Heathrow's night flight limits should be retained for the sake of residents

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Heathrow has some of the strictest night flight restrictions of any hub airport in Europe (Getty)

I think it’s for the best that the night flight restrictions at Heathrow airport are kept in place (‘Heathrow should lift its night flight restrictions’, 7 May). For the sake of the local residents, no matter how much noise reduction has been put in place, an aircraft flying overhead is going to interrupt a good night’s sleep.

In the end, though, it’s no surprise to see companies concerned about money they’re losing out on rather than the health and wellbeing of locals.

David Murphy

Look again at junior doctor job offers

I do not know the exact legalities, but once these 1,500 doctors had been offered jobs (‘Junior doctors’ job offers revoked after admin error’, 7 May), didn’t this constitute a contract of employment that should be honoured?

Dr Anthony Ingleton
Sheffield

We have so many crises to deal with that we’re forgetting about the economy

Here in the UK we are bogged down with several crises: from the Brexit negotiations and the Windrush generation scandal, to spikes in knife and gun crime and housing shortages; and there are others besides.

All this means our attention has been diverted from the major economic decline we are facing. California, with a population of 40 million, has become the world’s fifth-biggest economy, overtaking the United Kingdom, according to US federal data. The state’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew $127bn between 2016 and 2017 to more than $2.7 trillion; two million jobs were created too. In the same period the UK’s GDP shrunk when measured in US dollars because of currency fluctuations.

All in all, it looks like Brexit has become more important than the economy of the country, with more attention given by the political parties to ideology than the economic health of the nation. This should be a wake-up call to the UK to put its house in order and not to sacrifice the economy and jobs at the altar of Brexit.

Baldev Sharma
Harrow

The Scottish independence movement is nearing peak decadence

On Saturday, pro-independence supporters marched through Glasgow stating that they will do so at “regular intervals until Scotland is free”. I can’t help but feel that the cause of Scottish nationalism is starting to reach its decadent, terminal phase now.

Rather than debating, formulating original ideas or treating unionists as opponents rather than enemies, the stunts seem to be getting larger, angrier and more ludicrously exuberant.

We’ve had ‘Bridges for Indy’, a plan to form a human chain to the top of Ben Nevis (hint: you’ll need a lot more than 9,000 people); the now evicted IndyCamp group outside the Scottish Parliament; the boycotting of food products with the ‘butcher’s apron’; and the constant presence of ‘All Under One Banner’ who romp through Glasgow a few times a year.

Being able to mobilise tens of thousands of already engaged people (some zealously so) might look good for a modicum of publicity, but it doesn’t necessarily conflate with political clout or persuasion.

David Bone
South Ayrshire

The chances of Nicola Sturgeon joining calls for any kind of second vote on the UK leaving the EU are somewhere between slim and none.

The nationalist leader’s interest in the EU extends as far as attempting to use it as a lever for another Scottish independence referendum – and no further. Let’s not forget in 2014 the SNP establishment would have taken us out of the EU, with negligible chance of joining for many years – and, with Scotland’s excessive debt levels, those prospects are no different now.

Indeed, the course Downing Street appears to be following – exiting the Customs Union – is precisely what the divisive Ms Sturgeon seeks, so why support another democratic canvassing of opinion? If Brexit can be the trigger for an Indyref2, the harder the better from Ms Sturgeon’s point of view.

Martin Redfern
Edinburgh