Good on Annie-Marie Trevelyan for shopping plastic-free. We should all be doing it

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I sympathise with Anne-Marie Trevelyan in her attempts to go plastic free. My formative years were spent during the war when absolutely nothing went to waste, and I am the only person I know who recycles plastic freezer bags by putting them in the washing machine.

Taking my own bags for shopping has always been a natural thing to do. Obviously there was no plastic during the war and paper was in extremely short supply so you had to find what you could to wrap the shopping in. The vision of long-queued-for herrings slithering through very thin newspaper and under the bus we were about to board will be with me for ever, as were the fur gloves my sister and I were wearing when we rescued them!

Gillian Cook
Market Harborough

Some advice for Anne-Marie Trevelyan: if you don’t want your food wrapped in plastic, don’t shop at supermarkets. Here in Ledbury, there are two fruit and veg shops which use paper bags, I buy meat from a butcher, which uses greaseproof paper and a reusable bag if you want one or haven’t brought your own. Cheese from the deli is wrapped in waxed paper, slices of quiche are put in cardboard cake boxes and delicious sourdough bread is popped into a paper bag. Admittedly the salads, olives and so on come in plastic tubs, but they are a handy size for the freezer, so they are washed and reused.

It takes a little more effort, but the majority of my shopping is not covered in plastic. Not perfect, but it is a start. And supermarkets would soon catch on if more people stopped using them.

Melissa Hawker
Address supplied

Royal wedding doesn't cure all my blues, thank you

Yes, Rev Andrew McCluskey (letters 28 March). Let’s all concentrate on the upcoming royal wedding and forget Brexit and nerve agents. Windsor will look lovely in the spring sunshine after the culling of homeless people who would otherwise lie around cluttering up the shop doorways.

At least Harry and Meghan will have a beautiful house. Perhaps we will get a glimpse in those magazines during our long sojourn in the NHS waiting rooms.

We can all take comfort from that.

Susie Cottrell
Sutton in Craven

Don’t bring animals to your wedding ceremony

There are many ways to make a wedding day memorable, but having live animals perform tacky tricks shouldn't be one of them (“Ring-bearing owl 'attacks' best man during wedding ceremony”). Numerous veterinarians and avian experts have agreed that birds suffer when used in displays. Owls – even those reared in captivity – are nocturnal and solitary wild animals. It is against their nature to be carted around during daylight hours and exposed to loud noises, flash photography, and strangers – and doing so has the potential to cause them tremendous stress. What's more, merely touching them can disturb them and interfere with the natural oils in their feathers, which keep them warm and dry. Couples who care about animals can make a lasting difference by asking wedding guests to make a donation, in lieu of a gift, to a wildlife sanctuary or their local animal-rescue centre in their honour.

Jennifer White
Media and Partnerships Coordinator, Peta UK

Let’s stop looking at screens and look at each other

I’m glad I have stayed away from Facebook. It is sad how we have relied heavily on the machine, to the point where the entire family in one house doesn’t interact with each other. The husband is busy with his laptop, the child with his iPad and even the grandparents are getting familiar with this magic tool. Amazingly, infants are already experts in pressing buttons and making phone calls. Yet technology can never give us the same happiness and joy as interacting with fellow human beings.

Facebook is run by people whose aim is to make money at the expense of selling your privacy. The current incredible number of alleged privacy violations is probably a wakeup call us for us to start talking to each other again.

Abubakar Kasim
Toronto

John Bolton could end our planet as we know it

General HR McMaster’s resignation as national security adviser and his replacement, the ultra-hawkish bomb throwing John Bolton, spells doom for US foreign policy. Bolton has openly backed war against Iran and North Korea, and was a prominent supporter of the “shock and awe” US invasion of Iraq, which was the worst foreign policy decision in decades, squandering trillions of dollars and sending thousands of Americans and Iraqis to their early graves. He has openly backed bombing Iran and North Korea which might spell the early demise of the planet.

For decades, Bolton has been a vehement critic of the United Nations and the International Criminal Court. This war hawk, like his boss, escaped the Vietnam draft claiming he was a conscientious objector. What incredible hypocrites!

Tejinder Uberoi
Los Altos, California

Jeremy Corbyn is not antisemitic – can we please get over it

The timing of the recent attack on Jeremy Corbyn relating to antisemitism in the Labour Party is curious. It comes hot on the heels of Czech spy allegations. He acted like an adult by asking for evidence in relation to the alleged Russian attacks in Salisbury. All these events come in the runup to local elections on 3 May when Labour is expected to do well. Could this sequence of events be connected?

Now as for antisemitism in general, there is a problem in the Labour Party. Corbyn acknowledges this. The matter needs to be dealt with better than has been the case thus far. But any objective observer has to wonder why this important issue is being misused as another excuse for a character assassination attempt on Corbyn.

Paul Donovan
Lindon

I recall the scandal of the former Conservative MP Aidan Burley who helped organise a Nazi-themed stag party in 2011. An internal inquiry in 2014 confirmed that Burley bought an SS uniform which was worn by the groom, and attended the party, at which the Third Reich and its ideology was toasted, and the names of Nazi leaders were chanted, all in front of the MP. The Tory party inquiry found that Burley had caused “deep offence” rather than being labelled as antisemitic. He wasn’t sacked, but he stepped down at the next election. I do not remember any march taking place over this appalling affair. Nor do I remember David Cameron being accused of anything at this time.

Jeremy Corbyn is a lifelong campaigner against all forms of racism. It is not plausible that he would tolerate any antisemitic behaviour. If his enemies are trying to smear him, that is wholly deplorable in every respect.

Penny Little
Great Haseley

I’m sorry to say antisemitism is alive and well

The recent outcry by the Jewish community of the British Isles about the level of antisemitism being fostered by the likes of Jeremy Corbyn and previously by former mayor of London Ken Livingstone and the like shows that anti-Semitism, or the irrational hatred or dislike of Jews, is truly alive and well on a global scale. I worked as a chef in Tel Aviv for 10 years as a non-Jew but after my return to the UK I was alarmed by the antisemitic, anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli sentiments that I encountered on a regular basis.

This primitive and irrational hatred and hostility towards the Jews is something that should belong to the distant past. How must it feel to be a Jewish person in such an antisemitic climate in the British Isles today? We need to speak out when we come across antisemitic diatribe in the media and reassure our Jewish friends that we wish them “Shalom” – the Hebrew word for peace and wholeness. It's the least we can do. Also a happy and healthy Passover.

Colin Nevin
Bangor