Letters: Dominic Cummings revealed as rejecting the workings of democracy

SIR – Dominic Cummings emerged from Laura Kuenssberg’s brilliant interview as someone who does not understand or accept the workings of constitutional democracy and will either fade into oblivion or, if confidence in the political process should be lost, become the most dangerous figure British politics has yet known.

Richard Lloyd-Jones
Eastbourne, East Sussex

SIR – I do not think the Bash Boris Corporation is correct in its continued attack on the Prime Minister. If its attitude was shared by most of the electorate, he would never have been voted in with such a stonking majority.

James Griffin
Hayling Island, Hampshire

SIR – Dominic Cummings and Laura Kuenssberg: if ever two people were made for each other.

Ken Bates
Chesterfield, Derbyshire

SIR – Mr Cummings probably sees himself as a whistleblower. He is nothing of the sort, and his revelations say more about him than about those whom he seeks to discredit.

It only goes to show that superior intelligence is no bar to stupidity.

Richard Tinn
Boston, Lincolnshire

SIR – Dominic Cummings is succeeding unintentionally in his aim of calling the Prime Minister’s judgment into question. What on earth possessed Boris Johnson to appoint an anarchic clown to a position of influence?

Steve Black
Keyworth, Nottinghamshire

SIR – I assume that Dominic Cummings signed the Official Secrets Act before being allowed to enter Downing Street, so I am surprised that he has not been invited for a chat at the local police station to explain his outpourings regarding the inner workings of government (true or false).

Chris Davies
Woking, Surrey

SIR – I understood that the constant placing of a hand in front of a person’s mouth was an indication of disbelief in the message being given.

Roy McLeod
Bexleyheath, Kent

SIR – Why does the media give air time to the views of Dominic Cummings and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex?

They are yesterday’s figures and appear to be decrying the very people and organisations that have given them their current platform.

Where have the attributes of respect, honour and loyalty gone?

Pete Matchett
Shipley, West Yorkshire

SIR – Dominic Cummings reminds me of Gareth from The Office, not in looks, but in his attitude of certainty as the injured party to whom nobody wants to listen. How long will it be before he discloses that somebody put his stapler in a bowl of jelly?

Valerie Smith
Sherborne St John, Hampshire

Channel migrant crisis

SIR – As a former director of the UK Immigration Service (Ports), I was interested to see that the Home Secretary has made a further payment of £54 million to the French (report, July 21) to help stop boats leaving their coast.

If stopped, those involved are simply released, and will inevitably try again on another occasion. They need to be lucky just once, while the authorities have to be lucky every time.

The Home Office should be highlighting France’s failure to tackle the problem, especially when there is a tragedy. It must also ascertain how many traffickers have been caught and successfully prosecuted by the French over the past three years.

The only real answer is to get the French to accept the return of those who are intercepted. Migrants – and traffickers – would soon realise it was pointless to make the hazardous journey. It would also benefit the French, as the camps would disperse.

Perhaps the Home Office could tell us why Border Force cutters are positioned mid-Channel, given that they are neither preventing nor deterring migrants from attempting the crossing – quite the opposite. My MP was told they were “trying their best” – whatever that might mean.

Peter Higgins
West Wickham, Kent

SIR – It is in the UK economy’s interests to allow entry to these immigrants on a controlled basis. Many are young, highly motivated, intelligent, educated and speak English. They are willing to be flexible and do jobs that home-grown citizens will not or cannot do. They are also self-selecting and cheaper to organise than those allowed in under the points system.

By paying France yet more to reduce their numbers, the Government is being disingenuous. It knows full well, as do the French, that together the two countries could put a stop to this unfortunate trade if they wished.

The traffickers must be stopped, so let’s direct our energies and resources to that end.

Dr Michael Spencer
Adstock, Buckinghamshire

Clubland’s family silver

SIR – I was intrigued to see that the new Secretary of the Athenaeum Club has sent some of its silver to auction, including a curious kangaroo-foot cigar lighter.

Does the sale of these hallowed objects herald the winds of change sweeping through Clubland?

Tahir Shah
Rhode-Saint-Genese, Flanders, Belgium

Appeal of real cricket

SIR – Looking at the crowds at recent England cricket matches, they seem to be admirably diverse across age, ethnicity and gender.

The provision of so-called entertainment by “all-star DJs and rappers” will undoubtedly limit the appeal of the Hundred and, it is to be hoped, contribute to its failure. Then we can get on with more of the marvellous cricket witnessed recently.

