Conned into paying online

‘SAVE paying postage and pay online or by phone’ is the advice from

HMRC and other organisations that want you to do their work. How can paying for a stamp be more expensive than forking out for a computer, laptop, mobile phone and broadband?

It can take much longer to do stuff online than by sticking a cheque in the post.

We’ve all been conned into making a simple transaction complicated and expensive. The only beneficiaries are the payees who use automatic processing at our expense.

TERENCE WESTON, Swannington, Norfolk.

Praise be to the NHS

WITH all the criticism of our NHS, I would like to tell you about my wife’s experience of the Italian health service.

She slipped and broke her ankle and suffered a smaller fracture of her other foot.

She was put on an ambulance stretcher without any due care and attention and there was no attempt to support her broken ankle.

At the hospital, I was asked for her passport, her E111 European health insurance card and if we had a credit card.

She was given a bed for the night after having an X-ray and a couple of paracetamol tablets.

I was informed that drinking water, a blanket for the bed, toilet paper and hand soap were not supplied, but should be brought in by me.

The hospital was in very poor condition, with the facilities on the ward and the medical equipment looking old and worn-out.

Food was supplied, but visitors were expected to dish it out and then wash up. Some families brought in cleaning equipment because the hospital did not have any support staff.

We were so relieved when my wife was repatriated to the UK for an operation on her ankle.

Thank you, our amazing

NHS. Until you need it, you don’t realise how lucky we are to have it.

PETER BERN, Kingston, Surrey.

Class-act workers

WHY make patronising comments about the working class? We are the workers who keep the NHS, public buildings, postal service, schools and countless organisations going. Our hard work is what keeps the country running.

Then there are the unemployed who, through no fault of their own, are out of work, struggling to keep up with mortgage payments and rent to provide for their families.

These are the people who were thought about by Boris Johnson, but forgotten by Jeremy Corbyn.

We are the people who love our country and are working towards making it great again. We are all equals and there should be no more class distinction. Mrs FRANCES WESTON,

Penkhull, Staffs.

A matter of trust

WE now have a Prime Minister who believes in Britain, believes in the Union, who won’t make excuses or apologies for what or who we are.

The mantle of statesmanship seems already to have settled upon the shoulders of Mr Johnson. Let’s hope our Members of Parliament live up to the trust the people have shown them.

O.R. STEWART, Glasgow.

Cut the quangos

BORIS JOHNSON should make good David Cameron’s promise and have a bonfire of the quangos. There are far too many obscure, inefficient and wasteful bodies providing a comfortable sinecure for unelected, failed public figures, who claim generous expenses for just a few hours of ‘work’ every month.

This would be an ideal task for special adviser Dominic Cummings, rather than take on the complex task of examining the shortcomings of the MoD.

DAVID HAYES, North-West London.

The real destroyers

WHY demonise grey squirrels (Letters)?

In the 30 years we have lived in a lovely rural area, within a couple of miles radius of our farmhouse has been built a giant warehouse, a bypass through what once was fields, two marinas within yards of each other — and countless hedges and trees destroyed to build 150 houses.

The shadow of HS2 is hanging over us with its threat to nature and wildlife. In contrast, what destruction have the grey squirrels done? They have nibbled through one bird-feeder. ALAN & NICKY BROOKS,

Northwich, Cheshire.

Leave Leavers alone

FORMER Lib Dem MP Sir Bob Russell exemplifies the sanctimonious attitude that some Remain voters still retain for the Brexit referendum (Letters).

Their lack of understanding of the democratic process and the fact that Leave means Leave was demonstrated in the General Election.

If they want a unified Britain, they should stop trying to undermine democracy.

S. LAMB, Atherstone, Warks.

Atheist whitewash

I WAS teaching in a school where the head was an atheist. For the Christmas concert, each class had to produce a performance, but we were told there could be no reference to Christianity.

I wrote a play about a fir who wished he was a Christmas tree. In the final scene, he is in a house, happily decorated.

The children were to stand round it and sing Silent Night, but the head objected, saying it was too religious. After a discussion, she agreed to allow it if the children sang it in German so ‘the parents won’t know what it is all about’.

S. BURMAN, Northampton

Ferry failures

WHAT could possibly go wrong if CalMac takes control of ScotRail?

Everything. Here we have a Scottish Government entity that can’t run its ferry system but wants to run trains.

If it wasn’t so ridiculous it would be funny, in a very, very bad way.

BRYAN WRIGHT, Greenock, Renfrewshire.