The bar for getting on the new year honours list is too low

Are the rewards of MBE, CBE etc for doing your job really necessary? The bar is set so low that I wonder why Larry, No 10’s mouser, hasn’t already been awarded a gong.

There are – from time to time – well-deserved awards (for example, Captain Tom who raised millions for charity) but generally these awards are a reward for simply following the party line. Look at Maria Miller, Lord Sewell and, glaringly, Tony Blair.

The Lords is full to capacity of undeserving hangers-on who receive around £300 per day just for attending. They also eat and drink at subsidised restaurant and bar facilities at the public’s expense.

We do need a second chamber to reign in government excesses and scrutinise proposed legislation, but do we need nearly 800 people in it? My view is that we should have an elected House of Lords, with far fewer politicians and more people from commerce and industry.

Keith Poole

Basingstoke

Margaret Thatcher famously stated: “You turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning.” It would appear that in the case of our latest Tory prime minister, the lad is very much for turning and, rather like the rotation of a road works lollipop sign, the result is always welcome.

Your first editorial of 2023 contains many wise observations, one of which is particularly sage: "Switching from the wrong position to the right one is better than persisting in an error, and the more quickly it is done, the better."

The catastrophic “error” that springs to mind is Brexit. The new year is upon us and a firm resolution by Rishi Sunak to begin the process of rejoining the EU would be the most beneficial U-turn of all.

David Nelmes   

Caerleon, Newport

Further to the fine article by Hafsa Lodi, I can confidently state that Andrew Tate is about as much a Muslim as the late Pope was. At one given moment, he decided that declaring his membership of such a faith would increase his wealth, power and notoriety.

Other examples of this behaviour would be Donald Trump, claiming to be a Republican politician. There are many others and the only thing they truly believe is in promoting their already bloated egos.

Unfortunately many people – lost souls, inadequates etc – fall for such charlatans and the promises of salvation if one follows the example set before them, such as “how to become wealthy, gain respect and be irresistible”. Sadly, when my examples are returned to the shadows there are plenty more to fill their shoes!

Robert Boston

Kingshill, Kent

The great irony of Brexit is that the key issues motivating Leave voters have led to policies which, rather than transforming the UK into a successful new buccaneering world-beating economy, have had precisely the opposite effect.

Leavers wanted to regain sovereignty – a delusional ambition in this interconnected global economy – only to discover that outside the EU we have even less control over our own destiny than before.

They wanted freedom to make our own trade deals, only to discover that the big players were much more interested in signing deals with the EU (from which previously we would have benefitted) than in making tempting offers to a declining middle-ranking economy like Britain.

They wanted to escape EU bureaucracy, but we have ended up in a minefield of customs and immigration red tape. Many smaller businesses have given up trading with the EU altogether because it is no longer viable given the morass of new paperwork.

They wanted drastically to reduce immigration and to stop free movement, only to discover that key sectors of our economy were heavily and advantageously dependent on both skilled and unskilled immigrant labour, which had boosted our economy during our years as EU members. In reality, Brexit has lost us hundreds of thousands of productive EU migrants who had been happy to settle in Britain, yet unmanaged immigration from elsewhere has continue to balloon post-Brexit.

And what of all the other issues that Leave voters did not bother to think about, such as EU-wide cooperation in scientific and medical research, where we benefited from substantial EU grants and productive partnerships which are now slipping away? Or investment funds and financial trading leaching from the City of London to EU financial centres?

Across a wider international perspective we have lost respect for our competence and reliability (not helped by the three prime ministers debacle); and by almost every measure Brexit is proving to be a developing economic and diplomatic disaster. What is astonishing is not the opinion polls have turned significantly against Brexit but that so many Leavers have still not got the message.

Gavin Turner

Gunton