SIR – The first political event I remember as I grew up was the 1959 election, when Labor candidates were asked how they would pay for their proposals. They replied that it would come from economic growth.
Now, 63 years later, candidates in the Conservative leadership election are calling for tax cuts, not noticeably for spending cuts. Asked how they would pay for this, they reply that it would come from economic growth.
Supposing whoever is elected does cut, it is almost certain how taxes they will really pay for it: pseudo-borrowing as in 2019 and 2020, in which the Bank of England prints the money and “lends” it to the government.
You would have thought some remnants of 1980s monetarism would remain in the Conservative Party, but instead tax-cutting is still the obsession. Inflation is dismissed as a wage-price spiral, though this couldn’t even take place unless money in circulation was increased to allow everyone to earn more and spend more.
There are always politicians with the top job glint in their eyes who will tell the people with the votes what they want to hear. But you might have hoped that what they want to hear would have moved on since the 1950s.
Roger Shafir
London N21
SIR – Have the leadership contenders nothing more to offer than tax cuts? It’s not very imaginative, is it? What about the creaking NHS, labor shortages, or the dysfunctional housing market?
Michael Heaton
Warminster, Wiltshire
SIR – Why is the Conservative Party enlarged in the concept of hustings? In a world of information technology, all the information needed to arrive at a choice of candidate is available at the press of a button. This is a time-wasting procedure at a juncture where speed is of the essence. The idea belongs back in the era of flared trousers and five-star petrol.
Huw Baumgartner
Bridell, Pembrokeshire
SIR – Candidates should be asked: “When will you deliver the sovereignty for which the nation voted?”
Paul Richardson
Elsham, Lincolnshire
SIR – Watching ambitious Tories’ sincere attempts at self-promotion is embarrassing. They should, perhaps, heed the words of CS Lewis: “You will never make a good impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression you are making.”
Mark Macauley
Warminster, Wiltshire
SIR – In 2017, I appealed to Penny Mordaunt as international development secretary to help 10,000 impoverished veterans across the Commonwealth who had served the Crown in forgotten wars.
We were told this appeal was unlikely to succeed unless Ms Mordaunt showed determination to help. She did, and without fuss the resulting scheme to provide essential medicine and food saved many lives. The old soldiers and their widows will be forever grateful.
Tom Benyon
Bladon, Oxfordshire
SIR – Much is made of bookies’ odds and candidates’ strengths, but two rules of thumb may help, based on prime ministers since 1900, at least as far as male PMs go.
The next PM almost certainly won’t be soon. (Only Attlee was; even Churchill had some hair.) He is also unlikely to have a surname in the latter half of the alphabet (only Wilson had).
Thus, Zahawi has no chance (both categories); Tugendhat and Sunak are unlikely (names beginning with the wrong letter). So, with Chishti gone, it looks like Hunt for PM if a man.
Of woman prime ministers, half had a name beginning with T and half with M, so Truss or Mordaunt may win, though the small sample of female prime ministers may not be reliable.
Graham Donnelly
Colchester, Essex
Grain from Ukraine
SIR – We currently have a food and energy famine, not a “cost of living crisis” (report, July 12).
One reason for the food famine is the blockade of grain exports from Ukraine by mines and Russian attacks. The recovery of Snake Island reduces the risk of Russian attacks. The other problem is reminiscent of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, when tankers risked hitting mines in the Strait of Hormuz, a major waterway for world oil supplies. Minesweepers were dispatched by the West, and the crisis was averted.
It is impossible to dispatch minesweepers today because Turkey will not permit the transit of warships through the Bosphorus. The alternative is to adapt cargo ships to withstand mine explosions. This is not as fanciful as it might appear. In the 1950s, the US navy modified 10 Liberty ships, which it maintained in the post-war period.
Jeff Crook
Member, Institute of Marine Engineers
Croydon, Surrey
SIR – What clowns we all are. For the sake of punishing Boris Johnson for being in exactly the way we knew he would, we have jeopardized Ukraine. By removing the only NATO leader that Vladimir Putin even begins to worry about, we risk a serious escalation of the war.
Nick Edwards
Peaslake, Surrey
Local heroes
SIR – In Wimbledon village, we have lost all four major high-street banks and two building societies. However, we have a wonderful newsagent and post office, where I was able to change my old paper banknotes for the new plastic ones (Letters, July 12).
I suspect that, across the country, many similar shops are helping their local community – in particular, the elderly – to cope without easy access to a bank. They are the unsung heroes of the modern high street.
Liz Beaumont
London SW19
Not a lotta bottle
SIR – In Lincolnshire about 30 years ago, our milk was delivered in blue plastic bags that could be put straight into the freezer (report, July 11) or a plastic jug, which we were also given. We then simply cut the corner off the bag – there was no need for a bottle or other container. Surely this would be a good model for today’s dairies to copy.
Beverly Purver
Coalville, Leicestershire
Child trafficking
SIR – Dame Sara Thornton, the former anti-slavery commissioner, said on the Today program yesterday that “child exploitation is common” when discussing Sir Mo Farah’s trafficking as a nine-year-old boy (report, July 12).
What does it say about us as a nation that more energy is spent trying to rectify historical misdemeanours over which we have no control and toppling statues than on stamping out this crime?
Joseph Kennils
Little Wigborough, Essex
Assisted dyeing
SIR – Whether we call it “assisted dying” or “assisted suicide”, I trust we all agree that state-sanctioned killing is a matter of profound significance.
It is therefore chilling that Michael Crilly (Letters, July 11) does not campaign for greater support for hospices and other providers of pain relief. By governments seeking to evade the costs of such a programme, his solution of offering medical assistance to end life will be eagerly endorsed. Whether vulnerable citizens will be thankful is another matter.
John O’Donnell
West Mersea, Essex
SIR – Michael Crilly is correct that breakthrough pain suffered by terminally ill patients often requires a subcutaneous morphine injection.
I was a GP for over 40 years. For the last 25, it was normal practice to set up a 24-hour subcutaneous morphine infusion at home, powered by a battery-operated syringe driver. This was done by the district nurse, supervised by the GP or specialist palliative-care nurse. It had a button that could be pressed by the patient or carer if there was breakthrough pain, and the dose could be increased when the device was reloaded.
The relief on the faces of patients and carers once pain was controlled was clear, and quality of life improved. In the majority of cases, once the pain was controlled, assisted suicide was not an issue. For a minority of more difficult cases, admission to a hospice for specialist care was an option.
Dr John Noone
Manchester
Larry’s PM’s
SIR – Henry Ellis (Letters, July 12) asks how many prime ministers Larry will have served when the next one arrives.
The answer, as any cat owner knows, is none. They all served him.
Martin Carter
Macclesfield, Cheshire