LETTERS

Proud to fly the flag

former government minister Nick Boles is right when he said it was ‘bonkers’ that so few flags are flown on St George’s Day (mail).

The Welsh, Scottish and Irish acknowledge their saints’ days, so why shouldn’t we?

I visit france every year in a touring van with a small St George’s flag sticker displayed with pride. I’ve been asked by english and european people where I come from.

D. Curtis, Durham. I WAS a strong advocate for St George’s Day and all things english. But it is becoming increasingly difficult to have pride in and to celebrate a country that prosecutes military personnel for doing their jobs, is the laughing stock of europe, has leaders who do not accept the will of the people, is reluctant to prosecute some offenders for fear of being accused of racism and believes patriotism is supporting the national football team and olympians.

robert J. evans, birmingham.

Defending the RNLI

The rNLI performs an essential public service, saving 500 lives each year and rescuing or helping more than 30,000 people.

People want and expect us to be an organisation they can feel proud of and where people from all backgrounds can feel welcome.

So when we receive reports of bullying or aggressive behaviour at our stations; when we hear of a lifeboat being taken for a joyride in a near gale and so be unavailable for lifesaving; and when we hear about mugs portraying explicit pornographic images (bearing no relation to mockups shown in the media) being used in a station crew room, we have no option but to investigate and take appropriate action.

This is not a witch-hunt. It is not political correctness gone wild. It is an organisation that recognises that even courageous volunteers need to behave and maintain the trust of the people on whose support we depend. That standard of behaviour is not negotiable.

We take no shortcuts in looking after our courageous volunteer lifeboat crew and lifeguards who venture out into some of the most dangerous seas in the world.

That requires a variety of technical skills of the very highest order, across a number of disciplines. The head office staff are not ‘pen-pushers’; they are dedicated and skilled people who enable the rNLI to operate its services safely.

viCe aDmiral Paul boissier, rnli chief executive, Poole, Dorset.

Nul points for Eurovision

IT’S time the UK stopped being a cash cow for eurovision. how can the BBC justify spending licence payers’ money to guarantee the UK has an entry? liZ Hunter, Great sutton, Cheshire. We’D still finish near the bottom at eurovision if it was Adele up there belting out her finest. Derek Fawell, leigh-on-sea, essex. CAN the Prime minister assure the country that on march 29, 2019, we’ll be leaving eurovision and there will be no transition period? DaviD J. wHite, basingstoke, Hants. ISrAeL wins eurovision with a chicken dance? Weren’t we doing the funky chicken 40 years ago? terrY austin, totnes, Devon. yoU’re a well-nourished Bjork lookalike with a chicken fixation? you’ve got eurovision novelty winner stamped all over you.

terrY HiCkman, southampton, Hants.

Rip-off home loans

oN The advice of my bank manager in the eighties, I switched from a repayment to an endowment mortgage. I was told the loan would be covered by bonuses generated when the assurance policy matured.

The economic downturn that followed, with interest rates that soared to crippling double- digits, soon reduced the deal to a pile of broken promises.

Thousands faced negative equity and the loss of their homes. I managed to pay off my mortgage, despite the fact the policy never reached its predicted performance.

Now, people with interest- only mortgages who have never missed a payment are facing losing their homes (money mail).

Three decades after my experience, banks, building societies and insurance companies continue to sell rip-off deals. GeorGe PePPer, Dover, kent. Why didn’t homeowners on interestonly home loans increase their payments when rates dropped? This would have meant the capital sum would have diminished. These people must manage their own predicament — don’t blame the mortgage providers. robert GriFFitHs, melksham, wilts.

HRT is no elixir of youth

I WISh beauty guru Liz earle would stop trying to persuade women of a certain age to take hrT so they can look as youthful as her (mail).

I took hrT after having a hysterectomy at a young age. I exercised three times a week and had a healthy diet. There was no history of breast cancer in my family, but I developed an oestrogen-receptive form of this disease, indicating it was likely to have been caused by hrT.

Before taking hrT, please have all the health checks and think carefully about the risks. I question whether Liz’s trim figure and glowing skin is down to the hrT, rather than her privileged lifestyle. liDia GaGe, Horsham, w. sussex.

Crackdown on violence

WheN visiting a high school in minneapolis, I was impressed with the security arrangements.

A plain-clothed police officer used a metal detector to stop pupils bringing weapons into the school. he showed me a machete and pistol he had recently confiscated.

he also made neighbourhood patrols, during which he had arrested an armed gang robbing an off-licence and intervened to stop an elderly couple being mugged.

Would it not be a good idea if we rolled out a similar system in areas experiencing knife and gun attacks?

JoHn kinG, Cullompton, Devon.

Singled out

There must be thousands of unmarried people like me who have been overlooked when the criteria for inheritance tax were decided by the Government.

The assets we have accrued are the residue of money that has already been taxed, acquired by years of hard work and frugality. married couples are allowed to bequeath all of their

wealth to one another. Why can’t single people be allowed to dispose of our assets as we choose without being ripped off by the Government? JOYCE STEADMAN, Hastings, E. Sussex.

Rope risks

I DON’T agree with the criticism of a council that banned a rope swing in woodland on the grounds of health and safety (Mail).

Some years ago, local children put a rope swing on a large tree growing on waste land near where I live.

An eight-year- old boy was swinging when the rope wrapped around his neck and he was killed instantly. ERNEST HOLLOWAY,

Thorpe Bay, Essex.

Final tweet

WHeN I moved into my village home 22 years ago, every morning I could count 25 to 30 sparrows in the tree in my front garden. These mornings there are none.

In the afternoons, the noise of their chatter and singing was amazing in my back garden, but now it is silent. There are still robins, blackbirds, wrens and blue-tits, so where have the sparrows gone? JENNY CREED, Rossett, Clwyd. ONe predator was not mentioned in all the theories regarding the demise of house sparrows (Letters) — cats!

The increase in cat ownership means nature is at the mercy of these bird-murdering, garden-desecrating creatures. How many times has Tiddles or Fluffy left ‘a little present’ — i.e. a dead bird — on the doormat?

The decimation of bird life is down to cats, not plastic windows or squirrels.

DAVE NIXON, Stafford.