Readers' letters - June 6

An expression I first heard some 70 years ago, but I never hear today, is “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”. If, say, you had a dozen eggs, rather than placing them all in one basket and run the risk of breaking them all if you dropped it, put them in two or more baskets so that, if you dropped one, you at least had some eggs in the other baskets for your breakfast.

But this is precisely what we are doing when we use a piece of plastic to carry out all our financial transactions on the high street, and if for some reason the system goes ‘down’, as it did last week with Visa, chaos inevitably results.

I despair when I see someone pay £1.25 for a sandwich using a card. Not too long ago one saw signs in shops saying “Card not accepted for transactions under £5”, but those appear to have now disappeared. I suspect that those who had cash on them to pay for their supermarket shop were older, and dare I say, belonged to a more sensible generation.

Governments, particularly western ones, know that it’s only a matter of time before a terrorist cyber attack will hit their utilities, their health service and their various financial systems, and one of those ‘systems’ will be the one involving the use of the credit card.

Wouldn’t it just be common sense to make sure you always have cash in your purse, just in case? You would then be able to at least pay for those essential food items to keep you going for the next few days. The person on the till could scan them, ask for the £7.45 owing, and be paid in cash.

Alas, I suspect that the majority of those who were hit last week by the Visa breakdown will be shopping this week without a coin in their purse or pocket, the attitude being, “surely it can’t happen again?” Well, it can and it will. And this time it could well be terrorist-related, and not last just a few hours, but possibly days...even weeks.

David Craggs

Address supplied

crime

Leave bragging until later on

I saw a couple of ex-burglars on TV telling us what we should do to avoid being burgled when we go away for those two weeks in the sun.

Top of the list, which was pretty obvious, although it doesn’t register with some, was don’t post the fact you are going away on Facebook.

Duh, you don’t say.

Why do some people have to give a running commentary from the moment they leave the front door, telling all and sundry the house is empty and ready for the taking?

Some things don’t need to be said.

Maybe leave the bragging and pictures till you return home.

Jayne Grayson

Address supplied

brexit

Powers of

the WTO

Oh the irony.

Donald Trump slaps import duties on a few steel products from the EU,

and what does the EU do but run off and complain to the World Trade Organisation? This is the WTO that Remainers tell us has no power, and is nowhere near as good as the EU, while sneering that the UK would be “crashing out” if we used the WTO.

Actually the WTO may knock sense into both the USA and the EU.

Nick Martinek

Address supplied

police

Lack of cash

in the pot

Like many others, I sympathise with the police’s efforts to counter the appalling standard of driving by some motorists relative to speed and so on.

The current situation in relation to road policing is basically due to financial constraints – not enough money in ‘the pot’ to enable the more experienced officers to be assigned to the road traffic unit.

We all know speed can kill and collisions will continue to occur, but not always is speed the main issue, as many factors come to the fore.

That said, drivers need to act more responsibly.

Getting a driving licence does not make anyone a good driver. It simply allows you to develop skills.

Without a substantial financial increase to the coffers, law-breakers will continue to escape the net, and not only in relation to road policing. That is a simple fact. Blame cannot be attributed to existing officers who do their best in the climate of frustration, but more police officers are required yesterday, not tomorrow.

Shaun Kavanagh

Address supplied

brexit

Giving losers the prizes

When Usain Bolt wins a race by a hundredth of a second, he still wins. When a racehorse wins by a nose, it still wins and bookies have to pay out on the result. With the biggest democratic vote in history, Leave won by at least a short head. Out is out, not half in.

This simple statement of fact appears too complex for Remain to understand.

By objecting to every negotiation, Remain are handing second place the winner’s medal.

Not only that, we, the British people, are becoming bookies, paying first prize money to the losers.

Barrie Crowther

via email