Readers' letters - March 21

Modern technology’s not always the best. Now that we have vehicles with much better suspension than the older ones or indeed, a lot better than the horse-drawn carriage that used to run on the original cobbled street, I would opt for total removal of ineffective layers of expensive tarmac. We could reinstate the firm cobbles that have served for hundreds of years, and are still intact!As are some historical Roman roads they were inspired from. We could have saved a fortune by just keeping them in the first place! I would much prefer a slight, consistent judder of driving over cobbles, rather than the sudden clunk or a damaged wheel from hitting a deep pothole, or worse – a collision with another vehicle after an impulsive swerve to avoid hitting a pothole. Just think of the millions that could have been saved by leaving all those firm, substantial cobbles as they were.Name and address supplied

nostalgiaPreston link to English victoryThe Looking Back 1937 photo is of the victorious English Schools Football National Team – 4-3 winners over the ‘auld enemy’, Scotland. The Preston connection is the player, first left on the front row. This is the late J S Standing, representing Preston Schoolboys 1st XI. The year before, Sidney played in the English Schools winning team of 1936, where the Preston Boys team drew the English Schools Cup Final with West Ham United, and shared the trophy with the ‘Hammers’. (No penalty shoot-outs in those days!)History, in footballing terms, was to repeat itself in 1964 and 2005, but with West Ham getting the better of PNE on these occasions!An interesting fact from that 1936 victory is that the Preston Team had, in reserve, a little known footballer, none other than Tom Finney!I am not sure if Sid Standing Snr went on to greater things.... but Sir Tom obviously did.Sidney’s son, Sid Junior, still resides in Preston.Wilf Rileyvia emaileducationInflated role The universities are in the news for several reasons, for example tuition fees, lecturers’ strikes and expenses for vice-chancellors and management.I am interested because I studied six years with the Open University and obtained an upper second-class degree while holding down a full-time job. Except for a few summer schools, I studied at home on my own with material sent through the post.Getting degrees can be done much cheaper through the OU. There would be enormous saving on costs of students’ keep and tuition, as well as maintaining the university buildings.Perhaps the role of universities has been inflated. No one denies university experience can be valuable but there is no doubt the spiralling costs of these seats of learning are running out of control.Don BurslamAddress suppliedpoliticsWrong on MPChris Moncrieff, in his latest evaluation (LP, March 20) of Jeremy Corbyn’s response to the Salisbury poison agent attack, needs reminding of his previous assessment of the current Defence Minister as a ‘political typhoon’. Having had the experience of listening to Gavin Williamson’s ‘attack’ on Putin’s Russia the other week, I have never felt such embarrassment for a Government minister of any political persuasion. His delivery and the general content of his speech was at a schoolboy level. I honestly believed he was going to end by saying something along the lines of, “I am going to get my dad on you.” It puts into perspective Moncrieff’s estimation of the merits of people.Denis LeeAshtonbrexitWe can ignore OBR forecasts

The UK has paid the EU £209bn net over the years for nothing in return, except useless rules which have damaged our businesses. We owe them nothing. As for the OBR’s economic forecasts, we can safely ignore them as they have, to date, only ever got one right!Don Wood via email