Letters: A dignified display of defiance against the scourge of anti-Semitism

A better Covid inquiry

SIR – Surely there is only one question that should be asked of those giving evidence to the Covid inquiry: what measures need to be taken in future to help the country through another pandemic? 

I fail to see how the retrospective questions being asked will achieve anything useful. The inquiry in its present form should be cancelled, a new chair appointed and barristers instructed to ask questions designed to gather opinions on how the response can be better next time.

Dr Nigel J Cooke
Leeds, West Yorkshire 
 

The Green Blob

SIR – Further to Matthew Lynn’s excellent article on the Green Blob (Business comment, November 25), I fear that he has missed an elephant in the room. 

On January 1 2024 – that is, in five weeks’ time – the biodiversity net gain legislation comes into force. This legislation will ultimately require all developments of any description to achieve at least a 10 per cent increase in on-site biodiversity upon completion, compared with before development. 

This is to be calculated by some magic formula developed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The legislation applies to housebuilding as well as commercial development, and planning consent will not be forthcoming without compliance. 

I fear this will be a major obstacle to housebuilding and virtually all other development, coming on top of the disastrous nutrient neutrality requirements which are delaying the construction of up to 150,000 new homes at present.

Clearly the Government has lost control over the Green Blob. 

Derek Limbert
Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire
 

Easier listening

SIR – Some readers are upset by the move to to abandon DAB radios in favour of DAB+ technology, as they may have to invest in new receivers (Letters, November 27).

I am indebted to a Telegraph reader who suggested some time ago that Radio Swiss Classic, which can be obtained on the internet at no cost, should be investigated as an alternative classical music provider. 

It is never off when I am at home now. No advertisements, no news, no inane chatter, no one telling you their name every few minutes – just an announcer who, after each piece, tells you, in German, the name of the piece, and the name of the composer. Worth a try, and cheaper than buying a new radio.

Chris Ryder
Cheadle, Cheshire
 

Jack of all trades

SIR – During my time as a local newspaper editor, while we were seeking to fill a vacancy for a reporter (Letters, November 25) an application arrived in the post from a man who claimed he would be ideally suited to the role of cinema projectionist. 

An idea occurred to me. I phoned the manager of the local cinema and asked whether she had been advertising for a projectionist. She had. And had she by any chance received an application from a man expressing a keen desire to work as a newspaper reporter? Yes.

Evidently the applicant had decided to go for both posts, only to get his envelopes mixed up. The irony was that, according to his CV, he possessed a degree in organisational studies.

Alan Hendry
Wick, Caithness

Failed by Royal Mail

SIR – Here on Mersea Island, we rely on the postal service (Letters, November 27). However, “second delivery” now often means a delivery in the second half of the week. 

I have twice asked Royal Mail how many times it has failed to meet the legal universal service obligation on the island in the last six months. One inquiry received no response, while a freedom of information request received a response saying that Royal Mail was not subject to FoI laws. 

Our MP has now kindly agreed to raise the question in Parliament. Royal Mail’s universal service obligation to deliver letters six days a week is only meaningful if it can be held to account for it.

Dr Martin Parsons
West Mersea, Essex

SIR – We are asking Royal Mail to do the impossible. The flat rate universal delivery service is a socio-political obligation imposed on it in different times; it drives ever higher prices, which lead to ever declining usage. 

We also delude ourselves if we think that, had Royal Mail not been privatised, things would be better. Matters admittedly have not been helped by the hiving off by government of revenue streams, turgid management that has seen it outpaced by fleeter-footed commercial delivery operations, and a trade union that fights change at every opportunity. 

If we wish to retain Royal Mail and the national good of its universal service, we will either have to buy it back and then hand it over to business people who can make the necessary changes, or recognise that good in the form of a hefty taxpayer subsidy. Unions, government, users and taxpayers alike would have to accept that the Royal Mail of the future would need to look and act a lot more like its modern competitors than it does now – up to and including the option of failure and final closure if it still failed to deliver either value or letters.

Victor Launert
Matlock Bath, Derbyshire
 

Worthwhile calories 

SIR – It seems that people now want to “cancel” British favourites such as the Sunday roast, bangers and mash, cottage pie and fish and chips – all in the name of promoting better health (Features, November 27). 

I am nearly 70 years old. I exercise regularly, have a BMI of 22.5 and have no intention of giving up any more of life’s pleasures for the sake of a few extra years in an old people’s home.

Eamon Lambert
Tharston, Norfolk
 

The pitfalls of the AA’s new pothole guidance

SIR – When I learnt to drive in 1968, my instructor taught me never to dodge a puddle but to go straight through it, on the grounds that drivers who avoided puddles did so with little regard for what was coming in the opposite direction (“Swerve puddles to beat potholes, drivers told”, report, November 27). They were more concerned about avoiding the puddle. 

I have lost count of the number of times I have been met head on by drivers trying to avoid road obstacles, such as buses at a stop or parked delivery vans, who blindly overtake following the vehicle in front regardless of what is facing them.
The AA’s advice to drive round puddles is likely to prove dangerous, with the result that drivers obeying this advice may try to claim they were in the right. 

Harry L Barker
North Berwick, East Lothian 

SIR – I read the correspondence about pothole repairs (Letters, November 25) while watching my council’s “rapid response pothole team” fixing some outside my house. 

The standard of work is reminiscent of Laurel and Hardy. This is the third time in 12 months that the same potholes are being repaired. The Government would not need to fork out £8 billion if the work was done properly in the first place.

Stephen Knight
Barnet, Hertfordshire

SIR – The main road through Denmead has now been marked for many potholes to be patched. 

It would be far more effective to scour the surface and lay down new tarmac. Not only would this last longer, but it would also level out the present very uneven road surface.

Brian Keeling
Denmead, Hampshire
 

How British trains derail the best laid plans

SIR – I planned my last trip to Gatwick airport from Chichester meticulously: newspaper, coffee, early Saturday train. Four coaches arrived, on time, packed to the gunwales. 

Every vestibule was blocked by things the size of school trunks (Letters, November 25), and any space left over was taken by surplus passengers – none of whom seemed to own the trunks, which had clearly been deposited by those occupying the comfortable seating. It was an hour of standing hell, enhanced by extra passengers at every station. The shambles at Gatwick, where 90 per cent got off, had to be seen to be believed. 

British trains – Southern in particular – are simply not built for long-distance travel, for which larger luggage is (apparently) a requirement. 

Crispin Caldicott
Warkworth, Auckland, New Zealand
 

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