The Reader: Celebrate Catherine’s stamina and the gift of a new royal arrival

The appearance of the Duchess of Cambridge with her new son yesterday was nothing short of incredible. She had only seemed to be in labour for a matter of minutes — and then she was standing on the steps of the Lindo Wing, looking as fresh as a daisy, clutching the new royal baby in her arms, smiling into hundreds of camera lenses.

Well might Prince William have beamed too. His wife’s embrace of royal dutifulness is a source of great credit to her and reflects well on him. They are writing the handbook of how to be royal in the 21st century — and doing so with aplomb. For William, steeped in this world from his birth, such an achievement is impressive but expected. Catherine has learned as an adult and shown great skill.

She demonstrated that yesterday. I suspect appearing before the world’s media hours after giving birth would not have been her first choice but she did it, and had the grace to smile through the experience.

This young prince is a welcome diversion from the otherwise rancorous and depressing atmosphere of our news cycle.

Cynics be damned: the birth of new life is always worth celebrating, even more so when we can do so as a nation. The royal baby has brightened up our days, not just with thoughts of the future but with smiles.
Ray Stokes

EDITOR'S REPLY

Dear Ray

From the moment she married William in April 2011, Catherine’s life has been only half her own. It was a choice she made, but it was a brave one. She could not have known what was to come.

So it is with this child. He is already a product of his age — the first royal son whose sister, Charlotte, two years older, will be ahead of him in the line of succession.

Every new baby is cause for celebration but a royal baby lets the rest of the nation in on the party. That’s what the royal family does; it projects the joys and sorrows of family life on to the national stage. It is this familial aspect that makes it easy for people to identify with, in a way that doesn’t tend to happen in a presidency.

Still, the Duchess has set a formidable example for other women, in presenting herself flawless before the cameras, hours after having a baby. Other new mothers should not feel obliged to follow suit.

Melanie McDonagh, Senior Writer

Too many farmers are still ignoring the benefits of veganism

It is good to see so much mention of vegan food by Emily Sheffield in her column [“Vegan burgers are a trial for my family,” April 20] and Joy Lo Dico in hers [“Eat greens — and drink infrared water,” April 20].

I suspect that Lo Dico was slightly tongue-in-cheek but there is a serious point to her pondering of the fate of livestock farmers. There is currently too much livestock farming for the good of the environment, especially in countries such as Britain. There is a genuine need to retrain livestock farmers in environmentally less damaging work.

Agriculture needs to be environmentally scrutinised as toughly as any other industry. It certainly does not warrant special privileges on the basis of being a food-producing industry.
Charles EL Gilman
London Vegans

Don’t rely for trade on Commonwealth

Carl Mortished [“Commonwealth trade is not a rational solution to Brexit”, April 19) clearly spells out our future outside the EU, giving the lie to those who refuse to accept the outlook is not as they pretend: that Commonwealth countries will welcome us as their partners.

With the 53 nations of the Commonwealth providing only 9 per cent of the UK’s trade against 43 per cent with the EU, how can those negotiating our future claim this will provide jobs for this country? Commonwealth countries are mainly developing nations who value the agreements they have struck with the EU and would not want to throw their efforts away. If we leave the single market and the customs union, the future for this country adrift from our closest and richest market does not look bright.
Linda Green

Immigration law must be clearer

Enforcing immigration law (and laws in general) should be the job of accountable entities, such as the Home Office and the police. If we make everyone responsible for enforcing immigration laws, and fine landlords, banks, employers and doctors for failing to ask someone for their documents, then we are making ordinary people a part of the apparatus of the state, under threat of punishment.

The British legal system is based on the assumption of innocence. People suspected of being “illegal” are stripped of this right. We must return to an immigration system that is enforced responsibly, and only by a legally accountable branch of the state, acting in a transparent way, before we slide too far to come back.

Many of us are migrants or the descendants of migrants.
Caroline Kraabel

We have to stay in the customs union

THERESA May should have the courage to keep Britain in the customs union, as recommended last week by a large majority in the House of Lords. A clear majority in the country would support this, as it would safeguard jobs and livelihoods. Leaving the customs union would require a vast increase in bureaucracy at great cost to taxpayers, as thousands of customs officers would have to be hired for the new system of control.

Britain’s only land border with the European Union through the Republic of Ireland could be left as an open back door. Otherwise, if new controls were introduced, the Good Friday Agreement would be put at risk. In any case, Britain, with a population of 65 million people, has far less clout than the EU market with 443 million.
Nicholas MacLean