![]() ![]() SIR – Tom Harris’s concern (Comment, .uk, July 17) that too many apprenticeships are “cons” doesn’t reflect the view of many employers in this tight labour market. My second daughter, who didn’t choose to go to university, has made a very satisfactory and enjoyable career for herself. My elder daughter with a degree from Bristol, applying for a job, was told that she was overqualified. SIR – Apprenticeships can lead to a satisfying lifestyle ( Letters, July 19). The minister, still in full flow, leaned over the pulpit intoning: “Ten to one on the black and tan.” While they were usually well behaved, on one occasion, during the sermon, a fight erupted. Many years ago, in rural Scotland, it was customary for the local shepherds to come to the service immediately after the morning round of their flock, bringing their sheepdogs with them. SIR – I was amused to read about dogs being welcomed into churches ( Letters, July 19). Admittedly, he is put in a registered dog care home, where the maximum number of dogs permitted at a single time is five, but still – holiday child care begins to look like a bit of a bargain in comparison. However, compare this with two weeks’ holiday care (15 days) for Monty, my cockapoo – with all his food supplied by me – which costs £450, or £210 per week. SIR – You report (July 15) that the average cost of six weeks’ holiday child care is £948. We should not now be too shy to protect free speech from all fear of retaliation by faceless corporate managers. We already regulate banks and utilities heavily as a society, we hardly treat their “freedom” as sacrosanct. The time has come for us to extend it to cover all large corporations that offer their services to the general public. Later “public accommodations” laws generalised this to protect against racial discrimination. That English common-law case became the foundation for the American legal doctrine of “common carriers”, in which the same principle of general service was extended first to teamsters (haulage companies) and then to telephone companies. In the case of “The Six Carpenters” (1621), Sir Edward Coke held that an innkeeper who hangs out a sign welcoming guests must not turn away a traveller prepared to pay for accommodation. The idea that it should have no such right is ancient. ![]() SIR – At the heart of the de-banking scandal is Coutts’s belief that it has the right to choose arbitrarily with whom it does and does not do business. It is shocking that banks are allowed to exercise coercion and control as they do. The Government needs to recognise this and guarantee an electronic banking facility. SIR – Banking is essential in modern life and electronic money transactions are a vital part of it. SIR – Anyone concerned about democracy and free speech who has an account with the NatWest Group of companies – which includes Coutts - should write to the chief executive, Dame Alison Rose, and let her know that they will close their account within a month unless she apologises for the shameful treatment of Nigel Farage. SIR – Can someone clarify for me what Coutts means by “inclusive”? ![]() This is a matter that the Government should take very seriously – after all, it used much of our money to support the banks when they faced a self-inflicted crisis. In itself, this would pose a material and ongoing risk to a bank. Ostensibly done to protect a bank’s reputation, this could backfire if those who disagree with an organisation’s policies and ethos move their accounts elsewhere. SIR – It is deeply worrying that banks may close or refuse accounts because they do not like a person’s views, rather than for financial reasons (“Bank axed Farage as ‘he doesn’t align with our values’”, report, July 19). ![]()
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