Stopping Brexit won't solve the UK's problems – we need to consider why people voted Leave to do that

There is a real push from certain quarters to stop Brexit or at least have a second referendum. This is all very well, but amongst all the pros of remaining in the EU I hear nothing about how this is going to address or change the things that Leavers voted for.

Are voters from towns such as Newark, Boston, Thurrock, Yarmouth, Blackpool and Oldham, to name but a few, still being forgotten about? It was said at the time that many people in the western world felt left behind by the ones who benefited from liberal democracy, and that was why we got Brexit and Trump.

So if by pushing to remain in the EU those people are wanting it back to “the way it was”, it’s worth remembering that many others will not be happy if it simply goes back to “the way it was”.

Dave Ellis
Essex

The demands by Tory MP Robert Halfon after the tragic death of a child in Norfolk encapsulate the reactionary nature of British politicians to any headline that has left them incapable of dealing with more complex issues such as post-Brexit Britain. One moment they’re demanding cannabis oil for kids on the NHS; the next the banning of recreational inflatables.

Bouncy castles have been around decades before Swindon’s XTC used one for the video of “Generals and Majors” in 1980 or Spinal Tap’s deliberately faulty inflatable Stonehenge in 2009. To decide they are now any more dangerous than they have been in their five decades of public enjoyment is nannyism at its worst.

Back in the early 1960s, there were attempts to ban pogo sticks with much the same justifications today’s health and safety cult cotton-wools kids. However, Enoch Powell, with two young daughters of his own, knew acceptable risk has long been the price for fun, and so in his capacity as health minister demonstrated the correct use of the pogo stick to a bemused media on 23 January 1962 in Belgravia (captured for posterity in a photograph), bouncing the killjoys into touch.

Mark Boyle
Renfrewshire

I write as a sun bronzed Aussie amused by the concerns that the temperature has reached 30C in the UK. It looks like hosepipes and watering gardens may be banned soon. It is time for a few more UK citizens to not only exit the EU but perhaps exit the country.

I have “suffered” through a hot spell in Melbourne where I was a teacher in a portable classroom, basically an iron shed with no air conditioning, when it went from 44C one day to 45C the next day and then 46.4C finally. Students don’t work well in these temperatures.

Come and join us, we are friendly and fun even if our cricket team cheats occasionally.

Dennis Fitzgerald
Melbourne

As the 70th anniversary of the founding of the NHS approaches, it is time for an honest review of necessary reform and funding by experts not driven by political dogma. In Scotland the SNP has had more than a decade to show what it can do with the NHS, and has sadly been found slacking.

A commission of genuinely independent and experienced minds should be formed to properly consider the challenges of a modern health service and, with cross-party support, be charged with coming up with the fundamental reform and financing proposals to protect our critical NHS for future generations.

Keith Howell
West Linton

As someone who is about to retire but has no intention of sitting in a chair waiting for the grim reaper to call in 20 or 30 years’ time, I read Janet Street-Porter’s article on old age with interest – until I got to the point where she had a go at the ageing male population for the way we dress in summer.

Unlike women who have a vast amount of choice (tight skirts, floaty skirts, tight dresses, big skirts, low-cut tops, blouses, plain fabrics, patterned fabric and so on), men have a very limited choice of summer options: shorts, polo shirts, short-sleeved shirts and vests. There’s also not much choice with colour, although it is getting better, but men also like to dress comfortably too and not look ridiculous.

I refer to the lovely fashion shoot you did a couple of years ago where the models were wearing large wallpaper sized patterned short suits. Lovely for London but not really something that will sell elsewhere. I bet they didn’t fly off the shelves except into the bargain bucket.

Janet, do yourself a favour and give it a rest about men’s summer fashions, you don’t know how lucky you are as a women to have such a choice.

Ken Twiss
Yarm

As well as ensuring that you have plants or flowers like ceanothus in the garden (if you have one) which attract bees plentifully, why not try this: put a cat litter tray or the cut-off bottom of a washing up bowl in the garden balanced on bricks, fill with water and watch.

Sparrows have a dust bath then a water bath. A pigeon plopped into one and actually lifted its wings up to splash water onto it’s “armpits”, as it were, with its beak. Magpies have a drink then put their heads under the water or have a full splash about. They have become a veritable social scene all of their own and, of course, good for the birds as well in this particular weather. Not to mention entertaining.

T Maunder
Leeds