Theresa May has gone off half-cocked on evidence that wouldn’t satisfy the Crown Prosecution Service and she is trying to use it to criminalise another country and a very large one at that.

The suspicious activity is rife. May has been too quick to say that only Russia could have done it – how about the Russian Mafia or oligarchs? The statement that it’s a Russian poison and no one else could have produced it is dubious to say the least.

There are other serious questions. For instance, why was Sergei Skripal’s family allowed to go back and forth between Russia and the UK freely? On top of that, according to your newspaper, the protocol for chemical attacks is that the apparently offending nation gets a week to respond after having been provided with a sample – 24 hours is not enough for Russia to investigate if it needs to.

This just seems to be a continuation of May’s aggressive stance towards “foreigners” like the EU, which will do us no good in the long run. Maybe she wants to send a gunboat up the Volga? No one wants to acknowledge that we no longer have an empire on which the sun never sets, and “punching above your weight” is a good way to get hurt. Patriotism is admirable when it means love of country, but it is being misused as a “dog whistle” to get a lot of people to react unthinkingly.

This is a good example of why we need to stay in the EU. We need all the friends we can get and the US is not a particularly reliable one and never has been. The reason Churchill supported the formation of a “United States of Europe” was to keep the peace on our continent, which the EU (and its predecessor bodies) seems to have done adequately for 70 years.

John Day

Bristol

The principal driving force behind the creation of the EU was to prevent war in Europe. During my lifetime – I was born at the end of World War Two – the only war in Europe was when the former Yugoslavia was breaking up. At a time when European unity is at risk and we ourselves are abandoning this great project the UK should not be surprised to find itself under attack by the Russian bear. Predators pick off the most vulnerable first.

John Simpson

Ross-on-Wye

I think few would argue that there is a very obvious threat posed by Russia (among other states) with its array of weapons of mass destruction and more traditional methods of warfare.

If his record in Crimea, Georgia, Ukraine, Syria etc is not enough evidence for sceptics of Putin’s expansionist plans, perhaps they could look at the alleged interference in Western democratic processes, notably in the USA and our own EU referendum. Division in Western alliances seems to be his aim. A divided West is a weaker opponent and will make achievement of Putin’s goals a lot easier.

And now another apparent poisoning of a Russian national on British soil, with Putin’s calling card left to claim the credit and to warn off other Russian citizens from taking the Skripal path.

To be fair to Putin, he is not making a secret of his intentions. With Western apathy he doesn’t need to.

Our response must be to build a much stronger alliance of Western democracies: starting by reversing the Brexit process and working with our EU allies to build a very strong and united Europe. One that Putin would have a healthy respect for rather than the disdain he currently shows.

May and Corbyn please take note.

Joe Hennessy

Address supplied

France is being reasonable – Britain is not

The French request for firm proof of Russian involvement in the alleged nerve-toxin poisoning in Salisbury is a reasonable stance. After all, Britain has “form” when it comes to pointing fingers at foreign powers based on scientific intelligence which later proves illusory.

Rather than directly confronting Putin through threats and megaphone diplomacy, President Macron has emphasised private dialogue. He rightly believes ostracising Moscow will not yield results given its importance on the world stage and its role in a range of world crises.

The fact is half of our imports of liquefied natural gas come from Russia. With declining North Sea output and limited storage our energy strategy is import-dependent in general and Moscow-dependent in particular. This leaves our threat to “discipline” Putin looking pretty silly.

Rev Dr John Cameron

St Andrews

Corbyn’s anti-war stance makes me doubt he’ll ever be able to lead the country

The comments by Jeremy Corbyn this week throw serious doubt on whether he would, as prime minister, carry out his primary duty to defend the nation.

Let us remember that in 2016 he stated in the House of Commons: “I make it clear … that I would not take a decision that killed millions of innocent people. I do not believe that the threat of mass murder is a legitimate way to go about dealing with international relations.”

So as prime minister, what would be in his personal letters of last resort to the four Trident submarine commanders, and how could a Labour government override Corbyn when his finger alone would be on the Trident launch button?

The independent nuclear deterrent was introduced by the Labour government of Clement Attlee and was defended by Hugh Gaitskell and Denis Healey. But there has been no debate about Corbyn being a lifelong unilateralist and a previous vice-president of CND, and in the light of recent events, this should now take place.

Brina Boughton

Redhill

Wasting NHS money on consultancy

The news that NHS Improvement is to spend £500k on advice from management consultants McKinsey is a disgrace but not a surprise. I spent over 25 years as a medical consultant in the NHS and witnessed the profligate use of management consultants by NHS managers who were highly paid to, supposedly, run and manage the service themselves.

Indeed the use of external consultants such as PAC, McKinsey et al seemed to have become a sort of management fetish. Most of the consultancy exercises I witnessed were run by “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed” representatives of the firms who seemed to have little knowledge of patient care and gave superficial presentations based on limited data.

Most of these exercises came to nought, apart, presumably, from enriching the consultancy companies. If the highly paid managers in NHS England can’t manage the service themselves they should be sacked and replaced by competent managers, and clinicians, who can.

Dr Stephen Campbell

Sheffield

No hope for the groat

The news that the Treasury is considering abandoning pennies and twopences offers little hope to those of us who voted Brexit to see the return of the groat.