LETTERS

Shame of Met boss

AS A former police officer, I am enraged and embarrassed that Sir Craig Mackey, the then acting commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and now the deputy commissioner of Scotland yard, locked himself in his car while witnessing the murder of PC Keith Palmer at the Houses of Parliament.

I would expect a police officer of any rank to forget his own safety in order to try to arrest a terrorist and protect a colleague.

why couldn’t an attempt have been made to run the terrorist down in the vehicle rather than sit and watch? He says he followed instructions to leave the scene after the killing — since when does a junior officer instruct the commissioner? Shame on Sir Craig Mackey.

C. JEMSON, address supplied. I TRuST that one of the many ‘lessons to be learned’ from the westminster terrorist attacks will include Craig Mackey being stripped of his knighthood.

His actions clearly demonstrated he does not deserve it. ANGUS LONG, Newcastle upon Tyne. I AM angry beyond words that Sir Craig Mackey stayed in his locked car just because he did not have any protective equipment.

Throughout my 30 years of service in the police, I carried a small wooden baton with a leather strap. I often found myself in situations I would have preferred not to have had to deal with, but I was never deterred from engaging.

Sir Craig Mackey’s uniform is weighed down with regalia and medals. whatever these were for, he should be stripped of them.

In my day, to neglect assisting a fellow officer in trouble would merit dismissal.

ALEX McLENNAN, Bedford, Beds.

Boom and bust

DoMINIC LAwSoN points out that a noisy restaurant makes you eat 30 per cent faster and drink more (Mail). It’s not just the volume, but the type of noise that can be irritating, such as the repetitive boom, boom, boom, thud, thud, thud that passes for music today.

will a shop worker have the gall to sue their employer over the effects of this constant music? Soon they will have to put up with weeks of Christmas carols. Deafening, aggressive music is deterring customers, not attracting them.

TONY THOMPSON, Banbury, Oxon. SADLy, along with litter and graffiti, noise is a modern scourge from which some people (not me) are apparently immune or just desensitised.

TOM BAKER, London SE9.

GP cattle market

wILL any of the civil servants, bean counters and politicians who came up with the degrading scheme of shared GP appointments with up to 14 other patients ever consider using it? No, they will likely have private health insurance, so will not have to take part in this retrograde, third world, cattle market initiative.

DAVID HALLAS, Filey, N. Yorks. My NHS trust last month sent me a letter about the preposterous idea of a group-sharing appointment.

Eleven other patients would attend a 90-minute appointment at the local hospital. The idea was that we all have the same condition so could support each other and presumably have a group hug at the end.

I refused point blank to attend this obvious money-saving exercise. I am entitled to a private follow-up and it’s ten months since I last saw the consultant, but all I’ve got has been this ridiculous letter.

Name and address supplied. IF I had to listen to 14 other people’s medical histories each time I saw the GP, I’d have to be escorted out by the men in white coats! BRIAN CHRISTLEY, Abergele, Conwy.

Baby by design

wHEN the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) was about to decide on a policy of no sex selection of babies in the uK, I wrote to a journal pointing out that irrespective of the arguments for and against, couples would take pregnancy holidays abroad to get what they wanted. And so they have.

If the HFEA wants to achieve a modicum of control, it could institute a policy of allowing a couple to have a single sex- selected child — not their first — which must be the opposite sex to an existing child or children, to balance their family.

D. EADSFORTH, Alresford, Hants.

Get pulses racing

THE Japanese Grand Prix was another 1-2-3 in qualifying followed by a two-hour parade to result in the same 1-2-3 on the podium.

Is Formula one heading for a slow death through boredom?

The solution could be to introduce a random factor. They could use a simple tombola contraption, just like the FA Cup draw.

After race qualifying finishes, have a draw. If a white ball is drawn, the grid line-up is not changed for the race. But if a coloured ball is drawn, the grid is reversed! This would

guarantee a spectacular race. The best drivers in the fastest cars would probably end up on the podium, but they would have to work much harder to achieve it.

RAY SEBIRE, Vale, Guernsey.

Enough austerity

Peter Oborne thinks eight years of austerity is not enough (Mail)! I can only think he is in the fortunate position of never having to use public services.

Since 2010, we have 20,000 fewer policemen, fuelling the crime wave, and 26,000 fewer soldiers, despite the emerging threat from russia and terrorism. The health service lurches from crisis to crisis.

It is no good balancing the books if the dire state of public services results in a Corbyn government.

MIKE HAIRSINE, Sutton Coldfield, W. Mids.

Save the world

There have been lots of remedies put forward to counter climate change, from useless wind farms to eating less meat.

No one has tackled the biggest contributor: the everincreasing population of the world. As we improve medicine, the death rate falls, so population must be managed by birth control.

This is now so urgent that countries should make laws to control it. Let’s make a start by limiting child allowance.

China has relaxed its onechild law, but can you imagine if it had done nothing?

TERRY PAYNE, Banstead, Surrey. THE climate change debate should put Brexit into perspective. Unless we learn to do a trade deal in the interests of the planet, we will remain destructive, selfinterested pygmies, signed up to the terminal suffering of the globe that gives us life.

The end may not be nigh, but it’s getting there. COLLIN ROSSINI, Dovercourt, Essex.

Note of discord

NO DOUBT the surviving members of The Beatles, The rolling Stones, The Who, The Animals, Small Faces, The Yardbirds, The Searchers, Cream, Status Quo, Deep Purple, The Move, The Zombies, The Shadows, The Kinks, The Hollies and Led Zeppelin are wondering how they managed to have all of their global- selling albums and singles during the Sixties and early Seventies before Britain was in the creative ‘paradise’ of the EEC/EC/EU.

If Sir Bob Geldof, Ed Sheeran, rita Ora, Brian Eno, Sir Simon rattle and all of their pals think the EU is a musically creative wonderland, maybe they should move to one of the soon-to-be 27 remaining member states.

STEVE GREY, Great Barr, Staffs.