people must be small. Yet the uproar that ensues when anyone dares to question their agenda is quite out of proportion.

To their shame, craven public and private institutions have pandered to demands to use ladies’ toilets and other invasions of female privacy.

This agenda has the vociferous support of the teaching unions, which are never shy of supporting any protesting minority where race, religion or sexuality is involved.

We should refuse to be bullied by a small group of vociferous activists.

Ian Harris, Bognor regis, W. Sussex.

Feeling sheepish

Weren’t there enough sturdy farmers in Shropshire to see off the vegan activists who forced the cancellation of the harmless bit of fun of sheep racing?

We need to stand up to these people or soon they will stop greyhound racing, horse racing, ferret racing and pigeon racing. Cyril Allen, Blandford, Dorset.

Hold the phone

I Agree that it is unwise to give certain organisations your phone number (Letters).

I asked BT to change my landline as it was similar to that of a local pharmacy and I was receiving many requests for repeat prescriptions.

Two weeks after the change, during which time I had not given anyone

my new number, I renewed my contract with scottish Power and supplied them with my contact details.

Two hours later, I received a call from another energy company and over the following 12 months I had 163 unwanted calls, despite being registered with the Telephone Preference service and BT Call Protect.

needless to say, it was nothing to do with me giving scottish Power my number.

N. J. DASEY, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire.

Two Labours

PETER OBORNE was a little adrift in his account of the Labour Party in the Thirties (mail). Its leader and prime minister Ramsay Macdonald seceded from his party in the 1931 financial crisis.

With his Chancellor, Philip snowden, and a small band of followers, he formed a national Government with the Conservatives and Liberals.

The Labour Party stayed intact under the leadership of Arthur Henderson and then George Lansbury.

Macdonald and his national Labour Party became prisoners of the Conservatives and were forced to support policies, such as severe Budget cuts and tariffs, which they had rejected for many years. The Independent Labour Party was a Left-wing movement affiliated to the Labour Party that broke away from it in 1932, when it had five Mps, all of them scottish. HARRY BERESFORD,

London SE1.