Brexit is taking us backwards faster than we could have ever imagined

In 1949, my parents left the austerity of post-war London to spend a short honeymoon in Paris. My mother often recounted stories of how they were astounded by the wide availability of foods not seen under the system of rationing back home.

We have just driven back from a holiday in Dijon where the shops are full to bursting and where fuel is readily available. No signs of gaps on the shelves or queues at the pumps. It seems to me that the Brexiteers desire to recreate the Britain of the Forties and Fifties is happening quicker than they could have ever hoped for.

Steve Lawrence

Enfield

Fuel shortages easing in the north and Scotland, but getting worse in the southeast. At last, some real levelling-up.

David Watson

Henley-on-Thames

When will this government put two and two together? At the same time as they worry that too few graduates find graduate careers, they also worry about the shortage of bodies to fill non-graduate jobs – such as driving HGVs, stacking shelves, care assistants, service in the hospitality industry, picking fruit, etc.

But a graduate taking a job as a HGV driver will earn much less than a non-graduate doing the same job, simply because of crippling student loan repayments. There is a huge mismatch between the number of young adults going to university and the employment needs of the country. It will not be resolved simply by declaring that immigration is not the solution to the shortages.

Rachael Padman

Newmarket

The Metropolitan Police can deal easily with the fears that women have with rogue officers. Simply get all officers to wear body cameras, which are linked to their stations. These stations should record all events from the cameras when officers are dealing with the public. This would deal adequately with the fears that women have and can equally be used to alleviate the fears of discrimination that ethnic minorities have. Transparency is key to being accountable to the public. What have they got to fear?

Kartar Uppal

Sutton Coldfield

If volcanic eruptions in La Palma, wildfires in Greece, cyclone Shaheen in Oman, and fires in the Amazonian forest in Brazil have taught us anything, it is that the climate crisis is a threat multiplier and that it is a catalyst for political, economic, social and environmental ruin.

As a research study led by researchers at the University of London has shown, indigenous peoples are often shrouded in climate change, environmental vulnerability, poverty, gender inequality and social injustices. Their cultural traditions, religious rituals and historical narratives are inexorably intertwined with forebears’ lands. Therefore any environmental destruction is conducive to culturally and ecologically induced genocide, which necessitates the law of ecocide, the missing fifth crime against human civilisation.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob

London NW2

Liberal Democrat analysis showing the UK’s growth of renewable energy falling to its lowest level in a decade (News, Sunday) makes a mockery of claims by the government spokesman and the likes of Greg Hands, energy minister, who infer that the Tories have quadrupled the amount of electricity produced from renewable sources since 2010.

The huge investment in renewable energy was championed by Lib Dem secretaries of state for energy during the coalition government with, admittedly, support initially coming from their junior Tory ministers. But many Tory MPs were opposed and David Cameron, though sympathetic, showed no real engagement, while George Osborne came to consider green policies an expensive distraction.

Roger Hinds

Surrey

Why is the UK government pursuing a blue hydrogen solution to the climate crisis? The last few weeks have demonstrated the folly of believing big oil and gas has the answer. Fivefold increases in the cost of methane would surely equal similar increases in hydrogen prices. Green hydrogen production must be accelerated, and phased in to replace methane in power generation, providing support for lower carbon emissions and energy security.

David Goult

Leeds