Readers' letters - July 7

The British summer is notoriously unpredictable but I wanted to reassure your readers that the one thing we can be certain of is the dedication of the 6,000 people who work behind the scenes every day of the year, ensuring the 14,000 racehorses in training in Britain at any one time receive first class care whatever the weather (WP Letters, June 15).

We have a duty of care to our horses and the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) demands the highest standards of horse welfare from all our licensed jockeys, trainers and racecourses. We are very proud of the welfare standards in British Racing.

We work alongside charities such as The RSPCA and World Horse Welfare and with the operators of British racecourses to make them as safe as possible. In recent years, racecourses have taken huge steps to further improve welfare standards.

As with all domesticated animals, there are times when horses injure themselves and, when that happens, British racehorses consistently receive the very best veterinary care available. Sometimes, very sadly, the kindest and most humane thing to do is for horses to be put down when their injuries cannot be successfully treated.

The sport is open and transparent about the risks involved and we work hard to minimise the risks. Over the last 20 years, the overall equine fatality rate in races taking place in Great Britain has fallen by one-third to just 0.2 per cent of runners.

All of the history, popularity and prestige of British Racing would mean nothing if we did not care for our horses. Racing provides a feast of sporting entertainment, a rich seam of wonderful tales of equine bravery and magnificence. That is only possible because all of us who work in British Racing are committed to ensuring that, above all else, the horse comes first.

Nick Rust

Chief Executive, British Horseracing Authority 
On behalf of The Horse Comes First

Consumers like real sugar best

At the beginning of April, Lucozade Ribena Suntory reduced the sugar in their Lucozade Orange drink by more than 50 per cent, and replaced it with artificial sweeteners.

Lucozade customers have been outraged, and have described the new taste as “vile” and “disgusting” on social media.

We’ve been tracking the complaints on social media during this time, and there have been more than 3,500 complaints about the new recipe.

Many type 1 diabetics are also unhappy because it means they have to drink more of it to treat their medical condition.

There was also no need for the change.

There are already a number of Lucozade

zero sugar products available.

All this does is take away the right to choose from their customers, effectively treating them like children.

The recipe change has been a disaster for Lucozade Ribena Suntory, and they will undoubtedly lose a large number of customers because of this change.

This should serve as a warning to other food and soft drink manufacturers.

The lesson to be learnt is that consumers prefer the taste of natural sugar over artificial sweeteners.

Brook Whelan

Chief Executive

People against

Sugar Tax

Compassion’s not just for the left

Regarding Tim Hunter’s letter in the Wigan Post (July 6). I can only imagine that, in his world, the words “compassion” and “fairness” are just “hard-left” ideologies that should be shunned.

Can he not accept that we live in a world where the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer?

Jeremy Corbyn is trying to shake up the status quo that has resulted in tragedies like Grenfell Tower – not caused just by the Conservatives but by New Labour too.

The Labour Party has now returned back to its roots and is simply asking for corporations to pay a little more tax, and for the richest one per cent to take on a bit more of the burden on their broad shoulders so we can properly fund our struggling services.

Seems a fair and logical way forward to me anyway, Mr Hunter.

Julie Moss

Via email