Does Dawn Foster (May’s Brexit blinkers are preventing her seeing anything else, 7 December) really believe that this government would be implementing the kind of policies needed to reduce poverty and inequality if it weren’t for its preoccupation with Brexit? It would not take much “bandwidth” to overturn the ideologically motivated social security cuts, such as the four-year benefit freeze in most working-age benefits, implemented prior to Brexit. Yet these have been identified by a range of independent organisations as the main driver of a predicted significant increase in child poverty and inequality. Meanwhile the government continues to shovel more money towards the better-off through tax cuts, Brexit notwithstanding.
Ruth Lister
Labour, House of Lords
• If the EU had any sense, it would be offering two deals to the UK: whatever mess Theresa May cooks up; but also, as an alternative, continued membership with increased control over population movement – the main thing that mattered to most genuine leave voters? The momentum to give the UK voters a second democratic choice would then be immense.
Timothy Bailey
Oxford
• In addition to the “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” caveat, the latest EU-UK statement on Brexit cautions that it “does not prejudge any adaptations that might be appropriate in case transitional arrangements were to be agreed in the second phase of the negotiations, and is without prejudice to discussions on the framework of the future relationship”. Sir Humphrey must have been up all night.
Dr John Doherty
Vienna
• Giles Fraser (Loose canon, 8 December) calls Santa Claus a “creepy bearded man”. Pogonophobia has no place in the Guardian. Santas with absurd false beards that appear at this time of year may be doubtful sorts, but the genuine Santa with a real beard is something much needed in the age of Trump: a person of goodwill.
Keith Flett
London
• While I have watched a video on a National Express coach, I don’t think they have Netflix yet, so becoming a “coach potato” (Nils Pratley, 6 December) is a small risk.
John Loader
Leyburn, North Yorkshire
• Coincidence? One solution to Wednesday’s (6 December) Wordwheel is “Triumphal”. Another is “Hail Trump”.
John Bevis
London
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