How Britain can better withstand the volatility unleashed by Trump

Birmingham in crisis

SIR – Living in Birmingham under a Labour council is irritating beyond belief (Letters, April 10). The equal pay dispute that helped bankrupt it – relating to claims that staff in female-dominated roles were underpaid – was known about many years before it was properly addressed, and the same goes for the costly IT system that failed. 

Services have deteriorated, with roads crumbling and petty crime increasing. Now we have the bin dispute, and, again, the council chose not to act during the initial stages, presumably expecting the problem to go away. Of course, it didn’t. 
This is a serious public-health issue, which the council and Government have been loath to confront, perhaps because Unite is a major Labour donor.

The result of all this hopelessness is that we are penalised with a 17.5 per cent rise in council tax over two years. The electorate will eventually have its say, but unfortunately the city’s reputation, such as it was, will suffer for some considerable time – through no fault of long-suffering residents.

Howard March
Birmingham

SIR – Nick Perry (Letters, April 10) suggests the Army should be sent in to clear up the rubbish in Birmingham. Why should the Army have to deal with another Labour mess? These people sign up to defend this country with their lives – isn’t that enough?

Charles Steward
Chippenham, Wiltshire

SIR – Having the Army remove the filth from Birmingham’s streets is a good idea. But has it got sufficient numbers?

Paul Berry
Barnstaple, Devon
 

Holocaust awareness

SIR – Valerie Sheldon (Letters, April 9) rightly suggests that young people should watch Sir Simon Schama’s powerful BBC documentary on the Holocaust. May I suggest that Sir Keir Starmer insists it is shown in all schools, instead of Adolescence? A rather more deserving focus. 

Gill Self
Framlingham, Suffolk
 

NHS mail

SIR – I was interested to read that Royal Mail is introducing a special NHS stamp, so that letters are delivered more promptly (report, April 10). If only there was a way such messages could be sent in seconds.

Julian Gall
Godalming, Surrey
 

Calling the tune

SIR – Over breakfast, my husband will mischievously hum a tune, which then goes round in my head all day (Letters, April 9). The worst is The Wheels on the Bus.

Sue Beer
Staines, Surrey

SIR – A musical friend once told me that, to get rid of an earworm, you should hum, silently if necessary, Land of Hope and Glory. It works for me.

Meriel Thurstan
Martock, Somerset

SIR – The song that won’t leave my head is The Beatles’ When I’m 64.

Sadly, that’s 11 years ago for me.

Huw Baumgartner
Bridell, Pembrokeshire

SIR – I always know when I have reached a certain level of alcohol intake because Maria Callas starts singing Casta Diva in my head.

Patrick Ethrington
London SW14
 

Council cash cow

SIR – Our family had a similar experience to Stuart Sommerville (“I told the council my mum died – then they doubled her tax bill”, telegraph.co.uk, April 10).

My stepmother died and, as executors, my sister and I put her flat on the market as soon as we obtained probate. Unfortunately, the flat is in a managed block for retired people and therefore cannot be sold to younger families or rented out. This restricts the possible buyers and makes the flat harder to sell. 

Warwick District Council, in its wisdom, has decided that the flat is now “long-term empty”, so we have been informed that we must pay 200 per cent council tax. On top of this, we have to pay the service charges, so we are spending more than £500 a month in total and receiving nothing in return. 

The legislation for second homes is being unfairly used by cash-strapped councils, and is penalising people who cannot escape the extra burden – except by dropping the asking price and virtually giving away the property. This is not something executors can do as they have to obtain the best price for the beneficiaries. 

Owners of properties that are on the market should not be penalised in this way.

Jane Dixon
Newport, Isle of Wight

SIR – The Tony Blair Institute has suggested that boomers should downsize once their children have grown up and left home (Letters, April 7).

Can we look forward to Sir Tony himself giving up his properties and moving into a one-bed flat? Or is this just another case of “Do as I say, not as I do”?

Jane Crang
London SW13
 

Bath Oliver mystery

SIR – Miranda Levy (“What ever happened to Bath Oliver biscuits?”, Features, April 10) informs us that these biscuits were discontinued in 2020. 

I bought a packet in Bath last September.

Rosie Harden-Vane
Holywell, Northumberland

SIR – I regret the disappearance of Bath Olivers, but what I regret even more is the disappearance of the chocolate-coated version. 

They were a perfect combination of sweet and savoury.

Ruth Bennett
Southampton
 

Woke vandalism of graduation Latin at Oxford

SIR – I was appalled to read that Latin in Oxford graduation ceremonies is set to be corrupted in order to please the vocal minority who identify as “non-binary” (“The academics incensed by the woke overhaul of Oxford’s 800-year-old graduation ceremony”, report, April 9). 

The proposal to make the language gender-neutral is divisive, intellectually flawed and narrow-minded.

Most Oxford graduates, whatever their political affiliation, take great pleasure in the magnificence and heritage of the correct Latin used in the ritual. Graduands note that they are partaking in 800 years of history.

Given the significance of this rite of passage, I am certain that most Telegraph readers will agree with me that Convocation, not just Congregation, should have a say in whether this act of cultural vandalism is allowed to proceed.

Matthew Burnett
Winchester, Hampshire
 

The secret to the texture of school dinner beef

SIR – Joanna Staughton (Letters, April 9) found the beef “gristly” in her 1940s school dinners. 

I left school in 1958 to join my father on the family farm, and remember him explaining to me that barren cows, whose productive life was over, should not be sold until the schools went back in September – when the market for them improved.

No wonder the beef was tough. 

Rob Morley
Doveridge, Derbyshire

SIR – I had school dinners throughout the 1950s and 1960s – including liver, mash, cabbage and sponge with custard. The Catholics had fish and chips on Fridays. Everything was wolfed down. 

During my 25 years working in schools, I was appalled at the daily diet of chips, crisps and nuggets served to modern youngsters. At 74, I still eat liver and mash, and am so grateful for the good food we were offered in our youth.

Adrian Connell
Sheringham, Norfolk

SIR – As a new teacher at a primary school, I sat down for lunch in the hall with other staff and the headmaster.

The pudding that day was an apple crumble, and I watched in horrified anticipation as the headmaster reached for the jug of mayonnaise that had been left on the table. Mistaking it for custard, he poured a generous helping on to his dish.

To this day, I do not know whether he had no sense of taste, or whether he felt unable to confess his mistake in front of the staff – but he ate the lot without comment.

Peter Sandall
Little Hereford
 

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