Letters: HMRC has come to symbolise a public sector that puts taxpayers last

SIR – HMRC, which is supposed to be a public-service organisation, is shutting one of its most popular helplines for three months (report, June 9).

This comes as figures reveal a recent drop in the number of its staff in the office. How can it be permitted to act in such a cavalier manner?

Roger Dring
Tadworth, Surrey

SIR – The contempt that the Civil Service routinely shows towards the public – which pays for it – has plumbed new depths.

Imagine if employees in the private sector refused to process customers’ problems. The consequence would be: no more customers. Rishi Sunak needs to appoint a heavyweight minister to get to grips with Civil Service culture and cut its numbers drastically.

Kim Potter
Lambourn, Berkshire

SIR – Contrary to the suggestion in your report, operational decisions at the UK’s tax authority are not driven by the recent hot weather.

The true rationale for the changes we are making is to free up about 350 advisers to support more urgent inquiries – about 6,600 a day, in fact – ensuring that more people who really need to speak to an adviser can do so.

The deadline for self-assessment returns isn’t until January and 97 per cent of customers file online anyway, so temporarily diverting resource away from this area is an obvious choice. Our highly regarded digital services also remain available.

No fewer people will be employed answering inquiries, no staff will be working fewer hours, and nobody will be doing less work or working from a different location to now. Suggestions to the contrary are quite unfounded.

Angela MacDonald
Second Permanent Secretary
HM Revenue & Customs
London SW1

SIR – At 5pm on Tuesday my neighbour asked whether I would verify her passport renewal application. I was out at the time, but did it as soon as I got home (my passport information was required) at about 6.30pm, having already received the email with a reference number.

Astoundingly, the new passport was delivered yesterday, at 12.30pm. At least the Passport Office is working.

Sheena R Wiffen
Horsham, West Sussex

Nato and Ukraine

SIR – The resolve of Nato will be tested as the Ukrainian military launches its long-awaited counter-offensive against Russia (report, June 9).

Setbacks will inevitably occur: the operations will involve Ukrainian forces moving across ground relatively unknown to them, while the Russians are dug in defensive, well-prepared positions on land of their own choosing.

This is likely to be a period of attrition, with an uncertain outcome. It is vital that Nato does not wobble.

Lt Col Jeremy Prescott (retd)
Southsea, Hampshire

Waiting on the NHS

SIR – My GP gave me an urgent two-week referral at the end of January. I was pleased when my procedure was carried out within three weeks.

I was less pleased, however, when 12 weeks went by and the results were not forthcoming. Several emails and phone calls (including one from my GP) elicited a response, saying that all patients under the consultant who performed the procedure – going back to the beginning of the year – were still waiting for their results.

Only when I sent an email threatening to take matters further did I get another response: it was not cancer, and a letter confirming this would be typed. No apology for the months of anxiety.

Beryl Sanders
Preston, Lancashire

Top tips for making the most of your Marmite

SIR – Keith Bryant (Letters, June 9) laments the reduced pliability of Marmite. While this is a minor inconvenience, it has to be expected when yeast is a primary ingredient.

I too am in the “love it” camp and have developed a spread that other aficionados may like to try: smear butter on to a slice of toasted brown bread, cover from edge to edge with Marmite and top with a dollop of marmalade. I call this mixture marmalite and take it for breakfast a couple of times a week, with my mug of coffee and The Telegraph.

John H Lowe
Helmshore, Lancashire

SIR – The solution to Mr Bryant’s Marmite problem is simple: mix a teaspoon or so of water into it.

Peter Chennell
Wimborne, Dorset

SIR – Twenty seconds in a microwave with the lid off does the trick.

Robert Burkeman
London NW4

SIR – Having feared that our Marmite difficulties were a result of the lack of dexterity of our ageing fingers, we welcomed Mr Bryant’s letter. At boarding school in the 1950s, mixing a little pat of butter with a small portion of Marmite enabled one to stretch it out to several pieces of bread. Today, it is hard even to spread it on a single piece of toast.

Jenny Whitebread
Minster, Kent

SIR – I don’t wish to start a Devon versus Cornwall cream tea-style debate, but has Mr Bryant tried spreading his Marmite on warm toast, then putting butter on top?

Stella Walter
Ashford, Middlesex

Rethinking net zero

SIR – Jack Marriott (Letters, June 9) calls for a more sensible approach to net zero.

