It is commendable of the Observer to highlight the crisis of child poverty, but the government – and prospective governments – should prioritise tackling the poverty crisis (“Britain 2024: The scandal of child poverty”, Focus and Editorial).
Unfortunately, Rishi Sunak did not address poverty at all when he mapped out his five “priorities” in January 2023, nor did our PM-in-waiting, Keir Starmer, feel that the issue of poverty was important enough for Labour’s six “first steps”. It appears that it requires a former prime minister – Gordon Brown – to become the driving force for ending child poverty, demanding a multibillion-pound package from the state.
Another political figure, who has been championing the cause of poverty prevention for decades, especially concerning the homeless, is John Bird, cofounder of the Big Issue magazine and now an independent, crossbench life peer. He believes that the causes of poverty can be dismantled if government creates a Ministry of Poverty Prevention that can unite government departments to solve the problem of poverty by realising that much of what is going wrong results from inequality, the unequal distribution of resources. As Bird recently said, we can examine all the data about poverty endlessly, but to end poverty “changing minds is the big issue”.
Mike Hobbins
Woking, Surrey
Torsten Bell advocates five points on the route to a more equal country, which recognises the need for regulatory and redistributive market reforms to help lower-income families. There is a sixth necessary reform, to change for whose benefit the distributive economy functions in the first place.
A societally purposeful sector will deliver a lower cost of living and generate ethical activity and profit for our collective benefit. The private sector connects shareholder interest to the market economy, in favour of those with pre-existing wealth. We can attach our values, and those we seek to represent to it, to benefit wider society and stakeholder interest. Our philosophy constrains our ambitions, we cannot nationalise the market economy but we can respond to today’s needs and societise it.
Peter Ellis
London NW7
A dearth of hi-tech talent
Will Hutton hits the nail on the head, but there is one more of his “multiple areas in which to act” (“We’ve got the talent and the tech. So why can’t Britain grow its own world-beaters?”, Comment). That is the people who will work in the much-needed hi-tech superpowers. We can do the high-level research in our excellent universities, but we lack the technically qualified workforce to scale up our innovations. Our Further Education colleges are starved of resources, and a combination of snobbery and insufficient public investment has left them bereft of prestige and capacity. It’s time for a public policy change.
Janet Whitaker
House of Lords, London SW1
Socialism’s roots in religion
The antagonism of some towards religion (“Faith groups want more say in secular Britain. Labour should tell them to go to hell”, Comment) depends on whether they consider their socialism is rooted in Christian socialism and chapel, or Marx. One tends towards a totalitarian collectivism inherently hostile to religion, the other towards a dignity of the individual bound together in society and working towards the kingdom of God here on Earth. I know which I prefer.
Christine Crossley, religious studies teacher
Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
Adults behaving badly
Martha Gill’s analysis of what is happening on the internet, and how it might change us is both timely and shrewd (“Grinding bums, flashing boobs: the internet is making juveniles of us all”, Comment).
I think that she may be being a little unfair to children and younger people when she uses them as metaphors for just how bad the internet may be. On the contrary, I have known many in this cohort who have thoughtful minds and more generous opinions than their elders. More importantly is her wise mention of this when she says that we evolved, after all, for in-person communication, with its body language, nuance, half-meanings and potential for physical consequences.
Dr Ian Flintoff
Oxford
Give clothes a second life
How refreshing to hear the forthright opinions of Richard Grant on the paucity of clothing peddled to the UK consumer by “high street” (mostly online) brands (“Sewing Bee host puts boot into ‘bloody horrible’ M&S socks”, News).
As a charity shop manager, I have hundreds of garments from different stores and eras pass through my hands every day. Grant is right that the good stuff often still feels great and has lots of wear to give to its next owner. We in the UK send millions of tonnes of our clothing waste to developing nations every year and decimate the local market for dressmakers and designers, seemingly without a second thought.
So next time you fancy something new to wear, head to your nearest charity store and multiply the good you are doing by spending your money wisely, ethically and with thought for the one world we all have to share.
Susan Watson
Woodbridge, Suffolk
Ukraine’s chances with Nato
I share Simon Tisdall’s disgust and fears (“Nato’s failure to save Ukraine raises an existential question: what on earth is it for?”, Comment), but Robert Fico (and in all likelihood Victor Orbán) would block a Ukrainian application for membership of Nato and would refuse to help Ukraine with troops.
If Kaja Kallas, the Estonian prime minister, is right to say that the United Kingdom should have 2 million people capable of bearing arms, we are far short of that and neither Rishi Sunak nor Keir Starmer appears to be minded to reach it. Europe should be able to defend itself regardless of what Trump or Nato do.
Erik Williams
Cardiff
Telling it like it is
Do we need more Americanisations? Why use poop to describe the inflatables in “Surfers, swimmers and nature lovers paddle out to demand clean waters” (News)? What’s wrong with the good old Anglo-Saxon turd?
Fred Pickering
Chapel-en-le-Frith, High Peak, Derbyshire
Snipping in silence
To some of us a silent haircut is an experience to be desired. (“Demanding a silent haircut is just rude”, Focus) I had a friend who wasn’t interested in football deciding to watch Big Brother so that he had something to talk to his barber about.
John Fyfe
Edinburgh
