I support the little guy, but the GameStop financial fiddling has me worried – should I sell my shares?

letters@independent.co.uk

Markets are volatile due to platforms blocking trades of certain stocks (Getty Images)

The GameStop financial fiddling has me worried. Although I support the little guy against the big business world, in this case, I am worried because David seems to have hurt Goliath and quite badly. 

The shutdown of some trading options seemed a good idea given the circumstances but why wasn't it complete and what steps are taken to protect the small investors like me? I don't really have that much money in shares, but I want to keep what I do have and for that to happen I want to be confident that my shares, in safe stocks, won't face an attack.

I understand the basics of what happened and can see a simple solution: ban short selling as it seems designed to prey on weak companies and make profits from the suffering of others. Perhaps I should liquidise all my shares and put the money under my bed; I haven't, as the interest rate will be about the same as putting it into a bank.

Newton was right, what goes up will come down and if it lands hard enough it will smash into small pieces.

Dennis Fitzgerald

Australia

Help the high street

The decline of the high street has shadowed the decline in living standards and increased poverty in our society. The less wealthy spend locally on necessities, if they have nothing they cannot spend it. Reversing austerity and increasing unemployment benefits would give a shot in the arm to the high street, a benefit even the most hardline Tory should applaud.

Joanna Pallister

Durham City

Absurdly hypocritical

Patrick Cockburn's article on Friday about a disunited kingdom was an excellent read. He was bang on when he summarised the PM as "absurdly hypocritical" on his statements while recently visiting Scotland.  

Boris has his Brexit face, we must have our sovereignty at all costs and the departure from the EU remained his top priority throughout the pandemic. 

The economic destruction it has brought has been laid bare for all to see. He very much remains of the opinion we will prosper mightily post-Brexit. Boris also has his unionist face where he proclaims to the Scottish people that we don't want to be thinking about independence in the midst of a pandemic. At the same time telling us economically we would be nothing without the UK. This hypocrisy merely strengthens the Scottish nationalist cause. By delivering Brexit, the path for Scotland is set and the Conservative and Unionist Party will soon have to consider a change of name. 

Paul Morrison 

Glasgow 

Vaccine politics

How better to respond to Brussels’ lack of understanding of the Belfast Agreement than to celebrate its true spirit by immediately instructing the Vaccines Task Force to increase the amount of vaccine being sent to Northern Ireland, from sufficient to inoculate its population of 2 million, to sufficient to protect the 7 million people on the whole of the island of Ireland.  

It just makes so much sense to help each other and gives us a welcome opportunity to demonstrate how important our neighbours are to us and to celebrate the Good Friday Agreement that everyone worked so hard to achieve and that's central to all of our futures.

I’m sure the governments of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will be more than willing and able, using the open border guaranteed by the Brexit agreement, to work together to protect everyone and emulate Irish Rugby, which has always played as one team, while remaining two countries sharing a single island. 

John Simpson 

Ross on Wye

Ban hedge funds

I have just read Ben Chu's piece on hedge funds and can't decide if he is for or against them. 

While I confess a degree of ignorance in the workings of the financial system and the buying and selling of shares, which has little to do with financing business and seems to be merely a form of high stakes gambling with other people's money, I find it incomprehensible that it is moral or legal to sell something that is borrowed even if on a promise to pay back the value at a later date.

I would argue that far from being altruistic by acting as some sort of guardian of the markets, the majority of hedge funds are only in it for one reason. Time for some serious regulation if not an outright ban. For too long the brains of this country have been utilised in moving money around and not in creating sustainable industries. 

G Forward

Stirling 

Sympathy for Johnson

I never thought I would find myself feeling sorry for Boris Johnson. Your articles and letters are awash with criticism of him, but can I invite deeper reflection.

The far greater problem is a collection of MPs who lurk in the shadows. Not one has ever held high office; nor does one take personal responsibility for the consequences of their opinions. I am of course talking of the so-called Covid Research Group. I prefer the moniker the Corvids. They crow in the dark pecking at the PM’s back until it bleeds. The make unbridled demands, intimidating with threats of his removal as leader. 

I know we do not have a presidential system, but the PM nevertheless has immense power and influence. The electorate is entitled to know who is to lead the country. If the party in office changes its leader mid-term, this should prompt an election. Now is certainly not the time for that of course, nor should the PM be distracted by such behaviour. He must be reassured by the knowledge that,  when making immensely difficult decisions, he is not going to be undermined by menaces from a very small cohort of people who do not agree with him.  

Quite why the electorate votes for these Corvids dumbfounds me. Do those people recognise their responsibilities to the wider country? Perhaps they can enlighten us through your pages. Churchill was reputedly to have said that the opposition sits in front of him. The enemy sits behind. Quite so. 

Christopher Yaxley 

Shrewsbury