Straight to the POINT
GEORGE OSBORNE blames Theresa May for sacking him (Mail). Doesn’t he realise there are more than 17 million reasons why he was sacked? IVOR JONES, Shireoaks, Notts.
THEY’RE sending Ed Balls to the wrong Tower — he’s made limping an art form on Strictly Come Dancing. He must be getting votes from his wife and the entire Labour Party.
ALUN WILLIAMS, Cardiff. I’M A Celebrity is entertaining, but I’m not convinced it’s in the jungle. The plants never move in a wind and electricity appears to be installed. B. GARDINER, Horsham, W. Sussex. JUST what do Ant and Dec do other than look at the camera and laugh at each other? Morecambe and Wise they are not.
MIKE DAVEY, Castle Bromwich, W. Mids. ÷A WELL-KNOWN mobile phone firm is taking out big adverts to pat itself on the back for winning an award. As a customer I’d ring to congratulate them, but I have no signal — a problem all too common across much of rural Scotland.
K. MURRAY, via email. ÷USING a phone while driving is irresponsible, but it’s also reckless to phone someone who you know is driving. I suspect many companies ring their drivers while they’re on the road.
KEVIN BUTT, Pickering, N. Yorks.
more than a factory worker. Apparently, the factories have been set up under a government scheme that prescribes, among other things, the level of wages to be paid (no more, no less).
It’s almost a state-sponsored cartel designed to ensure as many companies as possible come to the country without the workers being in a position to bargain for higher pay. TIM BEECHEY-NEWMAN,
Caversham, Berks.
East Coast delay
IS it true the East Coast main railway line has a bottleneck, Darlington station?
Is it also true that the East Coast mainline can increase capacity by 25 per cent if Bishop Auckland and Middlesbrough trains do not cross the East Coast mainline and enter Darlington station?
What a supreme irony it would be if the town that started the railway is holding back passenger numbers, comfort and safety in this way. We must press ahead to allow Bishop Auckland train passengers to alight on a new platform to the west of Darlington. We must allow Middlesbrough, Saltburn and Whitby passengers to board trains on a new platform to the furthest point east of Darlington station.
This is surely more urgent and cost-effective than HS2. Where is the leadership from the council and the Government?
Why has this lamentable state of affairs been allowed to continue for so long?
NIGEL F.H. BODDY, Darlington, Co. Durham. ONLY those of us old enough to remember the chaos of strike-bound British Rail should have a say on whether or not the railways should be nationalised. The current situation may be very bad indeed but nothing justifies renationalisation. ANDREW DRuMMOND, Markinch, Fife.
Outdated term
SINCE 1961, suicide has not been a crime. Murderers commit murder, burglars commit burglary, criminals commit crimes.
In 2014, 6,233 people took their own lives in the UK, but people who take their own life don’t commit a crime and the expression ‘commit suicide’ should be consigned to the history books.
In the UK, suicide is the biggest cause of death in men under 50. Experts consider each suicide has a profound effect on up to 12 people, not including acquaintances and colleagues.
It’s a damning indictment of our society that there is precious little help for those survivors, bereavement by suicide being so different from other forms of loss, but this outdated terminology rubs salt into already raw wounds.
ANNE MAXWELL, Battisford Tye, Suffolk