Readers' letters - December 27

Ship could be Royal Yacht replacement
A correspondent writes about HMS Queen ElizabethA correspondent writes about HMS Queen Elizabeth
A correspondent writes about HMS Queen Elizabeth

The recent leak on the new British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is utterly irrelevant to the vessel’s future.

Whilst the leakage has sensationally been quoted as 200 litres per hour, that’s only 44 gallons per hour.

I’ve bailed more out of a rowing boat.

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More importantly, the vessel was designed 20 years ago and is clearly not fit for modern warfare, with its ancient computers even running an elderly version of Windows for Warships.

The aircraft, which will not arrive for several years, will also be built to similarly antiquated designs.

Far better to repurpose the ship as a replacement Royal Yacht.

With impending Brexit, this would excel for royal visits promoting British trade and diplomacy throughout the world, as undertaken so successfully by Britannia.

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It would certainly give the new generation of royals something to do that would generally be perceived as useful even by the most ardent republican.

John Eoin Douglas

Address supplied

animals

Shared space means sharing

I find it very difficult to feel sympathy with “Ann, S Ribble & Preston” (LP Letters, December 15), and her somewhat vague aversion towards dogs in the great outdoors.

As a lifelong dog-fellow and pack Alpha-male (I so dislike the epithet ‘dog-owner’. My hounds have always been my compadres, and they own me, heart and soul), I have witnessed over 50 years of the steady erosion of dog-friendly locations, facilities and indeed, rights. All proposed outings to beaches, parks, nature reserves, to name a few, have to be carefully scrutinised before four legs and two can set paw on them without let or hindrance.

By strange coincidence, the self-same issue of the Post contained an item on the infamous and distinctly dog un-friendly Worden Park in Leyland –on this occasion though, proposed parking charges were the cause of rising bile! No surprise then, that Ann doesn’t make use of this public space. I, for one, certainly do not as I have commented previously on this page!

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For all that, paradoxically South Ribble Borough Council and I are of a mind here.

They are attempting to impose a charge for car parking, ipso facto fewer cars at this location, which is to be applauded.

After all, some households have as many as three, even four or more cars, which is too many. The open road seems to be taken for granted that they belong to cars.... Where have I read a phrase similar to that recently?! I can only hope that “Ann” takes the point that, ultimately, shared-space is just that – for sharing. There are dog-free areas within her locale even if, as is the case with Worden Park, she may be obliged to pay for the privilege!

Martin Sutcliffe

The Grim Tsar of Grimsargh

brexit

Young have been betrayed

Britain should remain in the EU. Boris Johnson and his fellow nationalist, Michael Gove, came to the Flag Market on June 1, 2016 and talked drivel. I was pushed and shoved.

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Two weeks later, I was in Trafalgar Square on June 22, marking the life of Jo Cox. Tolerance abounded.

Leaving Europe is nothing more than Tory nationalists wanting to take us back to a time that never was.

They try to con the working class with so-called patriotism when it is nothing more than blatant nationalism plus Tory upper class twits of the year like Johnson wanting to maintain their privileged position. The vast majority are now worse off. The poor will suffer the most. The young have been betrayed.

Graham Nelson

Preston

trade

No benefit for the UK

The news that David Cameron has been appointed the lead man for the UK-China investment vehicle gives me no confidence that this tax-funded initiative will provide any major benefit for the UK, though most probably a great deal of benefit for China.

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I say this as Cameron has no experience of either running a large international trading company or a creative innovative institution.

For in the trading world of this century and beyond, it will not be political brains that forge dynamic economies. The real deal will come from those countries that capture future high technology markets.

Unfortunately that is something that politicians do not understand.

Dr David Hill

World Innovation Foundation