‘Too many like the good things without accepting that they cost.’

Some people want this country to have it all, but they don’t want to pay to improve it, a reader says (Picture: HOLLIE ADAMS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments.

A lower tier associate subscription to the EU

Something like Switzerland has (Picture:Halil Sagirkaya/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Carlos (MetroTalk, Mon) can’t see how we rebuild EU relations without rejoining.

One model is the European Single Market and Customs Union access 
enjoyed by non-members, such as Norway and Switzerland.

To use Carlos’s social club analogy – think of it as a lower-tier associate subscription offering many benefits but without the opportunity to sit on the members’ decision-making committee.

Still, that’s safer than standing alone outside the club in the dark, freezing cold and with the threat of being mugged by a thug with an American accent.

Once back inside, warm and socialising again with friends, maybe we’ll decide it’s worth renewing our full member, all-the-benefits club subscription.

There’s a petition on parliament’s website asking MPs to debate whether we should rejoin the EU.

‘Countries would not tolerate us receiving member benefits from the EU for free,’ says Carlos. True. But only Leave campaigners ever told you we could get them without paying a penny. One of their many lies. Peter Brown, Bradford

Could £1B actually boost bus services?

Should more be done to stop motorists parking in bus stops and lanes? (Picture: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images)

I hope that the £1billion boost to bus services (Metro, Mon) is spent wisely. For example, on more bus lanes and traffic signals that give priority to buses.

Also, how about more fines for motorists who park at bus stops and in bus lanes? Roger Smith, Witham

Can the state be trusted with a life or death decision?

When it comes to legalising assisted dying, I doubt Gareth (MetroTalk, Mon) – who talked about his mother’s suffering at the end of her life – and I would have any real disagreement, but we still would vote differently on the bill.

How so? I also faced a harrowing experience with my mother who had advanced Parkinson’s – we simply could not get any Surrey care home to ensure she got something to drink every day.

We had to give up our lives to go in and do it ourselves, while forking out a grand a week in fees. Some time down the line, it dawned on me that someone had put her on ‘end-of-life care’ without notifying the family. We never found out who, nor could we make them accountable.

Technically, my mother did not have mental capacity but she knew who she was, who we were, where she was and enjoyed her food, good music and a nice day out. She wasn’t in any pain.

It seems the state has a bloody-minded streak – what the patient wants, they can’t have. As we’ve seen from other state-related scandals in the NHS, the police, social services, the Post Office, the Church et al, it simply can’t be trusted with life and death decisions. Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile. Clive Morris, Epsom

Rows of solar panels on a desolate mountain in Pingjing village in Anqing, China (Credits: NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Dan Hartley (MetroTalk, Mon) is way off the mark in saying Labour is going to bankrupt the economy chasing net zero.

Labour’s pandering to big business and the watering down of commitments has made a mockery of any net zero claims.

As for Dan’s criticism of China; China, per capita, is far from the most polluting country and is pursuing green policies – such as low-fuel, high-speed trains – that make Western efforts look puny. B Butterfield, Leeds

The science on climate change is unequivocal. The combined impact of smaller nations is bigger than China, so we must all act. The cost and impact of doing nothing is far, far higher. Neil Dance, Birmingham

Harry’s statue, soundalikes, cross at crossword and the best stunt ever

Some fans took issue with Kane getting a statue without winning a trophy (Picture: Zac Goodwin/PA Wire)

The statue of Harry Kane funded by Waltham Forest council has now found a permanent home in Walthamstow (Metro, Tue). Was that really a sensible use of public funds?

He was a failure at Tottenham, a failure with England and when he moved to Bayern Munich he took the team backwards, losing the German title for the first time in 13 years. Records can and will be broken, medals are forever.

I’m no fan of importing US culture but we should follow them in declining to celebrate failure. So, a statue for Kane? Nah. (Go on, Metro, stir the pot. You might have guessed, I’m a Gooner). George, via email

I was listening to an Olivia Newton-John song and it sprang to mind that Emma Bunton reminds me of her… you know, when you hear an artist and think of another. Any others? Simon, Essex

Why have you made the quick crossword so hard? We could often finish it but not now. ‘Shade of yellow – ochre’! Whatever happened to ‘lower limb, three letters’? Graham, Uxbridge

The Matrix bullet-dodging scene has been voted the best stunt in a movie of all time (Metro, Tue). Surely Harrison Ford’s train jump in The Fugitive should be in the Top Ten! Film Fan, via text

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