If Marks & Spencer can’t be loyal to my town, I won’t be loyal to them

I live near Newton Abbot, which is set to lose its Marks & Spencer store next month.

This shop has been a feature in the town for decades. The employees have become familiar faces, who offer a friendly, polite and well informed service. Sadly, I suspect many of them have earned less in all the years of their service than the current CEO has earned in one year of his.

And therein lies the nub of the problem. If you are not one of the customers, understanding what the customers’ current issues and lifestyle choices are, how are you going to keep your store relevant?

We have a larger store in Torquay with more choice but, as pointed out in your articles, a confusing layout which means you are often searching high and low for the section you want, until you flag down the friendly staff member who can point you in the right direction.

So I will stock up on the bras and those extra chocolate biscuits we all love while I can still buy them from Newton Abbot, then give up my Marks & Spencer card and go elsewhere for the stuff I used to buy from them. If they can’t be loyal to my town, their staff and me, then I won’t be loyal to them.

Kerry Larbalestier
Address supplied

Even supposing Brexit was a good idea, the manner in which the negotiations have been handled from the day after the referendum has been singularly inept. The most obvious reason for this failure is that a Leave vote was never either expected or intended – witness the baffled faces of the Brexiteers on the day after the result. One might almost be forgiven for imagining that they are being given enough rope to hang us all, in the hope that reason might prevail at some point.

The bell curve, of which you wrote in Tuesday’s editorial, stretching from staying in the EU to a WTO-style Brexit, is misleading. Any form of compromise will fail and make the argument smoulder on indefinitely. Decisiveness is required – fully in or fully out.

If Brexit happens, in any degree, we must ensure that those who promoted it most vociferously are held fully to account. Their names and faces must be routinely associated with all the problems and damage that occurs. They must not be forgotten or forgiven.

Steve Ford
Haydon Bridge

We recently visited friends in Groningen in the north of the Netherlands. They told us about the earthquakes they regularly experience there, caused by 40 years of fracking for shale gas in the region. On Tuesday, The Independent published an article on how the UK could be affected as a consequence of fracking titled: Fracking could cause earthquakes across huge swathes of UK, warns former Downing Street adviser and seismologist.

What particular form of lunacy – or is it purely hubris – that makes any government believe a “well regulated system” will prevent the same thing happening in the UK, which is currently happening in the Netherlands?

Patrick Moore
Bloxham

The planned talks between President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un face delay unless the latter meets some requests beforehand, including a commitment to decommissioning their nuclear capacity. Trump seems to like constructing barriers and walls, but he is wrong this time.

Any opportunity to meet and work on a positive path forward must be taken up with enthusiasm. The political world remembers previous discussions and the lack of resolution or commitment to follow up on agreements and it would be naive to assume that this time everything will be resolved and changes implemented instantly, but let’s try.

Trump – it’s time to stand up for world peace and sit down!

Dennis Fitzgerald
Melbourne, Australia

When we witness the disruption caused by the privatised rail companies to the unfortunate travelling public, I am reminded of the saying “square peg in a round hole”. The square peg is repeatedly hammered in by politicians espousing outmoded political dogma and it simply refuses to fit. I am then reminded of the oft-repeated definition of madness – to keep trying to do the same thing and hoping for a different outcome.

Mark Morsman
London SE13

The Independent has shed timely light on the significant water shortages that would face the UK in 2050. This is a pressing global challenge in many parts of the world, especially the Middle East, and should be addressed at a global level. Drought, global warming, wars, conflicts, faltering, unequal income growth, displacement, immigration and migration have had tremendous impacts on biodiversity, precious wild heritage, water security, resilience, socioeconomic development and sustainability, especially, in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. It is time for the global community to rescue hope from the dismal situation we live in and reassert our unflinching commitment to work collaboratively to make water partnerships the cornerstone for peace and stability across the world.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob
London NW2