Fly the Welsh flag more forcefully

MR Cairns leaves me with the same feeling about his representation of Wales as he left Mr Raymond K Hawkins about Cardiff Airport (Western Mail letters).

This feeling is fed by his agreement to ditch the tariff over the Severn bridges before tackling the problems of the Brynglas Tunnels: thereby easing congestion on its England side at the expense of increasing it on its Wales side around Newport. Added to that is his acquiescence in limiting the electrification of the south Wales line to Cardiff from where the polluting diesel engine will kick in.

To cap it all is his ignorance of the fact that Welsh lamb is already exported to Japan but through the auspices of the EU’s arrangements with that country on the other side of the globe. Can Japan buy lamb directly from Wales by circumventing the agreement it has with the EU? Really.

As for Cardiff Airport, having travelled from there to Lesotho and back for nine years via Amsterdam and Johannesburg, I am not sure that airport tax is a legitimate reason for south Wales people to travel to Bristol and incur the cost of getting there and back as well as the same tax; this is particularly the case with business people who depend on Welsh spending power.

To conclude, as Welsh Secretary, Mr Cairns needs to fly the Welsh flag more forcefully; emulating the way the DUP flies its flag and wags the tail of the UK political dog, even if having the strength of the Scots is a stretch too far as things stand. Derek Griffiths

Llandaff