Can we reach September without Liz Truss embarrassing the UK any further?

Only a week and a bit to go before the Conservative Party leadership vote is revealed, and not a moment too soon.

During the hustings, Ms Truss has done much to loosen the sutures of the United Kingdom, insulting the first ministers of Scotland and Wales, and upsetting the French with the insensitive and shocking statement that she is uncertain whether France – a Nato ally – is friend or foe.

Let’s hope we can get beyond 5 September without any more diplomatic gaffes. Brexit has brought isolation – the UK doesn’t need its foreign secretary and likely next prime minister throwing more spanners into the works and decreasing further our friendship circle.

Ian Reid

Kilnwick

I live in a modest three-bedroom, end-of-terrace house with a current annual fixed-term dual-fuel energy bill of roughly £1,200, which finishes on 3 December. The same company has now quoted a staggering £7,135 for a one-year deal to supersede it.

Would an absent government minister please advise me what plans are in hand to soften the blow?

Ian Hibbard

Wiltshire

In today’s Independent, under the headline “Truss failed to hold bosses on sewage dumping”, we discover that during her two-year tenure as environment secretary she hardly engaged with the companies at all, let alone challenged them to address their ongoing failure to deal with our waste water.

Her motto “Trusted to deliver” in this case is valid. Unfortunately, she has ensured the regular and unending delivery of industrial quantities of human excrement around our shoreline, and beyond.

Nigel Plevin

Ilminster

Speaking as a not-as-yet electric car driver, I was interested in James Moore’s experiences and would like someone to explain why at this early stage in the move to all-electric cars there has not been a universal standard for charging points.

For those of us old enough to remember, home computers did not take off until Microsoft relented and allowed all manufacturers to use its operating system. I would hope that the taxpayer is not funding the provision of special charging points for Tesla owners and, if so, either Elon Musk will have to foot the bill or bow to the inevitable and change his cars to be compatible with the universal standard charging points.

G Forward

Stirling

I’ve just read Ben Chapman’s clear and (almost) comprehensive account and explanation of the huge increases in energy prices, which we are already experiencing and which will only get worse in the coming months.

Although the article provides excellent information on why we are in this situation, it fails to point out that we could have been much better off if we had invested more in renewables over the past couple of decades.

What passes for our government is carefully keeping very quiet about the climate crisis, with the exception of some incredibly stupid statements about wind and solar generation from the two leadership candidates.

It’s therefore up to the press to keep reminding the public that there is still a chance of a better way forward, and that we continue our love affair with fossil fuels at our peril. Say it like it is, guys!

Lynda Newbery

Bristol

Much has already been written about the release of sewage into our rivers and seas, but aside from the obvious the most concerning aspect is how we are expected to tolerate this situation as unavoidable. It is not unavoidable – or shouldn’t be –any more than it is acceptable. 

The infrastructure problem was recognised in the 1980s and used to justify privatisation of these monopolies, but the problem hasn’t improved since then.

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For George Eustice to claim that “this is the first government to take action” makes me really wonder what his colleagues have been doing since 2010 and what other governments before that did. The French are right to be concerned for their environment and to remind us that, although we live on an island, we do not live in isolation. How our outlook has shrunk!

Every river in England and Wales is polluted. After intensive lobbying, the 2021 Environment Act still permits too many discharges. But a more damning comparison came from a recent BBC News report that said fewer than 20 per cent of UK beaches were rated “good” for water quality, compared with 77 per cent in France and 90 per cent in Germany and Denmark. This is not something to be proud of, and somehow Eustace believes that giving water companies another 13 years to meet targets is acceptable.

We need stronger action, and now. Sewage discharge into open water is just wrong.

Charles Wood

Birmingham