Letters: Driving in Europe highlights the appalling state of Britain’s roads

SIR – I’m presently on holiday in the Dordogne. The many hundreds of miles I have driven in France so far have been a revelation.

The autoroutes are like a magic carpet and I have yet to see a pothole (Letters, August 25) on other roads.

How do they do it?

Lorimer Burn
Guildford, Surrey

SIR – When my son was required by a Berkshire council to identify the pothole that had caused his motorcycle crash, he was able to show it using Google Earth.

Simon Crewe
Plymouth, Devon

SIR – Marilyn Parrott (Letters, August 25) is lucky that her council even considered repairing the potholes she reported. 

I informed my council of a drain and surrounding tarmac that had been pushed several inches below the road surface by the weight of vehicles and was a serious hazard to cyclists and motorists, particularly in the dark. 

The council’s solution (after a year of me chasing) was to tarmac over the drain. Now the entire road floods when it rains and is even more of a hazard.

Stephen Knight
Barnet, Hertfordshire

SIR – British drivers are not alone in having to deal with potholes. We have them in Canada, too, along with uneven roads and manhole covers lower than the road surface.

I have always assumed that the authorities leave them like this to make us slow down. Are you sure this isn’t the aim where you live, too?

Peter Bull
New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada

SIR – Five years ago a large pothole developed at a junction near where I live, to which the local authority paid no attention.

My next-door neighbour had been living in Africa. He told me that they used to plant bushes in potholes, and these would attract immediate attention.

We did the same, and within six hours ours had been filled in.

John Ashworth
Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire

NHS consultants’ duty

SIR – Most of us agree that NHS consultants are wonderful and we couldn’t do without them (Letters, August 25). 

However, the country is on its knees. There are many people who work long hours, and consultants’ salaries exceed what most would even dream of.

They need to put the country first and accept what the Government is offering them.

Shaenagh Catherwood
Ombersley, Worcestershire

SIR – We are told that the average pay for senior doctors exceeds £130,000 per annum, and I have never knowingly met one who hasn’t an additional private practice.

They have described a 6 per cent pay rise as insulting. The people who are really being insulted, however, are those who have waited months and sometimes years for treatment – as a member of my family has – only to have that treatment delayed or cancelled for the umpteenth time in the last three years, initially because of Covid and now because of strikes.

It is extremely sad and shames the profession.

Martin Henry
Good Easter, Essex

Net zero and industry 

SIR – Delivering net zero in a pragmatic and fair way requires close collaboration between the Government and Britain’s key manufacturing industries, which will be doing much of the heavy lifting to reduce emissions in the coming years. This approach would see these industries leading the low-carbon transition through innovation, reorganisation and long-term investment.

But some of the existing schemes to incentivise decarbonisation are having the opposite effect, damaging Britain’s competitiveness and opening up our energy-intensive sectors to the risk of carbon leakage, whereby burdensome domestic climate-change policies risk causing UK production (and the jobs it supports) to decline – only to be replaced by goods from elsewhere without a reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions. 

That is why we set up the cross-party and cross-industry Commission for Carbon Competitiveness, to hear directly from industry and other stakeholders, and share recommendations with the Government on how to avoid decarbonisation through deindustrialisation.

Our central recommendation is for the Government to introduce a carbon border adjustment mechanism as soon as possible, bringing forward a cheaper and more efficient way of reaching our net zero targets while ensuring that our manufacturing industries can compete on a level playing field, in both import and export markets, against firms based in countries with less ambitious climate change regimes. Our proposal would also generate significant revenue for the Treasury, freeing up cash to reduce green levies or fuel duty – an immediate cut to the cost of living.

We look forward to working with the Government directly on introducing our recommendations. For industrial communities, there can be no delay.

John Penrose MP (Con)
Stephen Kinnock MP (Lab)
Jo Gideon MP (Con)
Arjan Geveke
Energy Intensive Users Group

Republicans’ choice

SIR – Tim Stanley (Comment, August 25) must have watched a different Republican primary debate from the one I saw.

Only Mike Pence – whose uncompromising views on abortion render him unelectable in a general election – and the highly capable, experienced and well-qualified Nikki Haley were intelligible, articulate and truly representative of traditional conservative values.

Ms Haley demonstrated mastery of detailed domestic policy, foreign policy expertise and moderation on social issues. She alone can distance the GOP from the disgraceful legacy of Donald Trump.

