LETTERS

Not so global Britain

I aM delighted stephen Glover ( Mail) believes politicians and mandarins are beginning to see sense so that a Brexit deal is in the offing.

Yet I was left confused by his analysis of tariffs and the power of German car-makers and French farmers to stop a No Deal Brexit.

It is suggested that the likes of BMW and Mercedes will face punishing tariffs to export cars to the UK following a No Deal Brexit, hence the push for a settlement.

In fact, the opposite is likely to happen, as there are plans for Britain to unilaterally cut tariffs on imports if we crash out on to WTO rules to keep goods flowing at our ports.

In contrast, British- based car-makers will face a 10 per cent tariff to export vehicles to the eU.

so while BMW will continue to get rich on the back of British motorists, our car-makers will be crippled by the very policy that is supposed to turn the UK into ‘Global Britain’.

The reality of a No Deal Brexit for farmers will be even worse, with British lamb and beef exporters facing tariffs of at least 40 per cent under WTO rules, while our supermarkets will likely be flooded with cheap, low-quality meat.

Brexiteers are right that all the countries in the world will still want to sell to us after a No Deal Brexit. It’s just that having damaged many of our most successful exporters, we will have little to sell to them.

DAVID ATKINSON, Chorley, Lancs.

Pension piffle

aRGUING in support of scrapping the free TV licence for over-75s, former BBC boss Greg Dyke claimed older people are cosseted and it is no longer true they are necessarily the poorest section of society.

What experience has this millionaire of life as a pensioner? My pension is £185 per week — you do not live on this amount, you survive from day to day. When he left the BBC, plaudits described Mr Dyke as ‘fearless in pursuit of the truth’.

I would like him to prove that by talking to pensioners about what life is like for them. In his world, £185 would not cover the cost of a good meal in a posh london restaurant. DAVID FLETCHER, Rotherham, S. Yorks.

Leave it out, Tom!

I WIsH Tom Utley would stop being so stuffy about Danny Dyer (Mail). The eastenders star’s programme about his royal connections was light entertainment — a welcome change from the interminable diet of sport, quizzes and reality shows.

It was never intended to be of any historical value and of course he realised he’s not the only person descended from edward III.

OK, he has a Cockney accent — is that a crime?

ANGELA GILBERT, Cambridgeshire. DaNNY DYeR may have inspired the younger generation to be interested in history.

Can you imagine taking a party of school children to visit one of the stately homes where he filmed and being able to tell them this is where a TV’s star’s ancestors lived?

Instead of a boring documentary, Danny made the past fun and brought history alive. I certainly learned a few new things. SANDRA CAMERON,

Winkleigh, Devon.

Shares up in the air

sHaReHOlDeRs of the airline Flybe have been warned the company will close down if directors do not accept a bid from a consortium valuing each share at just 1p, compared with a peak price of £2.95 shortly after its flotation in 2010.

I can’t begin to describe how angry I am at the sheer incompetence of the board. My 10,338 shares in Flybe, as part of my Isa portfolio, cost £2,175, but I will receive the paltry sum of £103.38.

The firm’s CeO claims she is saving jobs and pensions, but appears to be unconcerned that this move will damage the shareholdings of pensioners like me.

The Godfather’s Michael Corleone couldn’t have secured a better deal.

MAX STOCKTON, Middlesbrough.

Don’t lionise gin

HOWeVeR it may be flavoured doesn’t alter the fact that gin, which is seeing rising sales, is drunk only for the effect it gives.

Why not drink orange juice or lemonade if all that is wanted is a pleasant drink? Gin was named Mother’s Ruin for good reason — it ruined this mother’s life and the lives of my children and husband.

To the people who say chocolate is also addictive, I’d point out it doesn’t make you violent or run up debt.

I haven’t had a drink for 33 years and people often ask: ‘Do you miss it?’ Yes, every day, but I won’t let it beat me.

Name and address supplied. I Was touched by adrian Chiles’s honesty about his drinking (Mail). My husband died five years ago from liver disease caused by alcoholism.

He started drinking from an early age and functioned well at work and home until the balance tipped. His symptoms and end were ghastly.

Name and address supplied.

Plea for peelers

SIR RobeRt Peel did not live in a world where he had CCtV cameras, computers and phones to help fight crime.

He formed a force that relied on bobbies on the beat and 24-hour policing.

but over the past 30 years, Home Secretaries, politicians and councillors have allowed the closure of police stations, ignoring the effect on victims of crime. JANE PAGE, Haslemere, Surrey.

Worldwide paperclip

WHAt a truly wonderful facility is the worldwide web: I can communicate with my family and friends around the globe, answer any question, buy and sell, and do my banking in a matter of seconds.

Such clever technology has gone into making all this possible. So, I was bereft when my computer failed. I rang the customer helpline and was advised to ‘restore the factory settings of the router’.

‘How can I possibly do that?’ I asked.

I was directed to a small hole on the back of the device and was told to unbend a paperclip and poke the end into the aperture. All this brilliant technology, the culmination of years of research, development and dedication, but my key to accessing it is to stab a paperclip into a tiny hole. Isn’t science great! BRIAN SYLVESTER,

Newbury, Berks.