Africa’s real needs
whAT can Theresa may be thinking when she pledges to send another £4 billion to Africa?
Britain has been pumping money into the continent for the past 40 years, but what good has it done? it has made some of the leaders rich, while the man in the street is worse off, with poor living standards, a lack of schooling and no job prospects.
Only when corruption is stopped will our donations achieve anything.
much of Africa needs water, but how many desalination plants and water supply projects have been completed in the past decades?
K. JACQUES, Stafford. sO TheresA mAy wants to secure the border between nigeria and niger. here we go again, British foreign aid to the rescue!
if the Prime minister wants to secure a border, can i suggest she uses our hard-earned money to secure our own from terrorists and illegal immigrants? she could also improve our infrastructure, healthcare and water supplies, and fight crime by replacing the police she cut.
i am sick and tired of taxpayers’ money being thrown around by our leaders to improve their image abroad, while we have had to suffer ten years of austerity.
GLYN JONES, address supplied.
Top to bottom policing
As A retired met officer, i often despair at the antics of today’s police, but i am amazed that inspector Owen Pyle arrested a woman who slapped his backside at notting hill Carnival (mail).
you arrest people for physical contact that involves knives and other weapons, not a playful slap on the bottom. Contrast this with the picture of a PC picking up and carrying a carnival dancing girl.
who are the public going to trust, respect and approach in times of need? it won’t be someone who appears to have interaction problems.
i’ve lost count of the times, when policing public events, that i had my bottom slapped and pinched or was asked if i was a strippergram.
when a woman pinched my backside at a football match at wembley stadium, i didn’t arrest her, but in a way i deprived her of her liberty. we’ve been married for many years.
PAUL MORLEY, Skipton, N. Yorks. sO nOw we know police priorities. smacking a policeman’s bottom brings down on you the full weight of the law. however, when a mother and daughter called west midlands Police several times there was a failure to respond and they ended up being knifed to death.
PETER LONGLEY, Chinnor, Oxon. CALLed upon to police the notting hill Carnival, inspector Pyle did not flinch in his resolve to do his duty.
when patted on the bottom by an inebriated lady, did he turn the other cheek in the spirit of live and let live? Of course not, he arrested her on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly.
it is reassuring to know law and order is in such safe and capable hands. i only hope that the courage he has displayed will not prevent him from seeking counselling and compensation for the terrible experience he has endured. what a credit to the met.
JEFF POTTER, Yateley, Hants.
Degree of disappointment
KAThy CAKeBreAd, 30, raises an interesting point regarding the baby boomers versus millennials debate (mail). An obviously intelligent and hard-working individual, she is honest in her disappointment that her media/film studies degree did not lead to a glamorous career.
how many other media graduates feel that way? were they advised that a major position in TV, theatre, film or journalism would automatically follow their studies?
As ms Cakebread has discovered, it’s far better to start such a career early as a lowly paid runner or general assistant, coupled with voluntary work in hospital radio.
Though it is heartbreaking, a scroll of parchment so hopefully clutched in a glossy graduation photo does not always fulfil ambitions, promises and dreams.
AMANDA YATES, Newcastle.
Strictly ghastly
nO, sArAh Vine, you are not alone in your views on strictly Come dancing (mail). i have been watching since the first series and i am sorry to say i do not think i will be following it this year.
The contestants used to be wellknown and without dancing experience. now we have nobodies who have been dancing for years. giggly Claudia and airhead Tess are no substitutes for Brucie. And the wonderful Len goodman, full of wit and charm, has been replaced with ghastly shirley Ballas, who thinks she knows it all.
BARBARA JOHNSON, Swansea.
The perfect tribute
A LiVing memorial rather than a statue would be a more appropriate way to honour all those precious pets put down during world war ii because of food shortages (mail).
donated funds could be used to subsidise veterinary costs to neuter and spay thousands of cats and dogs, preventing unwanted kittens and puppies from being born.
This would give pets status and stop them being seen as of little value and easily replaceable in our must-have, throwaway society.
SHIRLEY CLANCY, Hook, Hants. i wAs told a harrowing story by dover’s wartime rsPCA chief inspector. when our troops were
brought home after Dunkirk, many were accompanied by stray dogs they had befriended in France.
Due to our strict laws on quarantine for rabies, the poor inspector had to take the dogs one by one and shoot them in a spot away from the soldiers, because had they known, there would have been a riot. PAULA SHERLOCK,
Bruton, Somerset. IF THERE is to be a new monument of remembrance to the dogs slaughtered in World War II, what about a statue to honour civilians?
I was ten at the start of the war and went through the horrors of the Blitz in East London. Despite the heavy bombing of the nearby docks, we tried to live normally, though we were often without water and electricity.
I can still hear the noise of the bombs and smell the acrid air that lingered after a raid. It would be wonderful to have our bravery recognised. ANITA COOK, Coddenham, Suffolk.
On the wrong tracks
WAS it a ghost train on which hero David Budd found himself at the beginning of the new TV thriller Bodyguard?
The carriages were old British Railways stock with top-opening windows, which were at least handy for the police to poke the barrels of their guns through. In line with this time warp, they were being hauled to Euston by an elderly diesel.
Even the opening scene was incorrect, where a passing train made a clackety- clack sound. This no longer happens due to modern welded rails.
Otherwise, the programme was excellent!
HARRY CARTER, Harrow, Middlesex. THE BBC drama Bodyguard is gripping, but where are all the male actors, apart from the talented leading man? It may be politically correct, but it doesn’t reflect reality. ALAN WRIGHT, St Bees, Cumbria. BODYGUARD is a lot of old drivel, romantic rubbish and typical soap opera nonsense. J. RUSSELL, Wokingham, Berks.