It’s spot on to axe Huawei to protect Britain

IF HUAWEI is not an intelligencegathering company, why is the Chinese government so upset about it losing the contract to supply 5G to Britain?

The Chinese government is in full retaliation mode because of the information it will lose by us not installing this 5G equipment. BoB MACDoNALD GRUtE,

Newquay, Cornwall.

THE threat by China of a ‘public and painful’ payback on Britain for banning Huawei from our 5G future shows that this decision was correct.

Any country that uses such threats is not one we should allow access to high-value projects such as telecommunications or power generation.

China has only one aim and that is world domination. What is happening in Hong Kong shows how much we can trust anything China says. CoLIN PASCoE, Biggin Hill, Kent.

Saved by the Union

I CAN only congratulate Helen Mulligan (Letters). Her view mirrors my own: how on earth could Scotland have survived if the hypothetical scenario of independence had already been in place before Covid?

The financial support to Scotland from the Union has already been huge. That pot would be empty if we were independent. We would have been sunk indeed, to quote Helen Mulligan.

Nicola Sturgeon is clever. Her lockdown relaxations follow a pattern weeks behind those of Westminster, and thus if problems occur with those ‘English’ decisions it is so easy to claim: ‘I told you so. I was right.’

It doesn’t need brains to see this, yet sadly some are easily led. RoGER BEttISS, Hawick,

Roxburghshire. AFTER 11 years of SNP rule Scotland is in a poor state of health, with education, the economy and employment prospects looking dismal. The facts speak for themselves. Despite the wordperfect daily television presentation by Miss Sturgeon, the shameful reality is that the PPE issue and death rates in our care homes were bungled by the SNP in the most tragic of ways.

Thankfully, the SNP lost the separation referendum in 2014, otherwise we would have been in an even worse position without the support of the UK, and facing high taxation and the slashing of pensions for the elderly. DENNIS FoRBES GRAttAN,

Aberdeen.

No superpower

IT IS high time we made cuts to the personnel in our Armed Forces and military equipment. We are no longer a superpower or have a role as the policeman of the world.

Large-scale spending on the Armed Forces is a vanity project. We are not likely to be invaded physically, so do not need large numbers to defend our shores. Any invasion is likely to be a cyber one, so resources should be directed at protecting our national computer systems from being hacked and hijacked.

What is going to be achieved by sending an aircraft carrier to the South China Sea?

Absolutely nothing, other than to perpetuate the myth that we are still a powerful naval nation.

SANDY PRAtt, Storrington, W. Sussex.

Job swap

THE mass unemployment forecast in the 18 to 26 age group is easily fixed. Reduce the state pension age to 62 to free up hundreds of thousands of jobs for the younger generation.

I am sure that the reduction in benefits and the increase in tax and National Insurance contributions would pay for the increase in pension payments. The young would gain a career and selfrespect, while the over-62s will be able to spend their money to help out the struggling retail, travel and hospitality sectors.

GRAHAM NUtLEY, Barton-le-Clay, Beds.

Cruise plans sunk

WE are great fans of river cruises and had one booked for August 26. However, knowing the ship, we are concerned about the compact reception area, lounge and dining room. There is also the transport for excursions – usually the coaches are full.

Fortunately our GP advised us against travel so we cancelled before paying the balance. Hence we stand to lose our deposit – the cruise company, the holiday insurers and the credit card company all say that they are not liable.

A. MURRAY, Balerno, Edinburgh

Blind prejudice

WELL done to the accomplished Amar Latif, the first blind contestant on Celebrity MasterChef.

There is still prejudice against the disabled in Britain and this form of discrimination is overlooked and under-reported.

My daughter, Ffion, has a degree in law and a Masters in political history, but has been unable to find a job where she can show her full potential. She was born with retinoblastoma and has had two further cancers, undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Not once has she complained, but has always been determined not to let her disability stop her doing anything. Ffion has crewed a schooner around the Pacific, scuba-dived on the Great Barrier Reef and trekked through a tropical rain forest.

But at interviews, prospective employers see only her disability.

DEWI MILES, Llandudno, Clwyd.

Dr will see you now

AS A retired GP with 40 years’ experience and a former GP trainer, I am astounded that Dr Clare Gerada, who is former chair of the Royal College of GPs, argues that online appointments can replace face-to-face meetings (Good Health).

The Mail’s Dr Martin Scurr is 100 per cent correct that a doctor must be able to see the patient and examine them if required.

Virtual conversations can’t replace a proper medical consultation. Dr JAMES NAISMItH, Wishaw, Lanarkshire.