LETTERS

Stop meddling in Syria

THE U.S., Britain and France have learned from history that when confronted with domestic problems, it can be politically expedient to venture out militarily.

The Syrian government’s chemical weapons attack, if proven, is a crime of utmost gravity, and severe punishment should be meted out by the international community.

However, in the meantime it has provided an opportunity for three countries to assume a self-mythologising noble mission.

The airstrikes on Syria could only manage to bring a fleeting respite from the three countries’ domestic woes. To continue to meddle would only aggravate their political and financial problems.

ALEX J. VIDAL, address supplied. WHEN we cease to sell arms to some of the most despotic regimes in the Middle East, then the moral high ground may be in reach.

Dropping yet more bombs in Syria can’t atone for our costly failures of foreign intervention. COLLIN ROSSINI, Dovercourt, Essex.

Kowtowing to Trump?

WHAT difference have the airstrikes on Syria made? Very little. Assad is still president and Syria is still in a state of civil war, but now has a few more buildings reduced to rubble.

Perhaps more importantly, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin might decide to launch attacks on Britain’s key computer systems and cut our supplies of gas.

It is all very well for Theresa May to argue she had to act without consultation with Parliament because of the urgency of the situation in Syria. But did she merely kowtow to the impetuous Trump? R. HAVENHAND, Nantwich, Cheshire. IF WE were going to intervene in the Syrian conflict, we should have done it early and properly, not when Assad has nearly taken back control of the country and is on the verge of victory with the help of the Russians.

Sadly, we have to let the Syrian war burn out and try to bring a change of regime through UN negotiations.

Don’t let another warmongering U.S. President take us into a war — remember Tony Blair, George W. Bush and Iraq.

SIMON ICKE, Aston Clinton, Bucks.

Clean up diesel

YET again we are told car buyers are shunning diesel, concerned about government efforts to penalise drivers to clean up the environment (Mail). Such reports upset motorists who bought their vehicles in good faith, and cause huge financial disruption to manufacturers.

All of the following rely on diesel: lorries and vans; ambulances; fire engines; tractors and agricultural machinery; road-building machinery; diggers; buses and coaches; fishing vessels; and hospital generators.

The real answer to the pollution problem is for the Government to force the oil industry to produce clean diesel fuel in the same way they removed lead from petrol.

COLIN ROGERS, Llandrillo, Denbighshire.

Free as a bird

EVERY morning at 8am, a song thrush flies 80ft up to the top of the weather vane on our church of St Wilfrid’s and sings its beautiful tune for an hour. Those tiny lungs can be heard all around our community.

It returns for a repeat performance at 5pm. How is it that a thrush is so happy to chirp to its heart’s content? I’ll tell you why. It knows nothing of Trump’s trumpeting, Putin’s protestations or May’s musings.

It is ignorant of alleged poisoning of former spies, chemical attacks or Brexit. This small bird is not concerned with gilts, stocks, shares, equities or a failing private pension.

Terrorism strikes no fear into its speckled breast, nor does the plastic epidemic. It is blissfully unaware of the world’s troubles, being as free as a bird. Hopefully, one day we’ll all be able to whistle so freely and happily.

ROGER WEST, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Notts.

Wooden-top thinking

I HAVE long had doubts about the benefits of burning wood pellets at the Drax power station (Mail).

I worked there, so I know the boilers have a voracious appetite for pulverised coal. Wood does not have anywhere near the same power output. This means having to burn far more wood than coal to fire the boilers.

A glib reason often cited for burning wood pellets is that the wood comes from replaceable supplies.

Yes, more trees can be planted to replace the ones cut down, but they will take years to reach the point where they can be used for fuel.

There is little doubt that deforestation on the scale required to feed power stations will rapidly outstrip regrowth. Plus, trees are the lungs of the planet. With coal being phased out, the only answer for power generation is to go nuclear.

PHILIP ROE, York. ANYONE who has relied on an open fire for warmth can tell the high-

minded green lobby that burning wood is dirtier than burning coal.

ALAN SHARPE, Melton Mowbray, Leics.

Proud past

JEREMY CORBYN wants Theresa May to apologise for Britain’s colonial past. What a load of tosh!

The Commonwealth is proof the one-time global British Empire has long enjoyed freedom from colonialism.

You certainly won’t find the U.S. and France apologising for hanging on to their overseas territories. The U.S. will never give up Hawaii to its indigenous people and the French have not relinquished its possessions in Polynesia.

The U.S. didn’t abolish slave labour until 80 years after Britain had forged the way to emancipation. Rather than feeling ashamed of the past and grovelling for forgiveness, as Corbynistas suggest, Britain has much to be proud of.

MAURICE BLIGH, Sittingbourne, Kent.

Celebrity hell

I FEEL sorry for Ant McPartlin. No matter how much money you’ve got, if you have physical and mental health issues, particularly in the public gaze, it must be hell.

He shouldn’t have been drinking and driving. However, if he had not been a celebrity the accident would have been dealt with by the police being called, a court appearance and damages to the other car covered by insurance. That would have been the end of it. M. FIELD, Guildford, Surrey.

WHERE is the justice in fining Ant McPartlin £86,000, which he earns in less than a week, and giving him a 20-month driving ban when he can afford to hire a chauffeur?

ROBERT BOWER, Blackwater, Surrey. I REMEMBER Ant McPartlin’s mother watching his first show on a black and white TV set in the tanning salon where she worked in Newcastle city centre. Make her proud again, Ant. Turn your life around and get that Geordie fighting spirit back. JEAN NEvINS, Newcastle upon Tyne.

Wing and a prayer

LIKE Archbishop Justin Welby, I got a C, D and E in my A-levels. My grammar school teachers rightly advised me against applying to university.

I wonder if, like the Etoneducated archbishop, I should have gone to Cambridge.

The good news was I became a commercial apprentice at an aircraft company, which launched me into a successful career in human resources. But I may have become an archbishop!

RICHARD HARRIS, Westhoughton, Gtr Manchester.