Letters: Hamas terrorists care nothing for the suffering they have inflicted on Gazans

SIR – The BBC and other outlets continuously discuss Israel’s cutting off of water, electricity, gas, food and medicine to Gaza, but never mention that Israel has repeatedly offered to fully reinstate all supply lines if Hamas frees its hostages. 

It appears that for Hamas leaders living in luxury in Qatar, keeping the 199 hostages captive is more important than the wellbeing of their own people.

Dr Abraham Karpas
Cambridge

SIR – I heard a commentator on the BBC say that while Ukraine was occupied, Israel was an “occupier”.

Yet Israel is not an occupier by choice. Since its birth it has been attacked by Arab armies seeking to destroy it. Fortunately it has always prevailed, but each war leaves it with territory to administer (or “occupy”). 

When Israel withdraws, as in the case of Gaza in 2005, it gets no thanks but is attacked with rockets by terrorists who are committed to its destruction – the same people who butchered Israeli citizens and started this war. When Israel offered 94 per cent of the West Bank to the Palestine Liberation Organisation as a separate state, Yasser Arafat turned it down. Yet it is now being blamed for defending itself again – often by people who are, frankly, anti-Semitic.

It should be remembered that it was soon after Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 that the Palestinians elected Hamas – terrorists who had already publicly pledged its violent destruction. Would you trust your future to a ceasefire with people with such a history? Or would you seek to root out the terrorists? 

We must support Israel.

Professor Alan Sked
London N1

By-election blues

SIR – Was ever a new government handed such an amazing opportunity to rebuild our autonomy as this Government at the last general election? The Conservatives squandered it. They were too busy with internal bickering, lacking the focus and commitment to tackle the issues they were elected to deal with. 

Conservative HQ is apparently surprised that its voters did not go to the polls in Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth. I have voted at every election since I became eligible, and always Conservative, but I would not have done so had I been eligible in one of these constituencies.

Jean Stephenson
Solihull

SIR – The results of the Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire by-elections are appalling for the Conservatives – but not unexpected. As a lifelong Tory voter, I despair; after 13 years in office, the party has become lazy, complacent and unimaginative, and its perception of its own entitlement continues undiminished.

Its failure to recognise reality is exemplified by Conservative HQ blaming the more than 20 per cent swing in those by-elections on a low turnout, and not on the fact that normally loyal voters have become totally disenchanted with Mr Sunak and his uninspiring Cabinet. 

Unless there is a radical change of course – by which I mean a return to true Conservative values of low taxation, less public spending and less state interference in individual choices – the Tories face a catastrophic and deserved defeat at the next election.

Sandy Pratt
Storrington, West Sussex

Carol culture

SIR – J M Savage (Letters, October 15) makes the point that nobody knows traditional hymns anymore.
It’s not just hymns: the only Christmas songs my grandchildren sing at school are Silent Night, Feliz Navidad and Jingle Bells. No three kings or bleak midwinter for them. Hardly an achievement in terms of cultural enrichment.

Maria McGee
Culmore, Londonderry

Harrassed by HMRC

SIR – You report (October 14) that HMRC is planning to offer staff a three-day week over summer with additional pay.

Three years ago I closed my company as I wished to retire, after ensuring that all creditors were paid in full. So I employed a registered insolvency company to deal with the Government’s requirements. I have since been repeatedly advised by the insolvency company that HMRC is not responding to continued requests to progress the closure of my company, despite owing me in excess of £20,000 in VAT and corporation tax refunds. Furthermore, HMRC is threatening to put our case to the back of the list if we continue to chase.

While I wait for my refund, the debt collectors from HMRC’s self-assessment department are actively demanding a small amount of tax I owe, plus interest and late payment penalties, with the threat of bailiffs to encourage compliance.

Perhaps the Revenue wishes to use my unpaid funds to reduce its huge borrowing requirements.

Alan Stevens
Reading, Berkshire

SIR – In August I received notice of a £100 fine from HMRC for failure to file PAYE on time. I had no idea why, having always submitted within a few days of being paid.

After more than an hour waiting on the phone, I was advised that I was expected to file before or on the date of payment of my remuneration, and that I could appeal online within 30 days. 

In the 10 years that I’ve filed online, I have never been made aware of this. I appealed immediately, but I have heard nothing. Perhaps the proposed three-day working week for HMRC staff will speed things up.

Elizabeth Sim
Elsworth, Cambridgeshire

SIR – I recently overheard someone say: “I love working from home. I’m never going back to work again.”

Mervyn Coverdale
York

SIR – I don’t like to worry David Vincent (Letters, October 14), but if he does ever get to speak to someone at HMRC, the length of the reference number he is seeking may set him fuming again.

