Privatisating the passport office a trip to disaster

FOR the Prime Minister to threaten to privatise the Passport Office is a big mistake.

Like VAT and HMRc offices, the Passport Office reduced staffing levels, so sort out the problem by employing more civil servants.

As a conservative voter, I’ve seen much bungling with privatisation. Rail franchises, bus companies, airport management, visa control, NHS facilities and G4 Security have all wasted vast amounts of money in bureaucratic mistakes.

R. WALKER, Wilmslow, Cheshire.

BORIS should privatise the dVLA as well as the Passport Office. They’ve had my annual medical licence renewal application since September. I haven’t heard a thing and there is no way to contact them because no one answers a phone and emails ping back.

MICHAEL HOLLYLEE, Goring-by-Sea, W. Sussex.

Census nonsense

I WASN’T surprised to hear more than 600,000 Scots still haven’t completed the 2022 census.

When I phoned to order a paper copy for my 93-year-old mother the automated option wasn’t working and I had to hold for over 30 minutes to speak to someone.

She completed the form and signed it on March 20 as stated on the form and it was posted on March 21. I was therefore surprised when she received a letter dated March 21 to say they hadn’t received her completed census!

EVE AITCHISON, Kinghorn, Fife.

Woke snowflakes

THE Met is possibly appealing against the ruling that the way it treated the ladies holding a vigil for Sarah Everard was unlawful.

Not only was their treatment unlawful, it was disgustingly immoral. However, if you feel like gluing yourself to a motorway, destroying public property or any other ways to disrupt the general public you can be sure you will be treated with kid gloves.

The police should start doing what we the public pay them for instead of pandering to a crowd of woke snowflakes. TOM ROBERTSON, Rutherglen,

Lanarkshire. THE public are asking why politicians, the police and the judiciary are not taking draconian action against the eco-cowards who are severely disrupting civilised society and endangering lives.

The latest group, Just Stop Oil, disabled 55 fuel pumps. Anarchist groups Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain and Tyre Extinguishers should be banned.

The police and courts are far more lenient on these eco-terrorists, many repeat offenders, than they are on the angry public who try to remove them. CLARK CROSS, Linlithgow, West

Lothian. RIcHARd Littlejohn’s article on the kid glove treatment handed out by the courts to so-called eco warriors was spot on (Mail). It escapes me as to why the organisations attacked by these people, and suffer destruction of their property and loss of business revenue, don’t sue these idiots. ROBERT D. KNOX, Bishopbriggs,

East Dunbartonshire.

Bias of the BBC

IT HAS never been more obvious the contempt and bias the BBc has against Boris Johnson and the Tory party. There has been endless coverage of ‘partygate’ and comments regarding Angela Rayner but not a word about Keir Starmer and his ‘party’.

SuzANNE FOSTER, Moray.

Passing the test

THOSE discussing proposed change in the rules for the MoT should look at the rules governing the equivalent in Spain.

The test is completed at government-run stations which eliminate the possibility of failures being used to procure repair work.

BILL ADAIR, Renfrewshire.

Scourge of mobiles

I SHARE the dream of a world without mobile phones (Letters). I fondly recall the time before social media, online banking, the internet, 24-hour news, computers and video recorders.

At no time did I ever wish for a portable gizmo that meant I was contactable instantly by anyone on the planet. Smoke signals suited me just fine.

HuW BEYNON, Llandeilo, Carms.

IT WAS a joy to watch my grandchildren playing. Instead of the latest gizmos, they were captivated by the old-fashioned game of Battleships, having to think and work things out themselves.

GEOFF ROBB, York.

Stamp of disapproval

LAST week, I went to the post office to buy stamps for four cards to send to Sweden. The assistant began tearing off sheets of stamps. I was told the new stamps with code strips had not yet arrived so they had to use up their stock.

I was given ten stamps for each envelope and advised to write the address very small.

I was so surprised that I paid and then bought large envelopes! GILLIAN pOWELL,

Wickford, Essex.