Times letters: Elections and the perception of the economy

Sir, Daniel Finkelstein is right that the state of the economy is the element most likely to determine the outcome of a general election (“Sunak can’t tell us ‘we’re on the right track’ ”, comment, Apr 24). The peak-end rule established by the most intense moment of Liz Truss’s kamikaze budget cannot be erased but it could have been tempered by an unqualified public apology for her recklessness. Given that she did not show a scintilla of remorse in her recently published memoirs, perhaps her silence until the election could be a condition of the Conservative election strategy, with a focus instead on the better performance of her successor.
Professor Ian Kunkler
Edinburgh

Sir, Daniel Finkelstein is probably right that the most important determinant of election results is the economy but I think he plays down the importance to voters of competence, honesty and the behaviour of MPs. For example, the sexual shenanigans of various Tories made headlines in tabloids, broadsheets and TV news bulletins, reaching voters of all backgrounds. Ditto Angela Rayner’s financial affairs. The public’s annoyance over the Downing Street parties has not blown over after more than two years. People remember these things, and I am certain they play a big part in how they vote.
Paul Larsmon
Burbage, Wilts

Sir, Daniel Finkelstein is right: people do feel that the country is stuck in a doom loop, particularly in relation to the economy, on whose performance everything funded from the public purse depends. It must by now be clear to all but the most bone-headed that leaving the European Union was perhaps the most profound mistake this country has ever made. Both major political parties blithely continue to maintain the fiction that this is, or could somehow become, a success, although suggestions as to how this might be achieved are almost entirely absent.

When so many of our politicians appear to be living in a world fashioned by Lewis Carroll, who can be surprised at the level of pessimism that the research provided to Finkelstein suggests?
Anthony Browne
Datchet, Berks

Sir, Oliver Wright refers to Labour’s “mission” to make the UK the fastest-growing economy in the G7 (“We’ll be the most pro-business government ever, vows Reeves”, Apr 25). This highly implausible mission is bizarre given Sir Keir Starmer’s explicit strategy of not overpromising.

The US has grown much faster than Britain since the 2007 financial crisis. Both the IMF and OECD forecast this differential to persist through 2025. Overtaking the US — with its younger, faster-growing population, huge single market, economies of scale, historically higher productivity and business investment relative to GDP and world-leading tech sector — within five or even ten years would require a miracle. Joe Biden’s massive green investment scheme, which is bolder and several years ahead of Starmer’s shrinking response, will increase the US’s growth advantage. Ironically, Starmer has foresworn his single biggest lever for growth: rejoining the European single market. In its “bombproof” manifesto Labour should scale back this ambition to outpacing our G7 competitors bar the US. Not so catchy but still bold.
Joseph Palley
Richmond, Surrey

Sovereign Rock

Sir, As former governors of Gibraltar we welcome the positive outcome of the recent meeting between the foreign secretary, his Spanish counterpart, the vice-president of the European Commission and the chief minister of Gibraltar. It is important that this should now be followed rapidly by a UK-EU treaty that would ensure mobility of people and goods across the border at Gibraltar, thus safeguarding the Rock as well as regional economies in Spain. We also welcome the British government’s assurance that it will never compromise on the Rock’s British sovereignty or the right of its people to self-determination.

Gibraltarians have respected the UK’s decision to leave the EU but all sides need to find a way forward that ensures that their economies continue to prosper. Gibraltar fully supports British interests, including the military base. Gibraltarians have always stood by the UK and we must stand by them now by concluding these important negotiations.
Lord Luce; Sir David Durie; Sir Francis Richards; Lieutenant General Sir Robert Fulton; Vice-Admiral Sir Adrian Johns; Lieutenant General Sir James Dutton; Lieutenant General Ed Davis

Transatlantic trade

Sir, Further to your report “Trade deal with US ‘could be easier’ under Trump” (Apr 24), Lord Frost was right when he told the business and trade committee that there was more likelihood of a free trade agreement under a future Trump administration, but he was wrong to characterise the UK’s approach as “reticent”. Progress was made on a possible trade agreement in the last year of Trump’s presidency but the Biden administration made it clear early on that it had no interest in liberalising trade agreements. The British government has instead been very active at a state level, creating promising trade promotion deals. At a federal level, the Atlantic declaration, if implemented in full, will bring the UK and US closer than ever in future-facing industries. On trade specifically, our assessment is that there would be support for an agreement in the House and Senate if the negotiating teams could reach a deal, but finding a solution that includes market access for US agriculture products continues to look difficult.
Duncan Edwards
CEO, British American Business

