We should have downed drone within an hour

I couldn’t agree more with Peter Hitchens over our Government’s pathetic response to the Gatwick drone fiasco.

I can just imagine the number of hours spent holding Cobrastyle meetings, and producing risk assessments and impact statements instead of taking any real action.

Peter was correct in saying that there was a time before health and safety and ambulancechasing lawyers when an Army or police marksman would have downed the drone within an hour of its first sighting. Roy Daniels, Luton Peter Hitchens spoke for all decent, hard-working, responsible people last week when he described the dire state of our country, exposed by the inability or unwillingness to keep our airports and people safe from the misuse of drone technology. David Harvey, Chippenham The incompetence shown by the police and other authorities concerning Gatwick defies belief. The threats posed by drones to airports, prisons and other sites have been obvious for years, but our agencies do not have a clue what to do about it.

I suspect the police are too busy chasing someone for saying something politically incorrect, and the Government is too busy sending a warship to the Black Sea to frighten Mr Putin. Time and time again we see that the people at the top are not fit to be there. Mick Ferrie, Mawnan Smith, Cornwall No doubt ‘lessons will be learned’ after the drone saga. One of them will surely be this: why didn’t we act on warnings or invest in the technology to stop such an incident in the first place? Not for the first time, we put off such decisions and instead cross our fingers and hope for the best.

A. Brown, Surrey This incident has shown the security of our airports to be severely lacking. How long before a terrorist tries something? Owen Hollifield, Caerphilly As a qualified parish clerk, I take exception to your comment last week that ‘when decisive action is needed, it’s like we have the parish council in charge’. This implies that parish councils are not decisive or lack leadership.

Parish councils are the bedrock of our communities, the makers of numerous decisions on behalf of those who live within their boundaries. Our ‘leaders’ get paid. Parish councillors are unpaid public servants, giving up their time for the benefit of others.

Penny Clapham, Exeter As a parish councillor, I don’t know whether to be offended or delighted by your comment last week that our politicians aren’t fit to run a parish council.

But, I regret, I have to agree with you. In my view, many of them don’t possess the necessary community spirit and selflessness to consider undertaking such a task. Keith Dunwell, Leeds