LETTERS

Under lock and key

HOOK-HANDED Abu Hamza is begging to return to his British jail because the U.S. prison, where he has been extradited to, is too tough for him to cope with (Mail).

I bet the liberal Lefties have received his begging letter and are scrutinising the Human Rights Act to see how they can welcome him back here.

Fortunately for the rest of us, the U.S. authorities are not as soft and accommodating as we are.

JOHN EVANS, Wokingham, Berks. ABU HAMZA is being punished as he should be, in a real prison, and not a five-star hotel that passes for a jail. It’s no wonder he’s bleating about wanting to finish his term in a British prison.

C. GOODALL, Portsmouth, Hants. REPORTS that Abu Hamza is begging U. S. jail bosses to be transferred back to Britain to serve his life sentence because he is starved of human contact just goes to prove what a soft touch our prisons are.

What a pity we don’t adopt the U.S. attitude to prisoners and their incarceration. It might just persuade some idiots that crime isn’t worth it.

NEIL BLATCHFORD, Buckingham.

Basket case EU

NOW that the European Union has imperiously consented to allow the UK to move onto the next stage of Brexit negotiations, let’s remind ourselves about what we will be leaving behind.

The combined value of the economies of Germany, the UK and France is greater than the remaining 25 EU member countries.

So far from being an exclusive, allpowerful economic bloc, as the Remoaners would have everyone believe, the EU is overwhelmingly made up of economic non- entities and basket cases.

And waiting in the wings to join once we’ve departed are Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

PETER SMART, Nottingham.

Bank stitch-up

WE HAVE now been told of the secret bid to sell off HBOS to prevent its nationalisation (Mail), which would have added its enormous liabilities to the national debt.

Gordon Brown introduced lighttouch regulation hoping the banks would increase their profits and help finance his policies through increased corporation tax. But instead it was a major contributor to the catastrophic banking meltdown in 2008.

Experts had expressed concern that cracks in the system would result from the uncontrolled growth of banks, but no one listened.

After the shock collapse of Northern Rock and Lehman Brothers, there were rumours that several major banks were in trouble. It was only then the Government realised drastic action was required to prevent financial chaos.

With no interest from overseas buyers in HBOS, the authorities turned to Lloyds, waiving the normal merger rules. Lloyds shareholders paid the price, but the Government didn’t care. The financial edifice had been saved.

SIMON SMITH, Margate, Kent.

Hooked on fish

REPORTS about the rising cost of fish made me think of my childhood in the Forties. My grandparents ran a fish-and- chip shop in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, and the fish came from Grimsby on the train in wooden boxes packed with ice cubes.

A bag of chips cost thruppence and battered fish was sixpence a portion. Happy days. WENDY JENNINGS, Hale, Cheshire.

All he wants for Christmas

WHAT to buy a man for Christmas? Every women knows their man needs a razor.

Everywhere you look are scruffy men with stubble and hair all over their faces. A razor is one of the many wonderful inventions of modern life, so why have so many young men decided to go back to the Dark Ages by looking so awful?

What do they see when they look in a mirror? It can’t be what we women see. Why would a handsome man want to hide his face?

So, please, ladies, buy your man a razor for Christmas and let’s go back to having clean-shaven, good-looking men. ALEX FULFORD, Okehampton, Devon.

Birthday blues

WITH interest in Christianity at an all-time low and Britain a multi-faith society, why should we continue to name our main holiday after the founder of just one of those faiths?

As Christmas was originally a secular holiday, it could be dechristianised so that people of all faiths could celebrate the holiday without feeling marginalised by its religious significance.

Some will no doubt object to purging Christmas of its religious significance, but haven’t we done that already?

This festival that is supposed to mark the birth of Jesus Christ is characterised more by what he stood

against — excess, gluttony, selfindulgence and greed.

If we really want to celebrate Christ’s biblically undated birth, then summer or the early autumn, when the shepherds were out at night watching over their flocks, would be more appropriate times for us to do this.

Then, instead of us being misled into exchanging gifts, we lost sheep might ask our good shepherd what he would like for his birthday.

A. STUBBS, Bridlington, Yorks.

Simple pleasures

AS A child in the Sixties, I have happy memories of waking up on Christmas morning when the inside of the bedroom window was covered

in ice, creating magical patterns. Creeping downstairs to see if Santa Claus had left me any presents, the coal fire would be already ablaze, thanks to Dad.

I would empty my Christmas stocking and out would pour an apple, orange, nuts, a bar of chocolate and sixpence.

There would also be Meccano or Lego, a toy car and a board game.

I was one of four children, my father worked full-time in a semi-skilled manual job and my mother was a part-time cleaner in the evenings.

Today we would be classed as JAMs (just about managing), yet our parents never went into debt for Christmas. They bought what they could afford and we were grateful.

Parents today take on unnecessary debt for ridiculously expensive high-tech presents, which children will soon get fed up with and want to have replaced with the latest version in just a few months’ time.

WALTER PURVIS, Newcastle upon Tyne.

Paws for thought

I WOULD like to suggest the perfect Christmas Day for Lola, the pampered cockapoo whose owners have bought her 68 gifts worth more than £1,000 (Mail). A lovely walk, a turkey lunch and spending the whole day with the family she loves.

The owners could save most of the £ 1,000 and make a donation to a local dog charity in Lola’s name.

Thousands of pets will be spending Christmas in kennels, and gifts of toys, tinned meat and treats will make their day a lot happier.

RUTH BARTLETT, Harefield, Middlesex. IT’S impossible to buy a holly wreath with real berries, which tradition says represent the blood of Christ.

They’re all sold with plastic berries — is this to represent the fact they will last an eternity before they degrade?

D. M. DEAMER, York.

Down is on the up

I am 80 and, when I was a young girl, my father used to go out to the woods, chop down a holly tree and bring it home to hang upside down from a hook in the living room ceiling at our cottage.

PEARL DOBIE, Wrexham. IN MY local hostelry, there are four decorated Christmas trees hanging from the ceiling. Thank goodness they are upside-down or I would never get to the bar.

P. WILSON, Cadiz, Spain.

BA troubles

AS A former employee of British Airways, I am disappointed to see the steady decline of our national flag carrier (Mail).

It’s distressing to see our favourite airline at the bottom of the ratings with appalling scores in so many categories.

What’s worse is that I travel with BA a couple of times a year and find myself having to agree with the Which? magazine report. Airline boss Willie Walsh is making BA a laughing stock. RAY VENTURA, Minehead, Somerset.

Rolling back the years

CAN I have the last word on vintage rolling pins (Letters)?

When I got married in 1957, one wedding present was a wooden rolling pin tied up with a ribbon.

I remarked to my husband one December: ‘I’ve had this rolling pin for so many years. I wonder how many mince pies I’ve made with it?’

He thought I was complaining and that Christmas I was given a new one. I have never used it: my grandson used it to roll Plasticine. I’m happy with the original, 60 years on. JOAN STAFFORD,

Stamford, Lincs.