It’s a indictment of our political class that there has been so little debate on the meaning or feasibility of this initiative, and so little planning for it.

The net zero drive should be suspended until there is a proper understanding of: what is needed to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels; how this might be achieved across all of our national activities; the priorities, costs, possible negative consequences and their solutions; what sort of time frames are achievable; and how we will measure our progress, update the objectives and plan as the project unfolds. Only then will we have the information needed.

A set of actions that might seem to be imperative, or appear to be supported by all parties, should still be subject to the rigours of proper analysis and decision-making.

Anthony Cutler
Great Malvern, Worcestershire

SIR – I recently sold my flat and had to obtain an energy performance certificate at a cost of more than £100.

When the assessor came round he simply counted the number of rooms, windows and external walls. He then told me: “It will be C or D, like nearly all properties in the UK. I just enter these details into a programme and it tells me the answer.”

This programme should be on a government website, then any interested buyers could use it if they wanted the answer – although, as Carol Forshaw suggests (Letters, June 9), I doubt anyone would.

Hon Ian MacGregor
London N2

SIR – As Charles Moore correctly points out (Comment, June 6), CPRE, the countryside charity, has urged Sir Kier Starmer to stand firm on Labour’s policy of no new oil and gas development.

Lord Moore questions whether it is right for a charity to take sides on a “highly political issue”.

CPRE’s support for the Labour statement on North Sea oil and gas is firmly in line with our published policies. We must move to renewables “in the right place” at speed if there is to be any realistic chance of avoiding calamitous climate change – the greatest threat to our countryside.

Our position on this issue is no different to our support for the Conservatives when they pledged both to protect the Green Belt and abolish an unelected infrastructure planning quango before the coalition took power in 2010.

We make no bones about supporting positive policy announcements for the countryside, whatever political party they come from.

Roger Mortlock
Chief executive, CPRE
London N1

Waitrose at its finest

SIR – Recently, while buying cheese at my local Waitrose (Letters, June 9), I was talking to one of the members of staff about trying to organise a friends-and-family gathering for my husband, who was very ill with cancer. I was hoping that he would be discharged from hospital in time. On paying at the till I was handed a beautiful bunch of flowers – the kindest of gestures at a difficult time. That’s why I shop at Waitrose.

Gill Wallis Hosken
Goudhurst, Kent

SIR – While queuing in Lidl, I heard the customer behind me answer her phone. After a few words she rang off saying: “I’ll be with you soon – I’m just in Waitrose.”

Sarah Crews
Plymouth, Devon

The real Shakespeare

SIR – As a grammar-school boy from the provinces, I must take issue with the argument that the plays attributed to Shakespeare could not have been written by someone from his background (report, June 9).

Sir Mark Rylance (Letters, June 9) and others appear unable to conceive of someone of relatively humble origins producing such brilliant work. An objective analysis of the issue is fair enough, but such an approach proves that snobbery is alive and well.

Christopher Timbrell
Kington Langley, Wiltshire

Playing the Welshman

SIR – Michael Sheen (who I admire as an actor) says “it’s very hard” to accept people who are not Welsh playing Welsh characters (Arts, June 6).

Does that sentiment extend to a Welsh actor playing the part of a Welsh person from a different part of Wales? Michael must know that North Wales, West Wales and the valleys of South Wales – not to mention Cardiff and Newport – all have very different accents, immediately distinguishable to any other Welsh person.

Don Haines
Telford, Shropshire

Fast money

SIR – John Birkbeck (Letters, June 8) tells how he left his phone on the roof of his car, then drove away. I once quizzically observed to my wife that I could see bank notes fluttering behind our accelerating car – before realising that they were escaping from the wallet I had left on top of it.

Graham Breeze
Ilkley, West Yorkshire

SIR – Mr Birkbeck, who was reunited with his phone, suggests this was because “Norfolk is a special place”.

I agree. Out shopping in Holt recently I bought several items using cash. On passing the same shop weeks later, I was hailed and invited in. I had overpaid by £20 and the owner wanted to give me a crisp £20 note back.

Sara Fry
Holt, Norfolk

Letters to the Editor

We accept letters by post, fax and email only. Please include name, address, work and home telephone numbers.  
ADDRESS: 111 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 0DT   
FAX: 020 7931 2878   
EMAIL: dtletters@telegraph.co.uk   
FOLLOW: Telegraph Letters on Twitter @LettersDesk 
NEWSLETTER: sign up for Telegraph Conversations here