I’m a vegetarian and even I think a bacon tax is mad

ARE we going to be slapped around the chops by a bacon tax? We have been taxed, taxed and taxed again for goods and services that we purchase every day, but what do we have to show for it? Crumbling infrastructure, failing services and families relying on food banks.

Despite the fact we are paying more tax, our councils, schools and the emergency services have had their budgets cut to such an extent they can barely operate.

So, where is the money going? it is being squandered on foreign aid and in compensating for the fact that trillion- dollar companies such as Apple and Amazon are asked to pay so little tax.

A bacon tax will be the last straw — and i’m a vegetarian.

ASHLEY SMITH, March, Cambs.

WILL bacon be off the menu for all but the rich? Every pig farmer in the UK will see a serious drop in their income as a result of a tax on red meat.

they will need more subsidy money that, post-Brexit, will have to come directly from our taxes.

Once there is a tax on bacon, how about cream, full-fat milk and all meat? Since rising taxes have not stopped people from smoking, why should a bacon sarnie be the next target? BLT for lunch? Better take out a bank loan.

DAVE TUTT, Chatham, Kent.

Visionary prince

IT IS wrong to describe Prince Charles as meddling (Mail).

My concern is that when he is king there will be no one to warn politicians about pollution, health and environmental destruction.

he made a speech more than 40 years ago on the problem of plastic waste, but MPs have only just realised our rivers and seas will soon contain more plastic than fish, and that food is contaminated by plastic particles.

his views on architecture and organic farming are more in tune with ordinary people’s views — he was right about ugly Seventies tower blocks. As Prince of Wales, he doesn’t have to curry favour with prime ministers or other powerful vested interests.

the Prince’s trust has helped thousands of young people. We’re fortunate to have a prince who doesn’t spend his life on pleasure.

ANN WILLS, Ruislip, Middlesex.

Banks on Brexit

NOW i know why i voted to leave the Eu. Not because i wanted to regain our independence, control of our borders and the freedom Britain fought for 100 years ago.

Not because i resented being tied to a corrupt organisation.

No, it was because Arron Banks told me to!

V. COOMBS, Hungerford, Berks.

Crush on litter

SINCE the introduction of four weekly bin collections, residents in Conwy say they can’t fit a month’s worth of rubbish into a single black wheelie bin (Mail).

Several years ago, my council introduced fortnightly black bin collections to coincide with the introduction of recycling bins.

i started compacting rubbish from my two-person household. tin cans and plastic containers are rinsed out and crushed underfoot. Small plastic wrappers and bags are rolled up, tied into knots and then packed tightly into plastic containers. Plastic packaging is cut up into small pieces and packed into plastic bags. Everything is double bagged to avoid spillage and unsavoury smells.

it only takes ten minutes a day to do all this compacting and i find the process — particularly the can crushing and tearing of cardboard — to be therapeutic.

i can fit more than three months’ worth of rubbish into one bin, though i put it out for collection every two months to ensure it doesn’t get too heavy for the poor refuse collectors to move.

F. SKORROW, Barnsley, S. yorks.

Lose our marbles?

WHILE i am all in favour of countries of origin retaining their artefacts, i do wonder if Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has seen what remains of the Parthenon.

the Elgin Marbles kept in the rarefied atmosphere of the British Museum are as clearly detailed as if they were carved yesterday, while artefacts in situ in Greece are so eroded that it can be impossible to tell what is depicted.

had the Elgin Marbles not been brought to Britain, this great work of art would have been lost. if they are returned to the Parthenon, will they suffer the same fate as the portions left behind?

years ago, when i visited the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, a water pipe was leaking onto artefacts. however, many treasures from here are to be moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is under development, so maybe it’s time to hand back the rosetta Stone.

LYN ANDERSON, Selby, n. yorks.

Not our manor, guv

LAST week, i was woken at 4am by a thief breaking into my neighbour’s car. i banged on my bedroom window, shouted at him and he fled on his moped. i had footage of the incident on my CCTV, so i phoned Warwickshire Police. they claimed they couldn’t help as we are in Leicestershire.

So i phoned Leicestershire Police, who told me that they couldn’t investigate because we’re in Warwickshire.

the village is in Leicestershire as we pay our council tax, including the police precept, to hinckley and Bosworth council. however, the postcode is part of Coventry.

What chance have we got?

ALLAN ROGERS, Witherley, Warks.

Dressed to impress

THE trend for children to dress like their parents, inspired by celebrities such as Beyonce and her six-year-old daughter Blue ivy, is not new.

in 1961, aged 11, i was taken by my father and uncle to a gentleman’s outfitters to be kitted out like them in a tweed jacket, long trousers, black lace-up shoes, a white shirt and knitted tie. it was normal male attire before the teenager was invented in the Sixties.

TONY LEVY, Wednesfield, W. Mids.