Armistice centenary

SIR – Next year, Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday occur on the same day of the week – Sunday, November 11. It is of course the 100th anniversary of the Armistice.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the trading laws that apply on Christmas Day and Easter Day were also applied on that day (Letters, November 10)?

Those of us who feel strongly could write to the major store chains in support of the idea. If one big name takes the moral high ground, others may well follow.

Rev Alan W Wright Barton-upon-humber, Lincolnshire

SIR – Amid depressing reports of the pathetic demands by the EU and of transatlantic allegations of sexual assaults, you recounted on the Obituaries page (November 11) the stories of three heroic Britons.

They were Air Vice-marshal Ted Hawkins, who flew flying boats on a top-secret reconnaissance operation over the high Arctic; Lieutenant Colin Churcher, who risked his life in disposing of unexploded German wartime bombs; and Major Alan Timewell Davis, who led his men in hand-to-hand fighting in the last weeks of the Second World War.

Their inspiring and brave exploits lift one’s spirits, almost overwhelmed by today’s negative goings-on. Ron Kirby

Dorchester, Dorset