Only toffs can afford nannies (The right calls it the ‘nanny state’…, 23 September). So for the rest of us the jibe “nanny state” is irrelevant and should be barred. What we need are supportive parents, and many are insufficiently resourced to provide fully for their children. So we need the “maternal” – alias welfare – state rather than the current Thatcherite austerity ill-fare one.
Robert Gibbs
Glasgow
• Thank you, Aditya Chakrabortty (Britain wants spending and a better NHS, not this obsession with growth. That’s why there’s big trouble ahead, 26 September). I’m reminded of a brief letter to the Guardian early in the Thatcher era: “Just what is this Economy with a capital E whose wellbeing seems so divorced from that of the actual population?”
David Mayle
Newport, Essex
