Tory hopefuls

SIR – I have listened to all four candidates for the leadership of the Conservative Party (report, telegraph.co.uk, October 3) and do not understand how any of them can expect to win back what they call “our voters”, having failed to acknowledge the true magnitude of their errors over the past 14 years, which have led to the multiple crises Britain faces today. 

Nor do they seem to appreciate just how many voters will refuse to believe a word they say in their future manifestos, having broken so many promises in the past. 

They fail to understand that being a “broad church” is what has caused the divisions in the party, and it is surely now too late for any of them to demonstrate that they can unite the party with a truly conservative vision – because Reform UK has taken up that mantle. 

Nigel Farage may well be right: the Tory brand is bust. 

David Taylor
Lymington, Hampshire

SIR  – Nadine Dorries, the former culture secretary, supports any of the candidates for the leadership other than Kemi Badenoch, because they “put the party first” (report, October 2). 

She misses the point: it is the country that comes first. Had the previous government remembered this, it would still be in power.

Philip Hall
Petersfield, Hampshire 

HS2 folly

SIR – You report (September 29) that HS2’s Euston leg is poised to be given the green light. If this happens, the public purse will be saddled with another massive bill. 

One year ago, Rishi Sunak, then prime minister, removed from the public ledger the costs of developing Euston station and tunnelling the 4.7 miles from Old Oak Common, saying they must be privately funded. There have been no private investors for the tunnels, and without them there probably won’t be any takers for funding Euston. The current cost estimate of Phase 1 of HS2 – £67 billion in today’s prices – does not include these items, which are likely to add as much as £10 billion more. So far only about £33 billion of that projected cost has been expended.

Given that a vital supercomputer project has recently been cancelled and the winter fuel allowance scrapped, going ahead with the multi-billion pound HS2 Euston leg would be utterly foolish.

Paul Braithwaite
London NW5

A friend to writers

SIR – I was sorry to hear of the death of the scriptwriter Ian Davidson (Obituaries, October 1). I knew him in the late 1980s when he was at the BBC and I was a struggling writer. 

He once pretended that he was stuck for an idea for a sketch and paid me out of his own pocket to write one. He also took me to the BBC bar, bought me drinks and introduced me to his colleagues as “a writer friend of mine”.

He was such a nice man and a great help to aspiring writers.

Paul Jones
Radcliffe-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire

Left for bread

SIR – The left-handed person (Letters, October 2) I have lived with for more than 50 years slices bread at a 45-degree angle to the perpendicular.

She is not allowed near the bread board except in emergencies.

David Shaw
Codford, Wiltshire

The right to die

SIR – Why do those against assisted dying (Letters, October 2) tend to start from the view that death is always negative

Death can be a blessed relief, and I’ve never met anyone who would like to live forever.

I regard it as my human right to judge when that final moment arrives, particularly in extreme old age, which I now approach. I look forward to a day when I can purchase the means, just as vets judge when to administer a wonderfully peaceful death for our pets.

Yvonne Beaumont
Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire

University reform

SIR – Tom Harris criticises Universities UK’s proposals for reforming the university sector and aiming for 70 per cent of school-leavers to enrol in tertiary education (Comment, telegraph.co.uk, September 30).

A recent study by the Department for Education predicted that the UK will need more than 11 million extra graduates by 2035, and that 88 per cent of new jobs will be at graduate level. High-innovation economies like South Korea, Japan and Canada have already increased higher education participation rates to 60-70 per cent. Australia has a target of 80 per cent. To succeed in the global race in the decades ahead, Britain will need to retain and strengthen its world-leading universities so that our workforce has the necessary skills to compete.

The first step is to ensure that universities are funded sustainably. This means a combination of tuition fees rising in line with inflation, greater public investment (given that universities generate £14 for every £1 of public money spent), and sensible levels of international students.

Vivenne Stern
Chief executive, Universities UK
London WC1

Facing Dame Maggie 

SIR – My last meal out with my late wife before she succumbed to cancer was in a Belgravia restaurant where Dame Maggie Smith (Obituaries, September 28) was a habitual diner. 

As I stood up to leave, she and I found ourselves face-to-face and each smiled. Prompted to speak, I said: “Thank you for all the pleasure you’ve given us over the years.” 

True to the brusqueness for which she was famous, she replied: “I suppose you’ve been listening to the gossip of two old crones.”

Tony Jones
London SW7

A delicate operation to save the capercaillie

SIR – I was interested to read your report (October 1) about the possible extinction of the capercaillie in Scotland, and the plan to aid its recovery.

However, a major cause of chick mortality in the past was predation by foxes and pine martens. I understand that the RSPB has declined to control these predators for fear of upsetting its membership.

As always, there is a reluctance by conservation organisations to acknowledge that there is a balance to be struck between control of one species and protection of another.

Charles Mitchell
Scarborough, North Yorkshire

SIR – Though not a bird-watcher, I visited RSPB Loch Garten some years ago. Outside was a noticeboard saying there was a high probability of spotting the capercaillie, yet I saw several clearly disappointed twitchers leaving the visitor centre.

At the viewing area was a scope trained on the lek. I looked through it – and there it was. I called to the ranger: “Is this it?” With a dismissive look, he came over, put his eye to the scope and suddenly became very excited.

I have dined out on this story for many years.

Rob Wilkinson
Oakham, Rutland

MPs in the buffet car on the sleeper to London

SIR – In the 1970s, when I had to be in London early on a Monday morning, I always used the Sunday night sleeper service (Letters, October 1). The buffet car was particularly lively as it contained a large number of West of Scotland MPs returning to Westminster after the weekend.

Ken Nicholson
Glasgow 

SIR – As a young girl I often used to get the second-class sleeper from Euston to Montrose in Scotland.

When you arrived at the train you had to find your name on the window of the coach you were sleeping in. You never knew who your companion would be (always someone of the same sex). I will never forget the excitement of being woken up with tea and a digestive biscuit at the station before you got off.

The return journey wasn’t such a thrill, as it meant the end of the holidays and back to school.

Alexandra Elletson
Marlborough, Wiltshire

SIR – In 1984 we travelled on the sleeper from King’s Cross – the prelude to our annual fishing trip in Scotland. We enjoyed a remarkably smooth journey, slept well and awoke in the morning to the sound of a busy station. 

King’s Cross still looked much as it had when we boarded the train some 10 hours before. Signal-box staff in Crewe had cut off Scotland from the rest of the known world.

Philip Stevens
Hartley Wintney, Hampshire

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