My HMRC reference had 18 characters in it, including no fewer than seven consecutive nines, which made it hard to write down correctly – and also to say. The lady I spoke to was very pleasant and helpful but missed out one of the nines when reading the reference to me; she only noticed when I read it back as a check. 

There was no option to receive the reference number by post or email, so Mr Vincent had better make sure there is plenty of ink in his pen.

Roy Freeman
Crowborough, East Sussex 

Planting trees in ’73

SIR – Seeing the sad demise of several magnificent trees recently (Letters, October 15), I wondered if any of your readers remember Plant a Tree in ‘73. 

It was a government initiative responding to the horrors of Dutch elm disease that had swept the country. Local councils and individuals in all counties planted thousands of trees, with great celebration and ceremony. Are many of them still standing? Are there any records?

P Russell-Grant
West Mersea, Essex

SIR – Ian Dobie (Letters, October 15) asks for a rhymed inscription for a bench made of the felled Sycamore Gap tree. How about: “I was a tree, though now truncated / Please fill the Gap that I’ve vacated.”

Fiona Wild
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

SIR – Ian Dobie is perhaps more forgiving than I am: “To an ugly hell for evermore / Who felled such a beautiful sycamore.”

Paul Richmond
Godalming, Surrey

Fashion over function

SIR– David Mason (Letters, October 18) is correct about low-profile tyres being vulnerable to the poor state of Britain’s roads. What is not clear to many car buyers is that large alloys and thin tyres use more fuel, give a harsh ride, increase noise and are costly to replace.

Unfortunately, a buyer wishing to make a sensible choice and avoid these fitments is prevented by the homologation process manufacturers have to go through before the vehicle is sold. Usually, only the entry-level model in a range has softer, high-profile tyres, and a customer seeking the additional features and comfort of the premium version has to take the larger wheels without the option. 

Fashion should not influence such a fundamental aspect of the dynamics of a vehicle.

Barry Martin
Skipton, North Yorkshire

Precious straw tied up by clueless bureaucrats 

SIR – You report (October 18) that, in accordance with ancient tradition and a Port of London Thames bylaw, a bale of straw currently dangles from Millennium Bridge to warn vessels using the river of work taking place underneath and restricted headroom. I wonder how many will stop to ponder the durability of this natural product. 

I am into my third week of attempting to get some precious thatching straw to the Republic of Ireland. Unlike straw for animal husbandry, straw for thatching has to be very, very long, but there seems to be no one in the numerous authorities who is able to understand this. 

Consequently, what is a natural construction product has to be sent off for a health examination. I could write a book on the fiasco that is the bureaucracy of exporting something that we have used time and time again in Ireland without it creating a national emergency. 

And just to be clear, there is nothing wrong with Irish straw. It’s just not long enough.

Catherine Lewis
Ware, Hertfordshire

Railway premonition

SIR – As I waited in a queue to check in electronically at an airport recently, I had a premonition of what it will be like if our railway ticket offices are closed as planned (Letters, October 6).

The first queue I joined to check my luggage was stalled behind a person who couldn’t get the machine to read an iPhone; the second was held up by a woman whose bag was overweight, for which the machine was demanding payment and then rejecting all her credit cards; and the third was delayed by the machine having run out of baggage labels.

I can’t wait to buy train tickets on a busy early morning.

John Stewart
Terrick, Buckinghamshire

SIR – Wherever possible, ticket machines – be they at railway stations, car parks or street parking bays – should be positioned facing north, so that the sun does not shine on the screen, making it all but impossible to read the instructions.

Ian Wearing
Welwyn, Hertfordshire

Identity crisis

SIR – I am a Welshman born and bred, having lived in Denbigh for the first 20 years of my life. My grandmother was named Collins and not unreasonably claimed to be Irish. 

My daughter gave me a DNA test for my birthday in July. It transpires that I am 60 per cent Scottish and only 8 per cent Welsh – the rest being West Country and “European extraction”. Grandmother was Scottish!

Maybe your readers can advise how I can accept this shock, and particularly how I should now respond to situations such as rugby and football matches when, for the last 88 years, I have supported the reds. 

My mind is in turmoil.

Andrew Mortimer
Watford, Hertfordshire

Splitting the bill

SIR – William Sitwell’s frustration at splitting the bill in restaurants (Features, October 15) is easily avoided if everyone pays cash for what they think they owe. Guests will slightly over-pay, not wishing to be seen as stingy or cheat fellow diners, which will allow the host to settle the bill either in cash or by card, and leave the surplus as a generous tip to the staff. 

Job done – with no fuss or delay. 

George Bastin
Stroud, Gloucestershire

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