Rapid responses
Greek reform
[Re: Greece must stop hitting snooze and wake up to economic reform, yesterday]
Although Matthew Melchiorre is right to criticise Greece’s politicians for failing to reform their state, he misses a bigger issue. Politicians aren’t operating in a vacuum. Much of the Greek public – quite unlike the Estonians or Irish – doesn’t accept the importance of reducing the deficit. The classic illustration is chronic tax avoidance. A recent study suggested that the average income of a Greek worker is 1.92 times larger than is reported to the government – shrinking the country’s tax base by $34bn (£21bn). And the success of far-right and far-left anti-austerity parties just confirms this lacklustre willingness to sort Greece out.
Emil Sells
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London’s airports
[Re: As Gatwick looks to build a second runway, does expansion make good business sense?, yesterday]
Another runway at Gatwick is a second best solution. Gatwick is further from London than Heathrow and has fewer infrastructural connections. Increasing capacity is also not a zero sum game. Heathrow is an international hub airport, and many travellers fly into London to take a subsequent trip elsewhere. Business people will not want to arrive at Gatwick, travel to Heathrow and then take their connecting flight. Only expanding our existing hub – Heathrow – will allow Britain’s airports to compete with international rivals like Charles de Gaulle in Paris.
Michael Grantley
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TOP TWEETS
People who shop around for the best energy deal should be rewarded with lower prices. People who don’t should pay more.
@Heresy_Corner
I see Labour is waffling about energy prices. Never forget that, thanks to Ed Miliband, a large portion of your bill is green taxes.
@Rich_I
If energy companies are forced to charge the lowest tariff, surely they will increase prices across the board.
@lloyd_m_brown
We’re sitting on hundreds of years worth of coal. We must look properly at clean coal in the battle against increasing energy prices.
@MarkSpencerMP