SIR – You report that HS2 will cost £105 million per kilometre.
This equates to over £1,000 per centimetre. Can anyone identify any scheme that has cost more, by ground coverage?
Chris Petty
Macclesfield, Cheshire
No need for speed
SIR – Peter Hargreaves asks whether it’s older drivers or “a new breed of timid” ones who are driving too slowly on Britain’s roads.
I endeavour to drive within the prescribed speed limits at all times. Speed limits, which are not minimum or target speeds, are probably the only laws that a majority of otherwise dutiful citizens are happy to flout.
Modern cars may be much safer than those of the past, with significantly better brakes and handling, but the laws of physics still apply. Is getting to your destination a few minutes earlier really worth the risk of ending someone’s life?
Phil Mobbs
Wantage, Oxfordshire
The GP system teeters on the brink of collapse
SIR – While we are all aware of the difficulties suffered by junior doctors, the state of general practice gets very little media coverage.
All three doctors from our practice in Essex have resigned. Three out of four local practices have closed their books to new patients.
It is not only impossible to recruit new GPs; it is equally difficult to recruit locum doctors. Several GPs have resigned through ill-health and stress, and the GP system is now on the brink of collapse. In an area with a predominantly elderly population, such a collapse would be disastrous, even before current plans to build more housing are put in place.
Last year, the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) said more than 500 practices were under threat of closure. This is because many doctors working in practices at present are close to retirement age, and not enough younger medics are stepping in to replace them. It is time to examine why doctors no longer wish to become GPs, and what is being done to alleviate their concerns.
Brian Mckeown
Clacton-on-Sea, Essex
SIR – You report that 3,000 pharmacies in England are likely to close because the Government is withdrawing a subsidy.
Are these the same pharmacies that the Government says should be the first port of call for minor ailments, in order to ease the pressure on GPs?
Brian Hinks
Blackwood, Monmouthshire