Peter Brierley
Formby, Lancashire

SIR – Last week, sitting in the café at Kent County Cricket Club in Canterbury, I realised there would be no first-class cricket on this old ground after the middle of July. St Lawrence is a ground first used in 1847 by an already established Kent side.

Only wartime has matched the England and Wales Cricket Board’s success in destroying traditional cricket. It has achieved this by paying counties not to play cricket to promote a competition with zero support among existing cricket fans.

John Hanson
Canterbury, Kent

SIR – Eoin Morgan is for the Hundred, Simon Heffer against (Sport, July 20).

Mr Heffer’s argument that white-ball cricket is “meretricious” and for people who “cannot handle a first-class game” is mere snobbery. The latter lasts for days and only lucky retirees like me can watch it, even on television. Before lunch at the recent Test series against New Zealand many there were only interested in prancing around and making “beer snakes”.

In evening and weekend twenty20 games, when more people are free, there is less of that.

Chris Barton
Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire

Prince Harry’s truth

SIR – Prince Harry says he is writing an autobiography (report, July 20) but the actual work will surely be done by a professional ghostwriter.

What is true is that the book is likely to consist of some depressingly familiar psychobabble and self-justification, and will inflict yet more deliberate damage on his family.

Doubtless it will also cause more people to wonder why the Duke of Sussex continues to be permitted to market himself under a royal title that he clearly does not respect.

Charles Smith-Jones
Landrake, Cornwall

SIR – The Duke of Sussex says: “I am writing my book to help show that no matter where we come from, we have more in common than we think.”

I am struggling to imagine how many low-income families would agree with him.

Irene Robertson
London W4

SIR – In Greek mythology, Narcissus became self-obsessed. He fell in love with his own image in a pond and, after continually staring at it, fell in and drowned. Thankfully, he did not have time to write his accurate and wholly truthful memoirs.

Hamish Watson
Marlborough, Wiltshire

Thumping gym music

SIR – I’d like to enrol in a gym, but can’t find one that doesn’t insist on blasting its users with thumping bass music.

I’d like to swim, but can’t find a pool that doesn’t force swimmers to listen to the ramblings of local radio DJs.

Wetherspoons has enjoyed great success with “music-free” pubs. If only it could open a chain of gyms.

Stephen O’Loughlin
Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire

Toasting the World Cup with a services’ cuppa

SIR – Your feature on motorway services (July 20) brought back memories of my time working at Forton services, which opened on the M6 just outside Lancaster in 1965. I was a 15-year-old schoolboy at Lancaster Grammar and I got a summer job there as a general runabout.

Perhaps my best memory was being on duty when England won the World Cup on July 30 1966. The match was broadcast over the public address system and the cafe was full to bursting. I will never forget the cheer that went up when we won.

Stan Kirby
East Malling, Kent

Threatening the young via Covid passports

SIR – When is this government going to stop threatening young people? Any parent will tell you it rarely, if ever, works. Covid passports (Letters, July 21) are a recipe for division and disaster.

Many under-30s have now been vaccinated, and I appreciate the sacrifices they have made to keep older people safe. They should be able to make choices for their own health. They are the ones whose future years could be blighted by “long Covid”.

It is time to stop using deaths as criteria and to start using more positive messages about health and well-being.

Esther Drewett
Otley, West Yorkshire

SIR – The Government’s decision to insist on double vaccinations for entry to nightclubs and high-risk venues is sensible. Older people, who have obeyed all the advice and rules, are getting increasingly irritated by the careless behaviour of many young, who seem oblivious to the urgent need to get jabs. There will be howls of protest, but it is the right thing to do.

Mike Aston
Stourbridge, Worcestershire

SIR – Will the Prime Minister insist that MPs attending the “closed, crowded and close social contact” of Parliament show vaccine passports?

Charles Law
Hay-on-Wye, Hereford

SIR – If we are to feel safe going out, Covid passports should be required in theatres, cinemas, restaurants, pubs, bars, hotels and anywhere spectator sports allow large groups of people.

What is wrong with protecting the public?

Chris Humphreys
Bristol

SIR – A local restaurant, one of a chain, has been open when possible throughout lockdown. Entry has always meant taking a temperature test.

Yesterday morning, I asked how many customers, in any of its branches, had registered a high temperature since March 2020.

The answer? Not a single one – which seems to sum things up.

Veronica Timperley
London W1

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