LETTERS

Betrayed over Brexit

I AGREE with reader Mrs G. Davis that we are being betrayed by our MPs over Brexit (Letters).

Everyone knew what they were voting for in the referendum as both sides told us in no uncertain terms that opting out of the EU meant leaving the customs union and the single market to trade under World Trade Organisation rules.

The Remainers said this with abject horror while the Leavers were wildly enthusiastic.

Now it seems that apart from some honourable exceptions, our disgraceful MPs are trying every dirty trick in the book to corrupt or even reverse that democratic decision.

I would urge Mrs Davis not to give up voting because that will only mean our MPs will dispense with the electorate altogether. ROBERT ASHCROFT, Epsom, Surrey. WHAT strikes me as sad about our country is how we have so readily accepted third-rate as the standard by which we judge everything.

This is particularly true of our politicians and their crassly inept handling of Brexit. That word should signify our freedom, but it may well come to mean a never- ending and powerless European entanglement.

DOUG JENNINGS, Mickleton, Glos.

Staggering salaries

THE scale of pay for university vice-chancellors is rightly described as staggering (Mail).

What is also a disgrace is the pay levels of administrators in the NHS, police chiefs and the top tier in local government.

They are all money-grubbers. No one in a public sector job should earn more than the Prime Minister, who is the CEO of the entire nation.

MICHAEL BATCHELOR, Swansea.

Medical delays

I FULLY endorse the proposal that GPs and hospitals should send emails instead of letters to patients.

My dentist and vet contact me by email and text without problem.

I live less than a mile from my GP practice, but it can take up to five days for a letter to reach me.

An important hospital letter was dictated, typed and signed on the same day, but was in the system for 11 days before being franked and despatched, arriving with me two days later. An email could have ensured my urgent treatment was started far sooner.

Mrs G. BATABYAL, Stretford, Gtr Manchester. WHEN I had treatment at my local hospital’s physiotherapy department in September, a letter to my consultant at the same hospital, copied to my GP and me, was dictated on the same day.

However, it was not typed until February 5. I understand that the NHS is understaffed, but a delay of four-and-a-half months can’t be justified. I dread to think what the consequences of this delay would have been had I required urgent follow-up treatment.

STEVE WILKINSON, Ashington, Northumberland. AS A NHS counter-fraud officer, I applaud the article giving examples of frauds committed against the NHS (Mail).

However, it did not mention everyday frauds, such as overseas tourism patients, who take millions out of the system, and the staff who work for agencies when they are ‘off sick’ and being paid their salaries.

BRIAN MANN, Winterbourne, Glos.

Signal failure

A THIRD of people living in rural areas can’t receive a signal on mobile phones in their homes (Mail).

That includes me. But my bank has told me that from the end of the month, if I make a purchase online with my bank card, I’ll have to use a PIN that will be sent to me by text.

If I can’t receive a signal, I will have to phone the bank on the landline, go through security and hopefully get the transaction authorised.

I could ask for the PIN to be sent by email, but there is a lifetime limit of just five.

If only this was a ploy to encourage us to go shopping on the High Street rather than another example of an organisation implementing a new procedure without looking at the implications for its customers.

JOHN DOWLING, Ponthirwaun, Ceredigion.

Speedy riposte

I HAD to attend a speed awareness course when I was clocked doing 34mph in a 30mph zone.

We were asked if we knew why we were there. I said it was because we’re an easy target: law-abiding citizens who tax and insure our cars, so we can be traced when we get caught by a speed camera, not like the thousands who don’t bother.

I had lots of support from the others in the room, but the former police officer who was running the course did not like my attitude.

DAVID AUSTIN, Camberley, Surrey. I CAN understand the reader’s angst about being caught by a speed camera on a deserted road (Letters).

However, even though it was a country lane without pavements or street lights, the driver should have still considered that he could have encountered a tractor, horse rider, pedestrian or a farmer moving cattle from a field.

Or there may even have been another driver with the same devil- may- care attitude, resulting in a collision between the two vehicles. Let’s face it: this complaining driver was speeding and got caught. DON BENNETT, Exeter, Devon.

End of line for HS2?

BUILDING a new rail line from scratch is a multi-tasked engineering project that requires huge investment and a great deal of time.

There is the right of way to be determined, land to be purchased, offices to be built for engineering staff, new stations, rolling stock to be designed, quarries to be sourced for the ballast for track laying, steel for the rails and gantries to carry electrical power cables. However, I would be interested to know how much of the £4.1 billion spent so far of the estimated £60 billion HS2 project has been spent on any of this.

How much has gone on the inflated salaries of employees before a yard of track is laid? More than 300 managers are paid £100,000-plus.

It appears the taxpayer is being ripped off on this vanity project to save London to Birmingham passengers a few minutes of travelling time.

I say, close down the HS2 project before another penny is spent and use the rest of the budget on supporting our Armed Forces and the NHS.

JIM JACOBS, Fareham, Hants.

Not-so-crafty TV

WHY does every BBC show have to be a competition?

Flog It! was informative, with no one competing to see who owns the most valuable item, but it’s been replaced by yet another antiques game show.

The Victorian House Of Arts And Crafts showcased six talented craftspeople recreating beautiful wares.

But the concept was ruined by making them work against the clock in order to be judged.

I just enjoyed watching these clever people. After all, you can’t choose between a chair and a pair of curtains.

Mrs S. ARIS, Gawcott, Bucks.