HOW I wish I could share Bill Fisher’s optimistic view of post-Brexit Britain (HAS, May 19). Perhaps you could loan me your rose-tinted spectacles Bill which might help to cure my negativity and help me sleep better at night.

Unfortunately my pessimism is not based on an inability to see beyond the present or an unwillingness to take risks as you suggest. Just the opposite in fact. After many years at board and executive level in one of the north’s biggest businesses and many years of working in and with the media, I like to think I can recognise real opportunity and also recognise political spin.

It is all about calculated risk, not about pie-in-the-sky promises from would-be premiers like Boris Johnson.

History is littered with too many examples of bad political decisions, indeed the EU itself was conceived after the Second World War as a way to avoid future conflict.

I have many good friends who share your own views Bill, and time alone will show who made the right call.

Stephen Warren, Durham