Keir Starmer wants to sweep away “unnecessary” regulation to promote growth, but fails to say how the government will decide what regulation is necessary (There are those on the left and right who offer only grievance: Labour is getting on with the job of economic renewal, 30 November). He is adopting the market viewpoint rather than that of the public. The cognitive linguist George Lakoff argues that regulations should be reframed as protections rather than burdens. The key question then becomes: “Who is being protected and from what?”
Sally Bean
Weybridge, Surrey
• More than 62% of the members voted against calling the new party Your Party, and yet that is its name (Your Party members vote to make name permanent at charged first conference, 30 November). It reminds me of the general election, where more than 60% of voters voted for a party other than the one that won a massive majority. Funny old democracy.
Deirdre Burrell
Mortimer, Berkshire
• “Pork is the ‘new beef’” you report (Chop and change: pork is ‘new beef’ for money-saving Britons, report finds, 3 December), without mentioning the real reason why pork trumps beef – crackling. A rack of slow-roasted pork loin is difficult to beat.
Robert Howard
Beeston, Nottinghamshire
• Inaptly named places (Letters, 2 December)? Here in Norfolk there is a Nowhere Lane, which is a bit of a contradiction as it obviously is somewhere.
Tony Meacock
Norwich
• On the outskirts of a nearby village was an abattoir whose address began “Kilum Hall”. Now there’s just the butcher’s shop.
Patricia Whittaker
Hedon, East Yorkshire
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