The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will put retailers in an impossible position
SIR – Convenience stores have recently endured business rate hikes and National Insurance increases, as well as escalating abuse and attacks on staff.
Now, we face the final nail in the coffin: poorly thought through legislation in the shape of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. It puts responsible retailers in an impossible position.
We all want to support measures that stop young people smoking. But does the Government seriously think that restricting sales of cigarettes (and even smoke-free products) will do anything other than just put staff in the firing line, while handing profits to the illicit market?
We're asking Jonathan Reynolds, the Secretary of State for Business, to sit down with us, to hear our concerns first-hand. He has (rightly) fought to protect 2,700 jobs in the steel industry, but appears unmoved by the need to protect about 445,000 jobs in British convenience stores.
He's received nearly 700 letters from my fellow retailers so far, but his continued refusal to engage speaks volumes.
Whatever happened to the agenda for growth?
Paul Cheema
Coventry, Warwickshire
SIR – The UK Vaping Industry Association is concerned that the ban on disposable vapes, which came into force on June 1, will encourage former smokers, who had already transitioned from cigarettes, to return to combustible tobacco (report, telegraph.co.uk, May 31).
Members have only to ask their colleagues in France, which banned disposable vapes in February.
Deirdre Lay
Cranleigh, Surrey
SIR – It is true that manufacturers have released new vape designs very similar to successful single-use devices. They are being sold at similar prices, and meet new regulatory requirements as they are rechargeable. But this is far from the 'circumvention' that some commentators claim. It lets consumers adapt to the new rules easily, rather than returning to smoking.
Our members report that replacement pod sales are, in many cases, already higher than the associated vapes that house the battery. This means consumers are recharging them rather than discarding them. This in turn means a substantial reduction in UK vape waste from responsible retailers. The ban may reduce battery waste by more than 75 per cent compared with single-use vapes.
Characterising these products as 'nasty devices', as the minister for nature has done, stigmatises single-use vapers. The Government could instead encourage users to recharge, refill and re-use their vapes, then dispose of them responsibly.
Lawless Britain
SIR – Last week my son's Toyota Hilux was stolen from outside his house.
It was vital to his festival catering business. The Hilux was driven to Birmingham, but will by now be in a container on its way abroad, or broken up for spares. The police were sympathetic, but not hopeful.
So a law-abiding, hard-working taxpayer has had his livelihood wiped out by criminals, with little chance that they will be apprehended. Is this what Britain has become?
Gerard Somers
Atherstone, Warwickshire
SIR – Has Britain learnt nothing from Commissioner William Bratton's spectacular turnaround of New York City's crime wave in the 1990s by focusing intently on petty and minor crime – an approach that led to an overall decrease in all forms of crime?
James McNie
Rafford, Moray
Israel's actions in Gaza
SIR – His Honour Jeff Blackett argues that a charge of genocide against Israel's actions in Gaza is a 'gross exaggeration' given legal definitions of the same (Letters, May 30).
If this is the case then the relevant laws are inadequate, but the more significant point is that such arguments are irrelevant and a distraction. From any perspective, and without excusing Hamas, the suffering inflicted upon the innocent is unacceptable. That the government of Israel cannot see that its current actions diminish support is perplexing.
A UN peacekeeping force must be inserted, indeed imposed, immediately.
Philip Crowe
Sheffield, South Yorkshire
Pensions at risk
SIR – As a recipient of a final salary pension, your article (May 30) on the Government's plans to allow pension funds to be funnelled into risky investments fills me with dread.
My pension fund is carefully managed using low-risk investments, in order to provide members with a regular income. Protecting members' savings from risk and financial collapse is paramount.
The Chancellor is now about to put at risk the pensions of millions of retirees in order to get herself out of a financial mess. There can now be no doubt that pensioners are being treated abominably by this Government.
Stan Kirby
East Malling, Kent
Drastic measures
SIR – Geoff Pringle (Letters, June 3) writes about the difficulty of obtaining a decent ale in 1970s Street, Somerset.
More recently, my father-in-law had a similar experience in Street. Hoping to have lunch there, he decided to start with an amontillado sherry.
The bar manager called his trainee over and said: 'This gentleman has ordered a medium sherry. We don't have any, so what I do is to pour a half measure of sweet and a half measure of fino into the glass.'
