SIR – The claim by 20 leading businessmen (Letters, December 20) that at least three million jobs are at risk if Britain does not remain at the heart of Europe does not bear close scrutiny. British exports to other EU countries are worth about £164 billion per annum and imports £204 billion.
If three million jobs in the United Kingdom were really at risk, then, applying the same logic, 3.7 million jobs would be endangered in the other EU countries. In fact, self-interest would ensure that trade would continue as before if we left the EU.
The letter is signed by several known EU enthusiasts – some would say fanatics – who once warned us that we were making a grave mistake in not joining the euro. They were wrong then and they are wrong now.
Peter Bolton
Oxford
SIR – My gas and electricity are provided by the French. I fly from Spanish-owned BAA airports. The wings for the A380 are British and are exported to Toulouse for assembly. Abbey National is now Santander. My point is that, regardless of our position in or out of the EU, business is so closely intertwined that it will find a way to continue irrespective of EU politics.
Colin Sturdy
Westward Ho!, Devon
SIR – Philip Johnston (Comment, December 20) writes: “We don’t trade with the EU as an institution, but with its constituent states.” But since the EU is a legally binding customs union, non-member states are faced with the same tariff irrespective of which EU member state they choose to trade with.
The tariff is negotiated by the European Commission under the watchful eye and on behalf of its member states, meeting in the Council of Ministers. This gives the EU overwhelming power as a trade partner and, consequently, as a political actor.
Mr Johnston also implies that if Britain were to leave the EU, inward investment from, say, Japanese motor firms may not dry up, because “a non-member on the periphery of the EU, but no longer subject to its rules, might actually be attractive to overseas investors”.
But I would argue that direct access to the vast EU market of half a billion people is a key motive for foreign manufacturers’ location in Britain.
Dr Dionyssis G. Dimitrakopoulos
Birkbeck College, London WC1
SIR – Nick Clegg complains of an organisation that “is the most potent symbol of a closed society in which power is entrenched in the hands of an unaccountable elite” and that its “veneer of expertise” could no longer justify its lack of democratic accountability (report, December 20).
I was thrilled by this because that’s how I feel about the EU as well. Then, deflated, I realised that he was criticising the House of Lords.
Warren Page
Purley on Thames, Berkshire
Another little drink
SIR – Dr Yasir Abbasi is right to expose the myth that government recommendations for the number of units of alcohol one should consume in a week do not have a scientific basis (Letters, December 17). However, truly science-based guidelines should take body weight into account as well.
Early in the last century, E M P Widmark, a Swedish physician, developed an equation which showed the blood-alcohol level in the body after a given alcohol consumption and a set duration since drinking.
As well as factors relating to differences between the sexes in bodily fluid concentration and metabolism, the still-valid equation also shows an inverse relationship between blood-alcohol concentration and body weight.
Therefore, little people should generally drink less alcohol than big people, to keep below a given blood-alcohol concentration such as the drink-drive regulations.
Dr Bruce Denness
Whitwell, Isle of Wight
Remembering Havel
SIR – Václav Havel died on Sunday. Reporting his death, the BBC said that he was an inspiration to those “who oppose bigotry and violence”.
True enough. But can the BBC not bring itself to say that Havel was especially inspiring to those of us who oppose communism and socialism?
Andrew Gibson
London SE27
Sign of the times
SIR – I entirely agree with Spencer May (Letters, December 19) about the inanity of motorway gantry signs.
My least favourite is “Think bike, think biker”, to which my immediate response is: “Think bikest”.
Chris Green
Merstham, Surrey
SIR – I particularly enjoyed the sign which read: “Sign not in use.” I spotted it on the A12 some months ago.
Claire McCombie
Lower Ufford, Suffolk
SIR – On the A50, the road sign recently instructed: “High winds slow down.”
As they clearly had not, should the Government ask the archbishops to intercede?
Kevin Waite
Norbury, Derbyshire
The taxman’s prey
SIR – HM Revenue and Customs can offset “sweetheart” deals with multinationals like Vodafone and Goldman Sachs (report, December 20) by persecuting small businesses which cannot fight such cases.
A few years ago, my mother and I were advised that the school we own was being investigated. Neither of us was aware of any wrongdoing – we both pay a hideous amount of personal tax and more besides on the school’s profits. But we duly and voluntarily arranged an interview.
We then discovered that our accountant had made some errors which resulted, without our knowing, in a tax shortfall. But the interview was more like an inquisition. Clearly, all that was required of us was to sign a confession and plead for mercy. At the end, the interviewer had the nerve to ask me if I’d like to pay some money on account. I curtly declined this offer.
Nearly a year later, having employed a large firm of accountants to fight our case, we settled the bill. If what HMRC extracted from our coffers is anything to go by, then it is no wonder that they let firms like Vodafone off so lightly. The small and defenceless are much easier targets.
Christopher Price
Sidcup, Kent
SIR – Last year, I was informed by HM Revenue and Customs that the shortfall in tax paid on my self-assessment form was 40p. To recover this amount, HMRC sent me two letters: one with a detailed breakdown of how they had arrived at the figure and the second to tell me, again with a detailed explanation, how my tax code would be changed so that they could recover it through PAYE.
Already, the recovery of the debt had cost more in postage and staff time than the debt itself. Add to this the time and effort required to inform my income provider of the change in tax code, and then the provider’s time to change it, and the recovery costs of this paltry sum escalate to ridiculous proportions.
It seems if I’d owed several million, no one would have troubled to collect it.
Sue Burt
Burton Agnes, East Yorkshire
Why defend Assange?
SIR – What is so special about Julian Assange that moves 75 people to plead for his protection (Letters, December 19)?
If he has indeed committed serious breaches of national security, then he ought rightly to be held accountable to a higher authority than his own outsize ego.
Lucy Turner
Porthcawl, Glamorgan
Taking pride in pottery
SIR – You report (December 20) that the Wedgwood collection at Stoke-on-Trent may be sold to pay off debts incurred by the mismanagement of the parent company. This is another example of corporate incompetence. Josiah Wedgwood was a giant of the Industrial Revolution, and his legacy may now be desecrated.
I’m ashamed that my generation has failed in so many areas of business, be it making pottery, textiles, motorcycles, cars or in financial services. I’m proud to say that I was born in the Potteries and was brought up in Barlaston. My parents and thousands of others would be turning in their graves.
Mike Evans
Shobdon, Herefordshire
House husbandry
SIR – My wife is away visiting her mother. Does anyone know how to find the end of a roll of cling film?
John Michael Beattie
Bledlow Ridge, Buckinghamshire
Developing Earls Court to create more housing
SIR – Steve Thomas (Letters, December 19) is concerned about Earls Court closing, to be replaced with flats. But surely it is time that London thought seriously about housing its workforce. Let’s have more housing and fewer offices and workplaces.
Ian Williams
Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
SIR – I visited every British Motor Show at Earls Court and always enjoyed the experience. More compact and with more charm than the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre, it was easy to get around, and the accessory retailers upstairs offered calm from the car makers’ stands below.
What a pity the motor industry cannot support this splendid venue once again, rather than seemingly relying on the internet to generate interest in its products.
Rich Barnett
Pontyates, Carmarthenshire
SIR – At Earls Court, exhibitors fight to get a space to unload their exhibits and then fight again for expensive parking spaces.
Visitors, on the other hand, either travel by tube to the nearest station and queue in the rain, or drive and look hopefully for a parking space within a one-mile radius.
There is only one exhibition hall in London that is worse, and that is Olympia.
Duncan Rayner
Sunningdale, Berkshire
