Let us do the sensible thing and rejoin the EU at the earliest opportunity

As Jon Stone reports, “Brexit red tape is no accident” and we learn that food minister Mark Spencer on Thursday said there was “always more” the government could do to reduce red tape”. Is Mr Spencer fully aware that in relation to the EU we are a third country? Unless that status changes there is nothing of consequence he or his government can do to reduce EU red tape. It applies to all members of the third country club in which Johnson’s oven-ready deal enrolled us. As “project fear” accurately forecast, we are now rule-takers – not rule-makers.

Brexit continues to arrive. It has some of its considerable bulk across our sovereign threshold with significantly more to come – and it will bring with it significantly more disadvantageous rules which we will be compelled to take. For the foreseeable future the madness goes on. Why volunteer for more damage? Let us do the sensible thing and rejoin the EU at the earliest opportunity.

David Nelmes

Caerleon, Newport

Can I plead to all those wonderful campaigns and charities to give me a couple of days off from the details of the horrors and injustice of the world? I will still be here next week and will resume my giving. I would just like to spend two days enjoying the positives and a slice of turkey, the first sausage of the year and other naughty things I usually avoid.

Happy Christmas readers.

David Cemlyn

Bristol

It now seems very possible that the SNP’s gender recognition legislation will prompt another constitutional tussle with the UK government. Nicola Sturgeon is already upping the rhetoric by claiming democracy in Scotland is at risk, whereas many impartial observers cite that the newly passed Scottish legislation arguably breaches established UK-wide law. Of course, earlier this year, Sturgeon asked the Supreme Court to determine whether the Scottish parliament had the right to hold another separation referendum without Westminster’s consent and was, as expected, rebuffed.

Sturgeon knew then her chances of success were slim but has subsequently turned her defeat into a facile “Scottish democracy under assault from big, bad Westminster” narrative. Is nationalism the real reason Sturgeon (who openly admits that, for her, independence transcends everything) has so determinedly sponsored the controversial gender recognition legislation? Does Sturgeon again seek to play the victim and manufacture yet another constitutional argument with Westminster?

Martin Redfern

Melrose, Roxburghshire

I must say I am a tiny bit puzzled by the recent letter deploring Jeremy Clarkson’s deeply offensive comments concerning Meghan Markle which then went on to criticise Nicola Sturgeon’s negative comment about the Tory party. I would like to point out that there are no striking nurses and ambulance drivers in Scotland. Why, you might ask, can that be? The short answer is that for all its faults, she heads a government that cares about the NHS, for those who work in the NHS and for those who rely on the NHS. At this present time, what’s to love about the Tory Party?

T Stockman

Aberdeen

Congratulations to Beth Mead on winning the BBC Sports Person of the Year award and to the England Women’s Team on winning the Team of the Year award. The first major football trophy (the European Championships) to be won by an England team since 1966 is not to be sniffed at, but let’s get real – England had the home advantage.

The England women’s team comprised professional footballers (not earning the same as male footballers but still professional and earning their living from playing football), whereas many of the teams in the tournament involved women whose main source of income was not football.

For lots of reasons, the BBC no longer shows a lot of the major sporting events. It got the chance to show the European Women’s football tournament – and boy, did we know it. Wall-to-wall coverage of every match on BBC TV. So, it is not altogether surprising that the BBC TV audience voted for sports people that they had seen on BBC TV.

Other sports missed out and world champions who had not been seen on BBC TV, surprise surprise, either did not make the shortlist at all, or were not as appreciated by the BBC TV audience. How can you expect people to vote for people that they have barely seen?

I am not denigrating their victory, but to put the achievement of the England women’s football team and the tournament top scorer above that of Ben Stokes and the England cricket team is bizarre.

Philip Pound

London

Thank you for your informative article, reminding us that Harry and Meghan deserve to be cared for, just as much as the royal rest of them.

Di Markfield

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