Moreover, Ms Haley is, crucially, the only declared candidate who can recapture the White House for the Republicans and prevent America sliding even further to the Left.

Philip Duly
Haslemere, Surrey

Switching off Netflix 

SIR – I was interested to read your article on how streamers are cancelling shows.

As a Netflix subscriber, I feel like it has been many months since anything of interest (other than the occasional nugget) appeared on the platform – I mean a long-running, Breaking Bad-type show that is not an insult to the intelligence. 

I couldn’t help noticing that most of the shows mentioned in the article have one thing in common: they are basically aimed at kids. Subscriptions, however, are paid for by grown-ups. 

Maybe what streamers need to do is come up with something that will please the latter.

Patrick Hanley
Canonbie, Dumfriesshire 

Saved by a smartphone

SIR – Yves Lombardot (Letters, August 24) explains why he has no desire to own a smartphone, and I agree with him about the pressure to own one. But there are so many advantages – and the trick is to make your phone advantageous to you, according to your lifestyle. 

If you are a motorist, for example, there are apps that advise where the cheapest fuel is, and free satnavs that find the best route and alert you to hold-ups. There is also an excellent app, What3Words, that allows users to find, share and save exact locations. I’ve heard of three lives that have been saved because of it.

I only use Facebook for local news, and using my phone means I don’t have to plod off to a computer to log on. I’m quite happy for Big Brother to listen in if it wishes to, but it would soon get bored (“Off to her Pilates class again!”).

Mr Lombardot suggests that smartphones are likely to be lost, misplaced or broken. None of these things has happened to mine.

Eileen Smith
Weavering, Kent

Purring along

SIR – A few months ago I saw an animal that looked like a panther (Letters, August 25). 

I was driving along the A45 in Northamptonshire, near Weedon, on the new Flore bypass. The creature was on a bridge sometimes used by cattle. It appeared healthy. 

I deeply regret not taking a photo but it would have been unsafe to do so while at the wheel.

Tony Sanderson
Daventry, Northamptonshire

SIR – I was walking early one morning at a local golf course when I saw ahead of me a large, black animal moving like a cat. 

I reported it to a green keeper, and he told me that two golfers had also spotted it.

Bernadette Reichardt
Cobham, Surrey

SIR – The recent big cat tales have brought back memories of our much-loved, huge Maine Coon, Henry, whose bushy tail, at 60cm (the same length as the rest of his body), was the biggest I have ever seen.
Bruce Denness
Niton, Isle of Wight

A family connection to a children’s classic

SIR – I too grew up with Blueberries for Sal and many other books by Robert McCloskey (“Winslet delights festival-goers with kids’ classic”, report, August 21) as a consequence of my mother and Bob – as she always called him – having been art college contemporaries. 

His stories have been enjoyed by me, my children and my grandchildren. I had original – now loose-leaf – versions, which I replaced on a trip to New England a few years ago.

David Linsell
Lymington, Hampshire

God’s own garnish

SIR – Cherry Jennings (Letters, August 22) suggests that “pea guacamole” is really just mushy peas.

However, in certain very select establishments in the county, this delectable food is listed on the menu as “Yorkshire caviar”. It is so exclusive, in fact, that even some Yorkshire residents have no idea what it is.

Chris Stewart
Sevenoaks, Kent

SIR – In the 1970s I managed a bank branch in Kenya. It was common for farming customers to come in for cash and deposit a large crate of avocados, too ripe for export, on my table.

Eating 24-30 avocados in the space of a few days, even with the help of friends and neighbours, is not for the faint-hearted.

James McNie
Rafford, Morayshire

SIR – The correspondence about avocados reminded me of a time when I was visiting friends in the 1970s. 

They wanted to cook a moussaka, but did not have an aubergine. I therefore went to the greengrocer’s shop in the village to buy one. 

I asked the young girl behind the counter whether she had one. With a bemused expression on her face, she told me that she hadn’t. I then asked her if she knew where I could get one, to which she replied that I should try the chemist’s. 

Drew Charlett
Barnstone, Nottinghamshire 

SIR – I was once at an airport in Moscow in the 1980s when a group of ballet dancers arrived. 

Fresh fruit and vegetables were reported to be very scarce, so one young dancer had packed three aubergines. These were swiftly confiscated by a zealous customs official. 

The official asked in passing how one ate such strange-looking items. The reply was immediate: “Boil them for at least three hours.”

Helen Mills
Tunbridge Wells, Kent

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