Daily Mail, Monday, August 19, 2019 Page 57
LETTERS
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
DEBATE
Christ died for the ungodly.
Romans 5:6I AGREE that drivers texting and calling
on hand-held phones should have the
full force of the law brought down on
them. But can using a hands-free phone
be more distracting than chatting to a
passenger or singing along to the radio?
Will these be the next things banned?
MAUREEN BAXTER, Telford, Shropshire.
IT IS an excellent idea to ban all mobile
phone use in cars, including hands-free.
I have had to dodge motorists and
cyclists concentrating on their phone
conversation to the point where they were
unaware of my existence, let alone
proximity. I always switch off my phone
before starting the car. If someprofessional drivers find a ban to be too
restricting, this could be addressed by
supplementary in-car phone use training,
recorded as an extra category on the
driving licence.
In the meantime, be safe and be silent.
I. McNICHOLAS, Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent.
WILL all driver distractions be banned?
This would include talkative passengers
and children asking: ‘Are we there yet?’
This just shows how impossible it would
be to enforce a ban on hands-free calls.
GEOFF KEY, Bournemouth, Dorset.
WILL the police be exempt from a hands-
free ban? I am a former police advanced
driver and wonder what makes it safe forthe police to use their communications
when driving, but dangerous for me and
other experienced drivers.
TONY DUNN, Burntwood, Staffs.
WHEN I am driving, my wife knows it will
be a silent journey unless I ask her a
question. Driving needs your full
concentration, so how can a motorist
be expected to answer a phone call,
however it is initiated or controlled?
ALAN STACKMAN, Calne, Wilts.
APART from the emergency services,
using a hands-free device while driving is
hardly a necessity. Pull over and park the
car if you need to make or take a call.
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1WX. Tel: 01892 525273. e-mail: [email protected]LETTER OF THE WEEK
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O MP Sarah Wollaston has tried
out the Tory Party, Change UK
and now the Lib Dems. What
next — the Monster Raving
Loony Party?
A. WYATT, Stibb Cross, Devon.
O GARY LINEKER is not the only
TV presenter guilty of arm
waving (Letters). They all do it,
including his Match Of The Day
stand-in Gabby Logan.
R. PHILLIPS, Epping, Essex.
O DAMIEN HIRST’S tribute to
Jackson Pollock is spot on.
P. TURBERVILLE, Ashover, Derbys.
O IF ANDY MURRAY doesn’t feelfit to compete in a five-set
men’s singles match, perhaps
he should identify as a woman
and play only three sets.
P. LEWIS, Aldwick, W. Sussex.
O YOU need only 55 per cent
for a grade A in the maths
A-level (Mail) — I didn’t know I
was a maths genius!
DAN HARTLEY, Solihull, W. Mids.
O CONTRARY to what some
people think, many retired
people, like me, pay income
tax (Mail).
Mrs JOYCE REEVE,
Kettering, Northants.Should hands-free calls in cars be banned? WIN our Letter Of The Week Magic
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020 7937 7493, including your full postal
address and phone
number.Write to: Daily Mail Letters, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT
email: [email protected]Make Corbyn a
caretaker PM?
What a disaster
and is an affront to the law-abiding
public. The magistrates who
decided to give Coogan just a
two-month ban should have to
answer for their decision.
BARRY CHANNING, Cardiff.
IT’S a shame that Steve Coogan
didn’t get a long driving ban. The
BBC would have saved a lot of
money by shelving another of its
so-called comedies.
PETE DICKERSON,
Ryde, Isle of Wight.On the gravy train
A 2.8 PeR CenT inflation-busting
increase in train fares is no
surprise. The railways have
become a gravy train to bleed dry
the Government and commuters.
The splitting up of British Rail
into myriad companies has
created layers of bureaucracy and
legions of contractors.
network Rail has made a
mockery of John Major’s
passenger charter to penalise late-
running trains.
Services are sporadic and flaky
at best and the public is being
asked to shell out for the privilege
of travelling. We need a root-and-branch overhaul of the whole
railway infrastructure.
DAVE DEGEN,
Harrow Weald, Middlesex.Stolen pensions
HOW many of the 322,000 women
taking up employment up to June
are those born in the Fifties who
have had their pensions stolen by
successive Governments?
Forcing women in their 60s back
into work instead of enjoying a
well-earned retirement is not
something politicians should be
shouting about.
MIKE QUINN,
Nuneaton, Warks.A fair bet
IT IS unfair to condemn Wayne
Rooney for signing a contract with
a betting firm. I do not gamble,
but know people who enjoy doing
so responsibly.
Yes, gambling can cause
serious problems, but so does
reckless spending, overeating
and drunkenness.
