You paint a gloomy picture of Hartlepool (Britain beyond lockdown: can we level up?, 23 June). But there are many reasons to visit: HMS Trincomalee in the National Museum of the Royal Navy, the beach at Seaton Carew, the birdlife, St Hilda’s church and the Andy Capp statue. Like so many north-east towns, it needs help, but it has a lot to offer visitors, who might bring a bit of trade.
Helen Harper
Catterick, North Yorkshire
• Theatres and orchestras remain barred from live performances on the grounds of the government’s concern for performers’ safety (Pubs and places of worship: what 4 July lockdown rules mean for England, 23 June). But where there’s a will there’s a way. The Czech Philharmonic gave a live concert safely only days ago by testing all performers. Can we not act similarly?
Ruth Windle
Frome, Somerset
• Re your article (‘You can’t pay cash here’: how our newly cashless society harms the most vulnerable, 24 June), our grandchildren would miss the occasional banknote tucked into a birthday card or appearing from our pockets at the end of a visit – a harmless way to help older children still too young to have bank cards, supplement their pocket money.
Joan Fisher
Warwick
• I enjoyed your report on the efforts of Spanish art restorers (Experts call for regulation after latest botched art restoration in Spain, 22 June). But none match the restoration of Whistler’s Mother by Mr Bean on the cinema screen a few years ago.
Ian Ferguson
Pickering, North Yorkshire
• Nice idea to have Banksy decorating Boris Johnson’s plane (Letters, 22 June). Perhaps he could do one side, Steve Bell the other.
Tony Burns
Colney Heath, Hertfordshire