Global inequality

Sir, Ed Conway (“Bond between rich world and rest is broken”, Apr 25) is right to say that most of our problems are shared across the world and that most of the solutions must be shared too. Moreover, richer countries have a great deal to learn from lower-income countries where people without our resources but also without our baggage of history and vested interests are freer to innovate. In health, for example, India has already taught us a great deal about using technology. Equally importantly, we can learn from African countries, Bangladesh and elsewhere about practical low-tech solutions that involve communities and local action. The introduction of community health workers in Westminster — local people who visit each home in a neighbourhood — is based on Brazilian and African practice and is already making a difference. They will, I predict, become a vital outreach element of primary care.
Lord Crisp
Former chief executive of the NHS

Ofsted rating

Sir, If the Department for Education considers one-word Ofsted summaries of schools a good idea that has “significant benefits” (“Ofsted’s one-word ratings will stay despite ‘dangers’ ”, Apr 25), then perhaps government departments should be rated similarly on their own ventures: the Rwanda policy, smart meters, smart motorways, HS2, the NHS, the Post Office Horizon debacle, housing, the list goes on. Appalling, deceitful, incompetent, untrustworthy and untruthful spring to mind.
Gill Moss
Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancs

Television drama

Sir, Kevin Lygo’s revelation that ITV “lost” £1 million on Mr Bates vs The Post Office is a bit of a pointless whinge (“BBC bleats on about cash but buys up Suits, wails ITV boss”, Apr 24). Anyone who has worked in TV knows that almost all programmes, be they documentary or drama, that deal with domestic current affairs rarely make money by selling abroad. ITV would have known that when it commissioned Mr Bates. What it got back in spades was glory. Arguably Mr Bates vs The Post Office was the most impactful piece of television of the past 20 years and will certainly pick up an armful of awards. And Kevin Lygo deserves great credit for backing it.
Peter Grimsdale
Former BBC and Channel 4 commissioner, London SE21

Decline of insects

Sir, The decline in insects as measured by “splats” on cars (“Splat survey shows 80% fall in flying insects since 2004”, Apr 24) might have reached a different conclusion had the survey been conducted solely during the lockdown. After a long (possibly unlawful) drive from London to Somerset in that period, my car ended up fully splattered just as in the old days. At least that gives hope that insect populations can regenerate in a relatively short period.
Stephen Collins
Pinner, Middx

Gina Ford babies

Sir, It is not accurate to write, as Maria Lally did, that Mumsnet was universally critical of Gina Ford (“People are enraged by Gina Ford . . . New parents can be so defensive”, Times2, Apr 25). Some users were great fans, others not. What Mumsnet users universally objected to was that Gina Ford tried to get the site shut down because she objected to some of the criticism of her. Such criticism (as cited by her lawyers, Foot Anstey, which bombarded us with umpteen legal letters) included being called “a roly fart-faced fluff poo” and that “she straps babies to rockets and launches them into Southern Lebanon”.
Justine Roberts
Mumsnet founder and chief executive; London NW5

Battered chicken

Sir, At least Max Hastings was given an apology for the delay in being served his lunch because the main course had been dropped on the restaurant’s kitchen floor (Notebook, Apr 25). In Down and Out in Paris and London (1933) George Orwell describes working at the exclusive “Hotel X” in Paris. Once a waiter on the third floor dropped a roast chicken down the lift shaft of the service lift, where it fell into a litter of broken bread, torn paper and so forth at the bottom. It was wiped clean with a cloth and sent back up again to be served to the diner, who was none the wiser.
Ian Pearce
Great Ayton, N Yorks

Soaked in drink

Sir, There is nothing new in concern about English drinking habits (“England worst in world for underage drinking”, Apr 25). In the 8th century St Boniface wrote to Cuthbert, the Archbishop of Canterbury, about “the vice of drunkenness. This is an evil peculiar to pagans and to our race. Neither the Franks nor the Gauls nor the Lombards nor the Romans nor the Greeks commit it.” Plus ça change.
Eric Johns
Swanage, Dorset

Dandelion coffee

Sir, Simon Brown and Claire Richard have commented on the food value of dandelion leaves and flowers (Apr 22 & 24) but the roots of this plant can be also used to make a coffee substitute. In his 1972 book Food for Free Richard Mabey gives a recipe for dandelion coffee: “Dig up the roots in the autumn and scrub well (though do not peel). Dry thoroughly, preferably in the sun, then roast in an oven until brittle. Grind them coarsely and then use as ordinary coffee.” I tried this successfully almost 50 years ago — despite my mother’s repeated protestations at having dandelion roots in her kitchen.
Michael Laggan
Newton of Balcanquhal, Perthshire

Pastor to the poor

Sir, What a happy coincidence that your obituary of Frank Field (Apr 25) should be followed in the Births, Marriages and Deaths column by that wonderful quotation from Proverbs 31, 8-9: “Speak up for people who cannot speak for themselves. Protect the rights of all who are helpless. Speak for them and be a righteous judge. Protect the rights of the poor and needy.” It perfectly summed up his life’s mission.
Neil McKittrick
Peterborough