Sorry, Boris Johnson, but the UK really is ‘needy and weak’ – largely thanks to you

Now out of Europe, the UK may not have the luxury of dismissing the term “special relationship” with America, as the prime minister is reported to want, simply because it suggests we are “needy and weak”.

What other description best characterises a country that is burning so many of its international goodwill bridges, whether over incessant post-Brexit rows with its former EU partners, cutting back on international aid, treating asylum seekers and long-settled Commonwealth citizens with callous indifference, stockpiling vast quantities of Covid vaccines or substituting advantageous international block trade deals with poor value bilateral ones?

In truth, every post-war British prime minister has fretted over how Britain is being seen in Washington. Even in the heady days of the Kennedy-Macmillan relationship, the US stunned the UK by denying it access to its new Polaris missile system for fear it would damage its relations with the European Economic Community, which Britain was then trying to join.

Boris Johnson may have cause to worry that Joe Biden could spring a similar surprise over a UK-US free trade deal at the G7 summit this weekend if the Northern Ireland protocol spat threatens to spill over into a full blown UK-EU trade war that America doesn’t want.

Paul Dolan

Cheshire

The timing of Boris Johnson’s decision to ditch the term “special relationship” is curious. Personally I do not value the term which has been a crutch for presidents and prime ministers alike over the years. However, Johnson’s decision would have had more credibility if it had been taken when he came into office and the White House was occupied by Trump. It is not difficult to see why he regards Biden’s America with a less friendly eye.

John E Harrison

Chorley

So our delusional prime minister has told President Biden that he doesn’t like the “special relationship” terminology because it makes Britain “seem needy and weak”. Thanks to the ineffable stupidity of Brexit, “needy and weak” is, of course, precisely where we now find ourselves.

D. Maughan Brown

York

As an NHS doctor who has reached the brink of burnout, I can tell cabinet minister George Eustice exactly what the government can do to help exhausted healthcare staff. Right now, the reality is that it’s desperately hard to do your very best for patients, in a job that you love, while struggling to carve out any time for your own personal, emotional or mental health needs. Gradually, it wears you down. And clinicians like myself and my colleagues aren’t given many options when we reach that point; it’s either stick it out or walk away.

Boris Johnson’s government must invest in new systems that make it possible for NHS staff to work part-time, take on flexible hours, and access rest and recovery leave. This is not something that can be put on the back burner: we urgently need to create an affordable, sustainable workforce that has a strong retention rate and isn’t constantly scrambling to fill gaps with agency staff. Our health and care staff – and our patients – deserve better.

Dr Anas Nader

A&E doctor, NHS clinical entrepreneur and CEO of Patchwork Health

What on earth is going on in factory farming when bodies that are meant to ensure satisfactory standards do nothing when confronted with the appalling conditions these animals live in? It only ever appears to be undercover charities that expose abuse and horrendous conditions. Then, for a brief period, the supermarkets cease to do business with them, despite often being the root cause of the problem. Our obsession with cheap meat undoubtedly has something to do with it.

Farmers won’t improve conditions because they can’t afford to, therefore the authorities turn a blind eye. Roll on laboratory-based meat, so that this suffering can end once and for all.

Lynn Brymer

Ashford, Kent

The cricketer Ollie Robinson has not been kicked out indefinitely by the England cricket team. Suspension is totally justified. Robinson’s Twitter posts were unacceptable and a suspension, which is per definition temporary, gives the leaders of English cricket the opportunity to contemplate. Culture secretary Oliver Dowden’s interference, and that of Prime Minister Boris Johnson may be unhelpful for England cricket and is certainly unhelpful for Ollie Robinson.

Tom van den Bergh

Address supplied