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LETTERS

Write to: Daily Mail Letters, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT email: letters@dailymail.co.uk

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The Italian job

THE Italian political crisis proves we have made the right decision in leaving the EU.

They had an election and the two leading parties formed a coalition, but Italy’s President objected to their choice of finance minister because he was anti-EU.

This is a blatant violation of democracy. If the EU does not get the answer it wants, a country simply votes again — Ireland held a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty to get the ‘right’ result.

This all proves the UK is doing the correct thing by leaving this protection racket.

MICHAEL CARR, Ashford, Kent.

It’s Nicola who’s mad

NICOLA STURGEON has condemned what she calls ‘mad’ Brexiteers (Mail).

She demands that the UK stays in the Customs Union and the Single Market, and says the case for Scottish independen­ce was bigger than the UK’s case for leaving the EU.

Doesn’t she realise that if Scotland were to leave the UK, it would leave the EU automatica­lly?

The EU would not accept a breakaway country as a member. It’s unlikely the other 27 countries would want to take on another country that would require funding.

If anyone is mad, it’s Scotland’s First Minister.

M. ROUND, Telford, Shropshire.

THE Remainers are demanding another referendum. If we do have one, it should be ten years after we leave the EU.

This would give the country time to strike trading agreements around the world on which the electorate could vote.

DAVID GAMBRILL, Eastbourne, E. Sussex.

Sterling’s own goal

ANOTHER major sporting tournament comes around and one of our brightest hopes engages in a numbskull activity guaranteed to shoot our chances in the foot (Mail).

The M16 assault rifle tattoo that football World Cup England player Raheem Sterling has deemed fit to have etched on his lower leg could not be a better example of this issue.

In some strange way, as he claims, it may give him some solace after his father was fatally gunned down, but its effect on countless impression­able youths who idolise guns and knives to an unwholesom­e degree could be devastatin­g.

TERRY HICKMAN, Southampto­n, Hants.

Sticky wicket

ANOTHER internatio­nal cricket season begins, but it is the same old story. England have no backbone in their batting, with batsmen from limited-over cricket, whose response to earlier wicket loss is to try to hit every delivery to the boundary.

We must face the fact we are in a weak position and are desperatel­y in need of some class batsmen.

R. PEETE, Ramsgate, Kent.

Shopping clever?

ONE in four department stores could close as shoppers shun them for the internet (Mail).

This is not surprising now that so many would- be customers are engaging in ‘showroomin­g’.

That means visiting a shop to examine a product you are thinking of buying, asking a lot of searching questions of the well-trained assistant, getting a detailed demonstrat­ion of how it works or trying it out yourself in the store — only to go home and order it online from a site where it’s slightly cheaper.

It’s easy for internet websites to offer lower prices because they pay little in the way of business rates and salaries and can exploit the advertisin­g and marketing activities of their High Street rivals.

Thousands of High Street shops have closed in the past five years with the loss of thousands of jobs.

Not only is that bad for the employees and communitie­s concerned, it’s bad news for the Treasury. Busted businesses don’t pay corporatio­n tax, empty shops don’t pay business rates and the unemployed don’t pay income tax.

If that’s not bad enough, many online businesses have found ways to exploit the system so they pay minimal taxes.

Remember that, the next time you celebrate bagging an online bargain.

ANGUS LONG, Newcastle upon Tyne.

Blunt logic

RETIRING judge Nic Madge has suggested selling kitchen knives with rounded ends to stem the rate of knife-related crime (Mail).

This misses the point. It’s the will and intention to do harm that’s the problem, not the implement. Modifying guns and knives would do nothing to stop crime. After all, you can do someone damage with a sharp pencil. Are we to modify and ban pencils, too, instead of addressing the root cause of violence?

We need a return to proper deterrents — if you commit a knife crime, there would be a certainty of being arrested and, if convicted, a life sentence would be mandatory without parole.

But this isn’t likely to happen while government­s fail to build enough prisons and the liberal elite persist with the idealistic notion that rehabilita­tion works for all.

BRIAN SYKES, Sudbury, Suffolk.

Bare hypocrisy

BROADCASTE­R Mariella Frostrup shows a rare insight and honesty when she recognises she displays double standards by ogling the shirtless Aidan Turner in Poldark (Mail).

It saddens me that the sexes are so far apart in agreeing what constitute­s sexism or equality.

Is it equality for women to leer at male strippers? They may argue that men have been able to display such behaviour since time immemorial and now it’s their turn.

This suggests that all the time women were castigatin­g men for their behaviour, it was not because it was wrong per se, it was just that women weren’t able to do it.

Now they can: judging men on their looks or sex appeal is acceptable. Do two wrongs make a right? SIMON WESTLAKE, Tonbridge, Kent.

Precious parenting

AS A stay- at- home mum to a two-year- old and a three-year- old, and expecting a baby this summer, I was pleased to read the article ‘Why stay-at-home mums are more under attack than ever’ (Femail).

It was good to see support for us parents who choose to dedicate our time and energy to raising our children as opposed to going back to paid work.

I am a qualified solicitor who has

decided to stay at home with my children while they are small. I often receive puzzled looks when I tell people of my qualificat­ions.

Many can’t understand why I wouldn’t return to work and put my young children in nursery or in the care of a full-time nanny.

I find it hard to understand why I would do that when it is my only opportunit­y to spend precious time helping them to learn and to grow. In a few short years, they will be at school and a small piece of them will be lost to me.

I believe it is beneficial for children to have a stable relationsh­ip with one main care-giver for at least the first two years of their life.

Aged two- and- a- half, my daughter started attending a few mornings of pre- school and that time does her (and me!) the world of good.

I felt the article should have differenti­ated between mothers whose children are at school and those caring full- time for babies and pre-schoolers.

I chuckled when I read one mother’s daily schedule that included checking Facebook, having lunch and making a ‘fiddly’ home-made lasagne. It looks very leisurely to me!

I barely get time to brush my hair or drink some water, let alone eat a sandwich and fruit while reading the paper. In fact, I don’t do anything alone, including using the loo.

Looking after toddlers is an amazing, wonderful, fascinatin­g, frustratin­g, tiring and frazzling job with no monetary rewards, but lots of emotional ones and unbeatable job satisfacti­on.

As a friend puts it, she goes to work for a rest.

REBECCA HUDSON, Pulborough, W. Sussex. LUCKY stay-at-home mother of two Claire Paye (Femail). Most of us who go to work also manage to feed and walk the dog, supervise homework, administer medicines, discuss the school day and make the dinner.

I might not have time to wash the car or tidy the kitchen, but we survive! Name supplied, Bromley, Kent.

Out of tune

HOW much did the BBC’s Biggest Weekend music event cost to stage at four locations — Belfast, Perth, Swansea and Coventry — over the Bank Holiday featuring internatio­nal pop stars including Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Liam Gallagher?

And did the ticket sales cover the cost, so there was no burden on the licence fee payer, the majority of whom did not attend . . . or want to attend?

DAVE JOHNS, Brighton. MORE than 50,000 people had a wonderful time in Swansea at the BBC’s Big Weekend. They watched some of the world’s biggest pop acts at an affordable price.

This was not frittering away money. It was a triumph for the organisers, the BBC and the local council.

KEVIN SULLIVAN, Swansea.

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