LETTERS

Merely mischief-making

NICOLA Sturgeon has accused the Prime Minister of not telling the truth about her Brexit deal. This is a clear case of pot and kettle.

It beggars belief that the woman who was the architect of the dishonest separatist campaign in 2013-14 should accuse anyone else of not telling the truth.

Even now, Miss Sturgeon will not tell the truth about the prospects for a secessionist Scotland and has suppressed even the watered down and partial attempt at telling the truth in the SNP’s Growth Commission Report. As a Remainer, I do not support Mrs May’s deal. But I deplore Miss Sturgeon’s attempt to make political capital out of it in this mischievous way.

Jill StephenSon, edinburgh.

A proper Brexit, not spin

THE Prime Minister has announced she is to undertake a countrywide campaign to sell her version of Brexit to the nation. Cue lots of reports, soundbites and televised support.

However, the people of this nation are no longer taken in by spin and duplicitous propaganda. Patronising us no longer works.

We are tired of the self-serving, condescending political elite, which is why many, like me, voted for a Brexit to deliver proper governance and accountability to this country. Only a No Deal can deliver this. CharleS JaCkSon, newcastle upon tyne. BEfORE the ink was dry, france and Spain had knives in our back.

r. MarShall, Sheffield.

May must deliver

LIKE John MacLeod (Mail) I have nothing but sympathy for Theresa May over Brexit. The reality is that no deal was ever going to be as good economically as staying in the EU.

But the arguments about the EU are about things such as immigration and whether our courts or Europe’s should have the final say.

The people voted out and so Mrs May is duty-bound to deliver as best she can. Sophie todd, edinburgh.

Means to an end

I AM bemused by the idea that anyone else in Parliament could negotiate a better deal with the EU than Theresa May has done. Any small businessman who has tried to deal with bigger companies knows that when a contract makes everyone unhappy, it is likely to be the best deal that’s possible.

Certainly, one person negotiating with a team that is backed by 27 principals — who can veto any part — is not likely to get a deal that meets all of their competing needs. I stupidly thought Parliament was supposed to work for the common good of the UK and not be partisan.

It is easy to ridicule an agreement you have not negotiated, but harder to consider it as a starting point rather than the end of the process.

If Parliament is to show any respect for the electorate, then it must allow us to leave the EU, which is the only way we can start that process.

paul Craig, Wembley, Middlesex.

Handcuffed to the EU

I ACCEPT that negotiating the terms of departure has required some compromises – mostly from the UK – and after March some more time may be needed to settle our future relationship with the EU.

However, it seems to me that the withdrawal deal spells the decline of Britain’s opportunities.

I voted Leave while accepting some immediate or short-term disadvantage to my way of life. I voted because the proven current and forecasted future direction of travel of the EU indicated we must have an agreed clean break by 2020 or 2021.

The UK will have no control over the future of the EU after exit – we have had little up to now!

With the terms of the exit ‘agreed’, and those of the future relationship ‘yet to be agreed’, it seems our negotiators have handcuffed the UK half in and half out of the EU for as long as it suits Brussels.

It is clear the EU will strive to curtail the UK’s growth in world trade, milk us for more money and possibly encourage the 27 member states to be unfriendly.

The future success of the UK’s economy and world position can only be assured if the leadership and citizens of the UK wish it so and pull together. There’s no sign of that yet. ronald Weedon,

address supplied.

Don’t pick up a penguin

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH’S film crew should not have intervened in the plight of penguins that were blown into a ravine by high winds.

freak acts of nature happen, but a film crew can’t always be on hand. The only time there is a case for intervention is if an animal population would be significantly affected.

I side with those who intervened to save sea turtles disoriented by bright street lights. The start of their life cycle, which involves hatching at night on beaches and crawling their way to the sea by the light of the stars and Moon, has occurred for thousands of years – long before the disturbance caused by our modern lifestyles. arthur BurroWS,

ulverston, Cumbria.

A husband’s despair

NEVER criticise someone’s choices

until you have walked in their shoes. My wife died last May from throat cancer. Her last words to me were: ‘Mikey, Mikey, please help me, I am in so much pain.’

At that moment I understood why others have reached for a pillow to end it all. Thanfully, that was the last bout of pain she had to endure. The pain of missing her is continual. MIKE DAVIES, Nuneaton,

warks.

Stress buster

PRINCE William has spoken frankly about the anguish he suffered during his work as an Air Ambulance helicopter pilot. He is not alone in needing assistance.

On a daily basis, police, fire and ambulance staff are faced with horrific incidents. During my police service, I never had the time nor help to confront the aftermath of such events. You had to move on.

I worked with men who had served in Dunkirk and Burma. One officer had been a Japanese prisoner of war for four years, and I never heard him complain. I found that golf was the best way to deal with stress. TERRIE E. GIBBONS,

Bradfield, Berks.

Undone over undies

WHAT an over-reaction to an M&S window display of ladies’ underwear (Mail). The band Little Mix found nothing wrong with posing nude with words written on their bodies to make a feminist point.

Celebrities who are for ever praising their womanhood pose in next to nothing to show off their figures. If M&S put male mannequins in underwear in their window displays, I can’t imagine men being offended. C. GARDNER, Bristol. PLEASE, M&S, don’t cave in to the feminist killjoys. Keep your window display as it is. GILL LAwRENCE, Bletchley,

Bucks. THE reason for the M&S window display is blatantly obvious to all but the furious feminists. Go into any department store and you’ll find ladies lingerie has a whole department to itself, while men’s pants have a single rack. KIM ANDERSEN, Gillingham,

Kent.

Island under threat

THE people of the tiny island of North Sentinel in the Bay of Bengal have nothing, but they want for nothing. They have never preached at anyone nor got involved with tacky politics, so why not let them live their simple life in peace?

I am sure US missionary John Chau meant well when he arrived uninvited in an attempt to convert the islanders to Christianity, but sadly he lost his life. Why not admire their lifestyle and try to preserve it, not change it? TONY THOMPSON,

Banbury, Oxon.