Readers' letters - May 21

I recently attended a speed awareness course. One thing the course taught me – after several hours of it being implied that we were all a threat to other road users for doing five to 10 miles over the speed limit on an open road, and shown a film of two tearful young girls whose mother was killed by a car driven at many times the speed limit in a 30mph zone – was the confidence not to allow myself to be tailgated and harassed by those who want me to drive at their speed. Harassment by drivers who use their HGVs or big 4x4s to intimidate is becoming more and more the norm and I’ve pulled into a layby many times to remove myself from danger and allow traffic to pass.This practice – and not using lights, especially indicators – is a far greater hazard to other road users than speed alone. P Marshvia email

US stood with us in darkest hoursI was surprised by Dr David Hill’s letter where he implies we blindly follow the US into what he calls their perpetual wars (WP Letters, May 14). I would think the opposite is more the case and probably millions of Americans are asking why they ever became involved in British or European wars.We had two world wars when we had to plead with the Americans to join us for our own survival. Then came the Cold War where the US bore the brunt of the defence of Europe and the rest of the world against the spread of communism. Should we all have just stood back and let it happen? The consequence of that might have been a lifestyle for us today comparable to Cuba or North Korea.Dr Hill can’t imagine how the Americans could bomb a peaceful people like the Vietnamese, but that suggests his visits to Vietnam were comparatively recent. The fact is they didn’t and, to put it simply, they bombed an aggressive Soviet and Chinese-backed Viet Cong attack from the North.It is not entirely clear what point he is making when referring to the anti-guerrilla experience of the British in Malaya being passed to the South Vietnamese president, but that is something I do know a bit about because I was doing my National Service in Malaya at the time. On balance, and weighing up what might have been otherwise during all my 83 years, I still say God Bless America!Mike SmithAddress suppliedAnother cause to whine aboutThe PC brigade have found another cause to whine on about now. The winner of the Eurovison Song Contest wore a kimono and had waving cats on stage.I didn’t see the show but saw her pictures on the web.Is it really so offensive to dress in one of these garments?She says she wore it because she simply liked it.I once went to a fancy dress party as a member of Abba (the brown haired lady). I found the whole thing a big laugh. Was I offending Abba fans all over the world dressing up like that?Or people from Sweden?There’s some horrible things happening in the world.Look at Israel or Syria, let’s worry about that first.Jayne Graysonvia emailMay took the wrong approach

When Theresa May became Prime Minister, she could have sought a pragmatic cross-party approach to Brexit, which reflected the 52:48 voting pattern in the referendum, especially as both the major political parties (supposedly) supported Brexit. Instead, possibly fearful of being challenged for her job, she chose to pander to the hard Brexiteers in her party, despite the fact that they were in the minority.John TurleyAddress supplied