Your article (Milk, wine, salad: how your food will be affected by the summer of heat, 14 August) downplays the effect on sheep of not being sheared. Imagine being out in the open all day in your heavy winter coat. But the UK government has refused temporary visas for New Zealand shearers to augment our undermanned teams of UK shearers. It is not just a case of the sheep being “uncomfortable”, but a serious matter of animal welfare, including diseases such as flystrike.
Catherine Mowat
London
• As of April 2026, Clacton had 10,442 Pip claimants. Runcorn (MP Sarah Pochin) and Boston and Skegness (MP Richard Tice) both have similar numbers. I hope that voters in those seats know about Reform UK’s proposals on benefits (Reform accused of targeting the most vulnerable with £50bn benefit cut, 16 August).
Adam Moliver
Cheltenham
• I appreciate the humour in Helen Ryan’s suggestion that Nigel Farage would qualify for consideration as “invertebrate of the year” (Letters, 16 August), but I must point out that this comparison is a gross insult to slugs, worms, cockroaches etc.
Phil Coughlin
Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear
• As Richard Tice encourages us to enjoy English sparkling wine instead of trying to mitigate the climate crisis (Report, 17 August), could this be Reform UK’s Marie Antoinette moment, considering the deaths, droughts, fires and water shortages affecting so many?
Deirdre Burrell
Mortimer, Berkshire
• I can’t see “apranxiety” catching on – too ugly and too many syllables (Letters, 17 August). I’d suggest “climate fear” – blunter and shorter.
Alec Murdoch
Edinburgh
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