Would there be the same(^) criticism if Rooney’s contract was
for a brand of pies, a financial
institution, beer or ice cream? Do
we condemn the Royal Family for
flocking to Ascot, where money is
thrown about gambling?
D. GLYN JONES,
Beaumaris, Anglesey.
Singleton’s utopia
I DISAGRee with Amanda
Platell’s account of what she
considers to be the drawbacks of
being an older singleton (Femail).
Having lived alone for several
years, I am very happy that I can
eat what I like, watch what I
like on TV, go where I like, go to
bed when I like and, yes, leave
the toilet seat up without fear
of retribution.
There’s a word for this, Amanda,
and it’s certainly not loneliness —
it’s utopia.
DAVID PITT,
Boxley, Kent.
Pop to the opera
enGLISH national Opera chief
Stuart Murphy is right to say that,
given the chance, children would
enjoy opera.
I defy any music-loving teenager
not to be moved by the stirring
arias and choruses of the greatest
operas of Mozart, Rossini, Verdi,
Handel and Puccini.
The choruses of Handel’s
Messiah are electrifying compared
with today’s insipid and unin-
spired pop music. It’s time radio
stations stopped assuming that
teenagers only enjoy chart music.
JON SMITH,
Surbiton, Surrey.
Cutting it at college
I WAS amused to read about
Mickey Mouse degrees (Mail),
particularly in hair and beauty.
In the Seventies, I gained City &
Guilds qualifications in gents’ and
ladies’ hairdressing, wig-making,
manicure, pedicure and beauty
therapy, with anatomy, physiology
and business studies thrown in.
I studied for two years at the
local technical college. The cost to
my parents was £200 for materials.
I left college on a Friday and
started a job in a salon on the
following Monday.
In those days, if you wished to
study a less academic subject, you
went to a tech or polytechnic. You
could still gain a qualification and
hone your skills.
University was for those who
wished to be doctors, dentists and
teachers. I have no idea why
today’s teenagers are all funnelled
towards university, as if it
were the only way to gain
qualifications. In the future, will
there be enough carpenters,
plumbers and electricians?
Having said that, my youngest
son has just graduated with a 2.1
in multi-media journalism and is
starting a full-time job with a
Premier League football club, so
maybe his three years of debt have
been worth it.
YVONNE WRIGHT,
Cassington, Oxon.
AS SOMeOne who only ever
voted Labour, but abstained
during Tony Blair’s years in power,
I hoped Jeremy Corbyn would be
a breath of fresh air.
Sadly, after seemingly accepting
the result of the referendum, he
has turned 180 degrees.
He is seeking to garner support
from MPs who have chosen to
ignore the electorate’s democratic
decision and are desperately
(^) seeking to find some way to
prevent Boris Johnson from
leaving the eU.
The new Lib Dem leader Jo
Swinson has rejected Corbyn’s
overtures, and I am confident
that, though he may be able to
obtain the support of some equally
desperate Tory MPs, he does not
have the backing of large swathes
of the public to become a caretaker
prime minister.
It is obvious to me that many
Labour supporters who voted to
leave the eU have switched to the
Brexit Party, as revealed in the
results of the european elections.
Corbyn is making a disgraceful
attempt to usurp control of
Parliament. I don’t know what
planet he thinks he is living on.
LEONARD POWELL,
Thelnetham, Suffolk.
I See no problem with Jeremy
Corbyn being the caretaker. Give
him a brush. At last he has found
his real potential.
MICHAEL LEATHER,
Onchan, Isle of Man.
Comedy magistrates
We nOW know that working for
the BBC trumps any awkward
situations that may arise.
Actor Steve Coogan argued that
he should not have an automatic
six-month speeding ban after
accruing 12 penalty points because
this would affect him filming a
new travelogue series featuring
his character Alan Partridge.
Misplaced sympathy is a
phenomenon magistrates display
when dealing with celebrities. It
has no place in our justice system
My Mum had my
dream wedding
dress all sewn up
TV PRESENTER Penny Smith’s
home-made wardrobe of
beautiful clothes (Femail)
brought back many happy
memories for me.
My mum could sew anything.
She made all her own clothes,
including her wedding dress
and mine (pictured).
I had seen a picture in a
magazine of my perfect dress
and Mum made it — after a bit
of trial and error! And from
the leftover fabric, she later
made the most beautiful
christening gown.
When I was a teenager, Mum
made me all the fashions:
hot pants, denim skirts and
Oxford bags trousers.
It wasn’t just clothes. She ran
up numerous curtains and
cushions; and when the
Wombles were a craze, she
made soft-toy versions of
them all, plus the Beatrix
Potter characters. She even
made a tent for my brother-
in-law. No sewing project
defeated her.
JAN DOWSETT, Gosport, Hants.