If they wish to carry the day, Brexiteer MPS need facts that back them up Space junk
SIR – How refreshing to read Juliet Samuel’s article on Monday (“Instead of attacking mandarins, Brexiteers must make their case”, Comment, February 5) setting out what Brexit could be offering.
I also note that Brexiteer MPS have included the word “research” in the title of their new backbench organisation, the European Research Group. Can we look forward to some evidence for their views?
Those engaged in research will be aware that “expert” opinion is the weakest level of evidence. To paraphrase the Manchester Guardian editor CP Scott: opinion is free, but real facts are priceless. John Green
Sheffield, South Yorkshire
SIR – I am grateful to Elizabeth Roberts of Carlisle (Letters, February 6) for her kind comments on my book,
The Debatable Land.
However, I did not make the charge that “we are all village idiots” in Cumbria for voting to leave the EU. The book is a history, not a polemic, and since I have lived here since 2010, I would have to be included among the “idiots”.
What I wrote was this: “There was not much evidence of the xenophobia which was said to have inspired some voters in the south. In Carlisle and elsewhere, I had talked to people who had a sincere desire to learn the truth and to form a clear opinion but little idea of how to go about acquiring the necessary knowledge. One young woman explained, a week after the referendum, that, to her regret, she had not cast a vote because she had been unable to discover any solid facts that might have helped her to make up her mind. Information seemed to her a rare commodity to which only certain people had access.”
A person who tries to discover the truth is not an idiot, whatever his or her political opinion. Graham Robb
Carlisle, Cumbria SIR – Many assert that it was not clear what Brexiteers were voting for in the referendum. This is true in some respects. I wanted greater sovereignty, democracy and a better economic and regulatory framework, but not an end to immigration from the EU. Others had different priorities.
On one issue, however, there should be no confusion. A vote to leave does not include a “soft Brexit”, as remaining in the customs union or the single market would effectively amount to staying in the EU. So why is this still being debated? Richard Mather
Oundle, Northamptonshire
SIR – It is in the interest of Gibraltarians and Spanish alike that there is the fullest and freest cross-border movement of people, produce and commerce.
Therefore, serious consideration should be given to allowing Gibraltar to stay within both the EU single market and the customs union. James Keeley
Fetcham, Surrey SIR – I suppose Elon Musk can now die a happy man, having tossed a large piece of polluting litter into deepest space (“Sports car sent to Mars blasting out Bowie”, report, February 7). David J Hartshorn
Badby, Northamptonshire
SIR – I find it tragicomic that Elon Musk, the doyen of the Greens, spends his investors’ money on space rockets, the transport system that consumes the most fossil fuel of them all. Rev Philip Foster
Hemingford Abbots, Cambridgeshire
SIR – Elon Musk’s decision to send his Tesla into space is going to give a whole new meaning to the car-market phrase “barn find”. Jonathan TR Silverman
London W1
SIR – In interstellar space, should one drive on the left or the right? John Clark
Credenhill, Herefordshire