Reeves’s road sense
Sir: Is it stubbornness, denial, inexperience or some other agenda that prevents Rachel Reeves changing course in the face of uncomfortable facts? A multitude of surveys have told her that punitively taxing the rich means they will leave (‘The great escape’, 17 May). Recently I had lunch at a fashionable London club that was half-empty. When asked why this was, our waiter commented that he now rarely sees his previous international regulars, and if he does, they are only in town for a short stay. Endless business surveys have also told Reeves that her employer taxes will cost jobs, close companies, weaken growth and raise inflation, yet she has continued with these too, despite evidence that those fears are now coming to pass as these taxes bite. When her excuses run out and it is clear that her policies caused the slow-moving car crash that will be our economy, historians will no doubt find answers to the question above. For now, many remain bemused, not so much by the errors of judgment as by the fact that, despite clear warnings of hazards, she has not swerved to avoid them.
Andrew Haynes
London SW6
Caring students
Sir: Re. John Power’s article ‘Mind the gap’ (17 May), it seems to me that oversubscribed university courses could be linked with care work. A year’s exemplary care-work experience could up someone’s chances of being accepted for such places. Thin sandwich courses could provide six months’ paid care work, with reduced fees on four-year degrees. I think many English students would be willing care workers for an interim period. The training needed for many such roles is not long.
Keith Wain
Yelverton, Devon
Postal vote
Sir: Melanie McDonagh wrote sense about the decline of our postal services (‘Junk mail’, 10 May). My experience of our local post office in rural Nottinghamshire is quite different, however. In a village of about 2,000 inhabitants, the full range of services is available twice a week for two hours. The staff are charming and knowledgeable, and you can post a parcel, pay in a cheque, draw cash, buy foreign currency. So outside of London, you can still find post offices providing a brilliant service. Mr Bates’s successors are doing a brilliant job up here.
Tom Fremantle
East Markham, Notts
Trump is no conservative
Sir: As a relatively recent convert to conservatism, may I applaud Matthew Parris’s column of 10 May (‘Kemi shouldn’t play the Trump card’). He articulates, for me, a vision that chimes very well with what I see as the best virtues of both conservatism and the Conservative party. The behaviour of Donald Trump negates so much of what conservatism stands for, if nothing else culturally and philosophically. Matthew is also right in bemoaning the terrible toll Trump is having on conservatives in elections across the globe. Trump is not a conservative – and the sooner we create clear blue water between conservatism and both Trump and Reform, the better.
David Ford
Saltaire, West Yorkshire
Hard to beat
Sir: I must take issue with the opening sentence of William Atkinson’s ‘Notes on…’ Thomas the Tank Engine (10 May): ‘Ringo Starr is mostly known as the second- or third-best drummer in the Beatles.’ Poppycock! Listen to Ringo’s drumming on ‘Rain’, ‘Ticket To Ride’ or ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ for confirmation of his unique talent. It’s time to call time on the fallacy that he is ‘the luckiest man in music’. The Beatles would not have been the Beatles without Ringo (a fact corroborated by the other three Fabs).
Jonathan Morris
London SE20
Leo’s signs
Sir: Damian Thompson finds the omens for the new Pope’s reign encouraging (‘Holy welcome’, 17 May). The choice of papal name was an immediate fillip, for Leo XIII was famous for doctrinal rectitude as well as concern for social issues. But we need signs that Leo XIV is willing to correct the mistakes of Pope Francis. Two opportunities come to mind. First, the policy of appeasement towards the atheistic tyranny in Beijing can be reversed. It has left the Catholic Church in China largely controlled by the Chinese Communist party (and President Xi Jinping does not respect weakness). Second, Francis’s unkind restrictions on the use of the old Latin Mass can be abandoned. They reopened divisions between conservatives and liberals which Pope Benedict XVI had healed. Action on these two fronts would set the tone for the pontificate of the Augustinian Bishop of Rome, a worthy successor to St Peter.
John Hicks
Manchester
Hazarding a guest
Sir: Christa d’Souza mentioned several phrases expressed by house guests that make any host wilt (‘Host of problems’, 10 May). There are two others even more chilling: ‘I’ve told a friend all about you, and you’ll love having him to stay’, closely followed by ‘I know how much you like showing guests the sights’.
S. Gimson
Geneva, Switzerland
Back on the Wagner
Sir: Richard Bratby might have reservations about Sir Antonio Pappano as a Wagner interpreter (Opera, 17 May), but I was surprised he had nothing to say about the sheer splendour of the Royal Opera Orchestra’s performance under Pappano’s direction. Together with a first-rate cast, this was a star of the show.
David Woodhead
Leatherhead, Surrey
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