Letters: No 10 parties confirm voters’ worst fears about Britain’s ruling class

SIR – The parties at Downing Street are indicative of a more profound problem.

At the start of the pandemic, the Behavioural Insights Team was concerned as to whether the British public would comply with strict regulations. In this, it showed its ignorance: Britain is a strongly law-abiding nation. However, we have a ruling class that has demonstrated, again and again, that it considers itself to be above the law.

We must challenge this entire group, not just to learn some humility, but also to recognise that we, the public, will enforce consequences.

Linda Hughes
Newton Abbot, Devon

SIR – Boris Johnson, Novak Djokovic and Prince Andrew have something in common. They believe they are so exceptional that rules applying to everyone else do not apply to them. They are getting or will get their comeuppance.

Sandy Pratt
Storrington, West Sussex

SIR – I was quite prepared to support Boris Johnson in the brouhaha over drinks in the Downing Street garden. Let’s be honest: who hasn’t pushed the boundaries during lockdown?

However, No 10 partying on the eve of the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral has crossed the line. I can no longer support this Government, and Mr Johnson must go. To disrespect the rules is one thing; to disrespect the Queen is quite another.

Jonny Dart
Norton-sub-Hamdon, Somerset

SIR – Allister Heath is right: the garden party at No 10 is simply the final straw. The real problem with Boris Johnson is that he has squandered the exciting opportunities that Brexit and a huge majority gave him.

When he won the 2019 general election, he appeared to think that his work was done. In fact, that was when his work began.

It seems to me now that Mr Johnson’s ambitions were all about personal glory: being Prime Minister was just one step towards becoming “World King”. He has forgotten (or more likely never cared) that being PM is about service over self – not the other way round.

Anthony Singlehurst
London SE11

SIR – I don’t like Boris Johnson, but I voted for him to lead the Conservative Party so that he could finish the job of Brexit.

A host of changes to our tax and regulatory systems are required so that Britain can rebound from the Brexit (and now Covid) “hit” and create the wealth needed to pay for the huge social and environmental costs on the horizon.

Mr Johnson led us into Brexit with many promises. He is still the right person to do the job, and he must be held to it. He needs to recreate the feeling of confidence that he once gave us all.

C A Anderson
Selkirk

Brexit and sovereignty

SIR – Liz Truss says she will invoke Article 16 “if we can’t find a solution” to the Northern Ireland Protocol, implying that ECJ jurisdiction over Northern Ireland may be accepted in some circumstances.

But no other sovereign nation has compromised its sovereignty in exchange for a trade deal with the EU, and nor should the UK. It would conflict directly with Article 36 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which upholds our sovereignty.

The protocol is not fit for purpose. It also runs counter to the UN Charter on the sovereignty of nation states, as well as the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and the 1800 Act of Union.

Conflating the protocol with international law is disingenuous. Since UK sovereignty is not negotiable, the protocol will need to be scrapped at some point, and now is surely as good a time as any to invoke Article 16.

Roger J Arthur
Pulborough, West Sussex

SIR – Maroš Šefčovič, vice-president of the European Commission for Interinstitutional Relations, deserves to be ridiculed for his claim that “the Northern Ireland Protocol was the most complicated part of the Brexit negotiations, and it is the foundation of the entire deal. Without the protocol, the whole system will collapse”.

So apparently our entire relationship with the EU revolves around how to manage a trickle of goods crossing the land border into the Irish Republic.

How big is that trickle? About 0.2 per cent of goods imports into the EU single market, but enough for the EU to get into a stew about. How carefully would those goods be checked if they came into the Irish Republic from the United Kingdom by sea, rather than over the land border? About 3 per cent of the trucks would be inspected.

This problem has always been a nonsense – just like the official position of the Irish government that “any checks or controls anywhere on the island would constitute a hard border”.

Dr D R Cooper
Maidenhead, Berkshire

Cruelty of fox hunting

SIR – Stephen Lambert (Letters, January 9), seeking to make a “moral” case for hunting foxes with hounds, overlooks one important point.

I suspect that many people accept, as I do, that foxes have to be killed as part of countryside management. What is not acceptable is the idea of people hunting and killing animals with dogs for “sport” and enjoyment, rather than out of necessity.

There is no moral justification for this: it smacks of cruelty, and should be banned completely.

Arthur Bayley
Tyldesley, Lancashire

Penny-pinching banks

SIR – After boosting their profits by closing branches, restricting the number that take cash (Letters, January 2) and forcing us to use the internet, banks are now looking for ways to make even more money.

