SIR – It is disappointing to see our political leaders, re: the President Putin/ Hitler comparison, so frightened to offer an honest opinion, because they feel they must always defer to members of the Royal family.

This remains an unfortunate relic of days gone by when deference to ‘one’s betters’ was considered a necessity.

But, should the unaccountable and unelected hold those who have been democratically mandated in such thrall? And, shouldn’t we have moved on and away from this kind of obsequious behaviour?

In such circumstances, most politicians tiptoe around a subject, desperate not to say the wrong thing, which is basically anything they feel the royal personage wouldn’t like!

It would indeed be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic. But, crucially, it also says something very important about our country even in the 21st Century, which sadly doesn’t seem to have progressed much in this respect, remaining firmly stuck in the past.

David Hornsby, West View Avenue, Wrose