My father-in law was so astonished that he drank it.
Mark Robbins
Bruton, Somerset
SIR – Our grandson is down from his first year at Oxford and spending time with us. He seems to have a propensity for enjoying glasses of white Burgundy, claret and malbec with me.
I'm not sure what he has learnt on his course, but the Brideshead Revisited lifestyle appears to be continuing.
Robin Thomas
Exeter, Devon
Housing development
SIR – Sam Ashworth-Hayes (' Britain is sleepwalking into total state control of our daily lives ', Comment, May 31) is wrong to suggest that urban development was a free-for-all prior to the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act. For instance, when Lord Egerton of Tatton sold land for development, he stipulated in the contract that all building proposals required his written approval. Consent was also required from councillors for the relevant area. This can be seen in the deeds and municipal records from 1894 relating to my Victorian terraced house in Manchester.
Kevin Duffy
Manchester
SIR – I think it would be appropriate for some kind of county by county audit to be carried out, detailing the ability of utility companies to provide sufficient water and sewerage, before housing developments are given approval by councils that have been ridden roughshod by developers or those in government. In Essex, a dry county, I suspect that water rationing is not far off, given all the house building currently underway.
C M Watkins
Herongate, Essex
Georgian Liverpool
SIR – I read Simon Heffer's article on Merrion Square, Dublin (Hinterland, May 31), with great interest.
The square is indeed lovely and most impressive, but there is another city in the British Isles with a wealth of Georgian architecture: Liverpool.
I particularly recommend Hope Street and Rodney Street, the latter being the birth place of W H Gladstone.
Liverpool has more Georgian buildings than Bath, and more listed buildings than any other English city outside London.
Slow walk to freedom
SIR – When we lived on the edge of an Oxfordshire village, we had a pet tortoise. This developed escaping tendencies (report, June 2), and had to be restrained from marching up the garden towards freedom. One day it disappeared, and after a long and frustrating search, we gave up on it.
Some time afterwards, I bumped into the farmer who owned the adjacent field. I asked if by any chance he had seen our tortoise, to which he replied: 'Well, I did find a tortoise...'
Philip Brennan
Oxhill, Warwickshire
How Napoli football fans celebrated in style
SIR – I read with sadness of the troubles in Paris following PSG's Champions League victory (' Macron blames hooligans for 'depriving France' after two deaths in PSG fan chaos ', Sport, June 1).
I had the pleasure of being in Sorrento in 2023, when Napoli won the Italian League for the first time in 33 years. The streets were thronged with fans who were, without exception, noisy but well-behaved. Much drink had clearly been consumed, all with the usual Italian exuberance, but both my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
English and French fans would do well to learn some manners from the local Napoli fans.
Apprenticeships could transform the Forces
SIR – What possible incentive is there for any young person to spend a gap year in the military (report, June 3)?
In 1971, aged 16, I was lucky enough to become a Royal Air Force apprentice and within two years I was a fully qualified technician, maintaining operational aircraft. Entry into the military at 15 as an apprentice or cadet was transformative for thousands of youngsters, and laid the foundation for rewarding careers in both military and civilian life.
Today, I would have been pushed into college or sixth form to continue my education, with no real idea of what career path I wanted. Maybe the Government should stop trying to invent new ways of fixing a problem and instead look back to see what has worked in the past.
Thomas Le Cocq
Batcombe, Somerset
SIR – War in this country is a distant memory, and to expect youngsters to join up voluntarily seems far-fetched.
Equally, building new submarines and aircraft carriers takes years and is completely unfeasible. Rather, we could negotiate a leasing agreement for US equipment, with instructions for our military on how to deploy it, in a similar way to how we taught the Ukrainian military to use our drones and other specialist weapons.
E A Sclater
Andover, Hampshire
SIR – A few years ago, I spoke about how to become an airline pilot at a secondary school's careers day. I went on to explain how it was also possible to train in one of our Armed Forces, as I had begun my career as a helicopter pilot in the Royal Navy.
As my class filtered out, a young boy hung back and told me, with shining eyes, that he'd never heard of such an exciting career and was definitely going to find out more. That one boy made my day worthwhile.
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