I run a small community bank account to collect the proceeds of coffee mornings, along with book and jumble sales, totalling under £1,500 per annum. HSBC (and other banks) are starting to charge £5 a month, plus 40p per cheque, to administer such an account. This may not be much for a bank executive, but it hurts us.

It is clear that, while they claim to support communities, these banks’ desire is to make profits at a distance, shielded by the telephone and the internet. I am closing our account.

Tony Foot
Beaminster, Dorset

Spurious HS2 claims

SIR – Patrick Powers (Letters, January 9) defends HS2 on the grounds that the line “is not predicated on increased speed but capacity”.

The “HS” stands for “high speed”. If its purpose was to increase capacity, it would have been built as a standard-speed line – at a fraction of the cost.

The fundamental flaw of HS2 is that England is too small, and its cities too close together, for a high-speed line to create time savings that justify the cost, given that we already have trains capable of reaching 125mph.

Keith Forsdick
Looe, Cornwall

SIR – Had the original case for HS2 truly been based on capacity, I suspect there wouldn’t be any debate over whether it should be built.

But the original justification was that businessmen and women from Birmingham would arrive in London 20 minutes earlier, bringing some sort of economic benefit. In order to reach the speed necessary, however, the line had to be as straight as possible, cutting through swathes of precious countryside. Only when the supposed economic benefit was shown to be imaginary did the focus turn to capacity.

Keith Whittaker
Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire

Inspirational women

SIR – You report that Rishi Sunak reads Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls to his daughters, and list some of the female pioneers in the book.

I wonder, however, if Dorothy Garrod (1892-1968) has been overlooked for her accomplishments in both her field of archaeology and academia generally.

She was one of the leading archaeologists of her time, discovering the second known Neanderthal skull on her first dig in Gibraltar.

When the Disney Professorship of Archaeology at Cambridge became vacant in 1939, she did not believe she had a chance, given that women had been accepted as lecturers for barely 10 years, and were still not admitted for degrees. She told a friend: “I shan’t get it, but I thought I’d give the electors a run for their money.” On May 6 1939, she was told that she had been elected.

She was the first woman to occupy a professorial chair at Cambridge or Oxford, and the first female professor of archaeology in Britain. Not only did she achieve much in her field, but she also led the way for woman to be given equal opportunity in academia.

Michael Garrod
Farnborough, Hampshire

Travelling in style under the Mallorcan sun

SIR – In her article (Travel, January 9) on Mallorca, Kari Colmans mentions a “train” that “wind[s] through the seaside port of Soller”. In fact it is an tram, which runs from inland Soller to Port Soller. There are, however, wonderful wooden-carriage trains that run from Palma through orange groves to Soller. These were electrified in 1929.

Roger Stainton
Colònia de Sant Pere, Mallorca, Spain

How cyclists can make sure drivers see them

SIR – I agree that many cyclists are impossible to see at night, especially on country lanes (Letters, January 9).

The WI sell fluorescent yellow armbands, which show up beautifully in headlights. I gave a pair to my daughter to wear when she is out running on dark mornings. She said it was her best Christmas gift.

Jacqueline Davies
Faversham, Kent

SIR – As a sometime cyclist, I believe I can answer the question of why riders favour dark clothing.

The answer, I’m afraid, is fashion. Look at any high-end cycling publication and you will notice that darker hues are de rigueur. Riders wearing hi-vis are sneered at by the “elite”. Stupid – but there it is.

Guy Bargery
Edinburgh

SIR – I agree that cyclists riding around in black are a danger.

However, pedestrians are just as bad. I am amazed how many walk around in dark clothing, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they are, in effect, invisible to the motorist.

I think it was in the 1960s when TV advertisements told us to “wear something white at night”. I still have a long white scarf that I use whenever I need to walk after dark.

David Bell
Knowl Hill, Berkshire

SIR – The New Forest Equestrian Association wants e-bikes banned from the area (report, January 9).

I have been mountain biking for 35 years and have ridden in the New Forest for over 30. Now in my 70s, I have succumbed to an e-bike so that I can still accompany my younger friends. I find myself riding more slowly now, as the power assistance on e-bikes is limited by law to 15mph.

Although there are many miles of cycle paths in the New Forest, none are designed for serious mountain biking, and it is true that we look for challenge and variety by using the trails created by ponies and other animals. In my experience, however, it is horses which cause most of the damage to the paths, and uncontrolled dogs which threaten wildlife. There are inconsiderate walkers and horse riders just as there are cyclists. All users must try to find ways to share these spaces with tolerance and good manners.

Peter Gardiner
Christchurch, Dorset