A fine of £9.4m for betting firms is peanuts (Report, 1 March). A more appropriate fine would be something like twice the total emoluments (salary, pension and bonuses) paid to the senior executives and boards of the firms for the previous two years. Fines that bite might produce better behaviour – and not just in the betting industry.
Ted Pawley
Milton Keynes
• While I can support a Hippocratic oath for engineers and scientists (Letters, 1 March), I feel MPs should make public declarations that they will act with probity and the highest standards of integrity in the representation of their constituency and the exercise of office in government. A simple extension to the oath of allegiance to the crown should suffice.
Charlie Leventon
Shrewsbury, Shropshire
• I can’t think of anyone who deserves a radio programme less than Mary Whitehouse. To suggest that she was ahead of her time is laughable (Ahead of her time? Programme re-evaluates Mary Whitehouse’s legacy, 1 March). She was a Victorian values conservative who never questioned the morality of the upper classes. The programme will please those nostalgic for Margaret Thatcher, who admired Whitehouse. Both were phoney moralists.
Ronald Byrne
Glasgow
• I first visited Ceredigion as a child in the 1950s. I remember that when my family went into a shop, people chatting in Welsh would often switch to English out of politeness (Letters, 1 March).
Tim Scott
London
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