Letters - Wednesday, March 11, 2020

The announcement by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps that the UK will end its membership of EASA (the European aviation safety regulator) after the Brexit transition period is further proof that the Tory government is prepared to put inward-looking xenophobic ideology ahead of the safety of travellers.

This departure from an international organisation whose expertise – often led by British experts – has greatly improved passenger safety underlines the Government’s ideological determination to distance this country from highly successful European arrangements which are cost efficient and keep us safe.

Hence at the end of the year the UK will be leaving EURATOM which has the potential to complicate the treatment of cancer. At the very least, it won’t improve radiotherapy treatment options. While the UK probably does have the expertise to set up its own air safety regulator, why go to this expense and run the risk of miscommunication as two separate organisations the European and the British duplicate their efforts?

Trade body ADS – which represents UK businesses in aerospace, defence and security – estimates a new UK air organisation to cost £40m a year compared to an EASA contribution of £4m.

Even more chilling is the Tory refusal to guarantee participation in a future

Erasmus student exchange scheme given that their real heartfelt opinion is that the innate superiority as holders of the new blue passport means that young British people couldn’t possibly learn anything worthwhile from foreigners.

An exaggeration? We’ll see. But the rush casually and callously to end freedom of movement means that the Tories don’t really want us to enjoy cultural and social links with our nearest neighbours.

The Tories seem to believe that being members of organisations like EASA or EURATOM is incompatible with the UK having genuine economic and political independence. Why does this same warped logic not apply to membership of NATO or even the United Nations? Why accept International Maritime Organisation rules on British cruise ships? Surely that diminishes our independence?

The Government’s ideological determination to abandon long established and well working international agreements is hardly less nonsensical. Companies like EasyJet and Ryanair only exist because of the EU championing competition.

James Bovington

address supplied

MEDIA

Dearth of arts

on the BBC

There is a dearth of music and arts on the BBC.

The dumbing down of all stations – particularly Radio Four – has got to the stage where there is more or less a complete lack of good new music programmes, in depth art analysis, documentaries or programmes primarily

to entertain as well as inform.

The BBC is not doing our nation any favours by depriving us of the sort of programmes that grew our knowledge and outlook on life for which it used to be renowned and proud.

I read that the televising of the Proms was even going to be put out for tender, I hope this was fake news.

J Hutchinson

via email

SOCIETY

Don’t go down memory lane

On a recent visit to a new hairdresser, my regular one having retired, I found myself standing in a shop where, as a child, I bought my sweets with pennies given to me by my late grandmother.

Next to the shop is a passage that leads down to the back of what was once my grandmother’s house and back gate.

With mixed feelings and against advice, I decided to take a trip down memory lane for old time’s sake.

I soon learned the reason for being advised not to go. I can’t begin to put into words my feelings at the sign of the rubbish that filled the length of the passage, including the piles of dog mess.

My thoughts were of the decent, hard working people who had lived there in my grandmother’s day, they didn’t have the luxury of today’s labour saving white goods and gadgets. What they did have was pride and respect. Pride in their homes and respect for others.

There can be no excuse for throwing rubbish over a wall with the attitude of ‘out of sight, out of mind’.

This is not an isolated problem. It seems to be a way of life and not one to be ignored, whatever the cost.

I won’t be going down the passage again for a nostalgic look over my grandmother’s gate, but I will always have fond

memories of her hanging out whiter than white sheets, washed by hand in her pristine whitewashed yard and sweeping the passage that is now being used as a tip ‘for that was her way of life’.

Margaret Smith

address supplied

ENVIRONMENT

Problems in sea are long term

In March 1972, I was fortunate enough to go on an educational cruise on the SS Uganda.

One of the many things that stuck in my mind at the time was seeing, on a bright sunny day, all the waste being chucked overboard from a deck.

Flocks of seagulls would appear in the ship’s wake.

I remember thinking at the time, “mmmm, something not right about that”.

I couldn’t help wondering at the time if that was, even then, strictly legal.

If throughout modern times we’ve been throwing waste in the sea, I can understand why we now have a massive problem.

John Roberts

Address supplied