Letter: Beef crisis: a despicable political ploy

Sir: Why cannot the Government admit that Britain is a minor power in Europe and the world, fast becoming disgraced and the laughing stock of other countries?

While it may well be ludicrous and impossible to hope to return to medieval farming methods, we should realise that meat is not an essential food product, and encourage farmers to grow foods that are healthy without the dangerous use of chemicals. We might then find, if we respect life instead of abusing it and thinking of it purely as an industry, that our own lives improve in quality and moral substance.

ANNE BORN

Salcombe, South Devon