SUNDAY 4 AUGUST 2019

Will Johnson be riding high if he

legalises cannabis?

No one should be surprised if Boris Johnson were to announce a wish to legalise

cannabis for recreational use. Choosing to smoke would provide comfort to many in

the event of a hard Brexit. Young voters might be seduced by an act of metropolitan

liberalism. The outraged elderly who voted him in as leader comprise too small a

group for him to worry about now.

And, anyway, the resulting tax revenue would go some way to meeting the NHS side-of-the-bus promise.

Steven Fogel NW11

Dam shame

Boris Johnson has declared that the Toddbrook Reservoir dam will be repaired or rebuilt. All well and good
as a gut reaction. But, apart from maintaining the perceived aesthetic of an artificial lake, we need to be
debating why this and other similar reservoirs are still needed, given that their purpose is feeding local
canals, the original function of which was superseded well over a century ago. This becomes even more
imperative given climate change and greater storminess and the threat to human life.

Besides repair or rebuild, the question also to be asked at Whaley Bridge is: should the dam be removed and
the valley restored?

Ian Reid East Riding of Yorkshire

A hateful hybrid

As usual, the only concerns expressed over the animal-human hybrid experimentation in China centre on
the potential for human suffering. What about the hideous exploitation of the animals involved in these
dreadful experiments? What about their suffering? Does anyone think these creatures want to sacrifice their
lives for the good of their arch enemy, the human? As far as I’m concerned, the people involved in this
research are monsters.

As the human race tries to devise more and more ways of avoiding death, the planet dies around them, as
does all moral decency and empathy for other living creatures.

Penny Little Oxfordshire

Voices /Letters