SIR – Isn’t it wonderful that a tiny country like ours can do almost as well as the biggest countries in the world at the Olympics?

I’m hoping that our success will evoke a new feeling of patriotism and pride. The nation has been united over the last couple of weeks. Let’s see if we can keep the good feeling going.

Mrs Catherine R Thomas, Grovelands, Bradford Sending cash abroad SIR – There can never have been a group of politicians of any persuasion so out of touch with the feelings and wishes of the vast majority of the British people.

They are not only content to send out vast quantities of aid, which we can ill afford, to countries, many of which hate us with a passion. They are now about to donate £5 million to the Syrian opposition group allegedly for communication and medical supplies.

We now hear that we are paying to spruce-up foreign jails to encourage criminals from these countries to serve their sentences on home soil. What is wrong with deporting every foreign criminal back to their country of origin, thus saving us the cost of keeping them in our jails and the inevitable benefit payments their families will receive.

If we bring back our fantastic troops from the other lost causes in the Middle East we could even strengthen our non-existent borders!

Bryan Hanson , Busy Lane, Windhill , Shipley