Re your article (Judges told to favour community alternatives over short prison sentences, 20 May), those given short custodial sentences risk losing their job and home, and there can be a negative impact on family relationships. Being released from prison homeless, unemployed and estranged from family increases the chances of reoffending. Community-based sentences should reduce this and have a positive impact on recidivism.
Judith Feline
Former governor, HMP Maidstone, Kent
I couldn’t agree more with Patrick Grant (‘Buy less!’: why Sewing Bee’s Patrick Grant wants us to stop shopping, 19 May). In 2018, I started an experiment to not buy any clothes for a year – it lasted three years, well into the pandemic. I had begun the new year with throwing out 19 pairs of shoes, all with some disrepair. I now buy very few new things. Buying quality is the key, rather than fashionable items. Oxfam will give you a £5 Marks & Spencer voucher if you donate at least one item of M&S clothing.
Angela Vnoucek
Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Instead of demolishing the £25m Brexit food control post in Portsmouth (Report, 31 May), perhaps it could be used to store all the red tape created for UK businesses as a result of Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal. A museum dedicated to Brexit.
Paresh Motla
Thame, Oxfordshire
Melanie van Niekirk’s letter (23 May) brought a smile to my face and reminded me of the time when discussing saucepans, my wife asked our friend how he finds his induction hob? “In the kitchen on the left as soon as you enter,” was his prompt repost.
Dr Guru Singh
Loughborough, Leicestershire
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