Kate Connolly’s story appeared to highlight that, like author Edmund de Waal, descendants of those whose country disowned them in the 1930s would be returning to claim the offer of an EU passport (“Top author: ‘Vienna’s Nazis expelled my family. Now we are returning’”, World).

It is somewhat ironic that this article came out on the day that Austrians voted in large numbers for the centre-right Austrian People’s party of Sebastian Kurz, which was previously propped up in power by the far-right Freedom party.

My family, like de Waal’s, were variously expelled, transported, killed and had their wealth confiscated. My mother, at 95, who lives in Walton-on-Thames, was originally placed in a ghetto of Vienna called Leopoldstadt and then sent to Theresienstadt, Auschwitz (where her father was gassed), then Belsen and was finally liberated from Salzwedel. My father took a flight to Croydon airport, arriving in March 1938, and was later transported by the British to Australia as a possible fifth columnist (another story).

Mr De Waal is to be praised for the donation he is making to the Refugee Council but in our case, whatever our family may feel about Brexit, we do not think that accepting a tainted passport from Austria, if offered, would be the right solution. When my mother wears the poppy in later October she will be thanking this country, as I do, for taking us in, a country to which we feel loyal, right or wrong.

Anthony Lipmann

Bridgwater, Somerset



More visibility for disability



It was great to see reference to the lack of disability in children’s books, something David Baddiel’s efforts may address (“Young readers need more wheelchair whizzkids and one-armed bandits – Baddiel”, News). However, one of the really annoying omissions in the subject of disability is the complete lack of mention in all the Christmas cards sold. Not a wheelchair or a walking aid in sight or, for that matter, hearing or sight loss! All the many charities that try to get us to buy their Christmas cards, many of them supporting aspects of disability, ignore the subject in their non-religious cards.

Anne Keat

Corsham, Wiltshire



End this hysteria over vaping



Further to your report on lung disease and vaping (“Lung disease from vaping has hit Britain, says expert”, News): as of writing this, 12 people have died in the US, one has died in Britain and many more cases of related illnesses have emerged. All cases involve either the use of nicotine e-liquid and/or black market cannabis oil.

In the US, Trump’s administration and several states have taken the laziest approach (both mentally and politically) of reacting to these reports in a drug-war-like manner and concluded that vaping must be tightly restricted or flavours must be banned. However, it is important to remember that, as long as vaping is a “safer” alternative to smoking, there is a strong argument for it being readily available. In the US, 480,000 people die every year from smoking, while alcohol is a cause of 88,000 adult deaths and 4,000 youth deaths a year. Yet calls to criminalise alcohol or smoking are rightly seen as counterproductive, harmful and illogical.

We cannot let drug war hysteria decide vaping policy. Banning flavours (as Trump wants to) or banning vaping (as India has) is only going to push people back to much more deadly cigarettes. As long as vaping is safer than smoking (which the current statistics clearly imply) and sale to under-18s is restricted, it should be a welcome alternative to smoking. I applaud Public Health England for its rational and mature approach to e-cigarettes and hope that the hysterical prohibitionist approach in the US does not spread to the UK.

Jack Lassados

London NW2



True cost of Hinkley Point



It’s no surprise that the cost of Hinkley Point power station is expected to double (‘The cost of nuclear power is rising. But EDF is still well insulated”, Business leader). EDF is currently experiencing delays in a similar power project in Flamanville, France, where costs have tripled since the original estimate.

But what consumers and taxpayers will ultimately pay is not just the additional cost of bringing Hinkley on line but also the government’s and the utilities’ failure to grasp the speed of change in the renewable energy sector.

It may have made sense to opt for a 35-year supply contract at the time of Hinkley’s planning, but recent developments in green energy pricing and technology make this approach obsolete. Wholesale electricity buyers in California now choose much shorter-term contracts because the cost of green power is falling like a stone.

As we move towards all-electric economies, the matching of supply and demand is critical. A more Californian mindset on the part of a UK government with, suddenly, a lot more money to spend would prioritise an expansion of wind farms as well as investment in utility-scale batteries, buy-back contracts for electric vehicle owners and central heating via green hydrogen. Could Hinkley Point become an anachronism as soon as it starts generating?

Eurof Thomas

Cardiff



A heroine for our times



Our constitution is more fragile than Andrew Rawnsley claims (“Boris Johnson seeks to divide and conquer with his incendiary rhetoric”, Comment). The supreme court did not “coolly step up” to save our democracy all by itself. Without the considerable time, effort and money expended by an individual citizen, putting her personal safety at risk, the supreme court would not have acted at all. Don’t write out Gina Miller. She should be regarded every bit as highly as Millicent Fawcett and Emmeline Pankhurst.

Rose Meade

Faversham, Kent



Learning to live with less



Most of us older people (I’m 80) have been making do and mending all of our lives (“‘I sold our house and gave away our stuff’: how living with less gave me more”, Cash). We have learned to live with less because some of us had little choice. My books come from the library, my clothes from the wonderful charity shops, my creative energies (eg collage) from magazines, newspapers – anything I can recycle into sometimes beautiful images. I must confess one luxury: the Guardian and Observer newspapers. But those I pass on to a friend!

Jude McGowan

London W7



With a Bojo, it’s all relative



Thank you John Naughton for your lucid explanation of quantum theory (“We’re a long way from making a quantum leap in web code-breaking”, New Review). This proves our prime minister is, in fact, a subatomic particle – a Bojo. With superposition, as with Schrödinger’s imaginary cat, he can simultaneously be in front of the press and not be in front of the press. His speech can be restrained and racist with no contradiction. But the Bojo’s speciality must be its facility for entanglement, as women around the globe (if not galaxy) can testify. With a Bojo in command, we can wave goodbye to those outdated certainties of truth, honesty and rational discussion. Now, everything is relative and up for grabs.

Tom Lerwill

Oswestry, Shropshire

