There is a depressing reality related to the poverty figures that show that last year one in six British children lived in families suffering from food insecurity and one in 40 children lived in a family that accessed a food bank in the previous 30 days (“Poverty data is a mark of shame for Tory rule”). The punishing austerity package that George Osborne and David Cameron inflicted on those who are trapped in low-income families was the benchmark for the years of rising poverty levels that we see today.
You correctly highlight the need for Labour, if they win the next election, to prioritise lifting children and their families out of poverty. Alongside reversing tax cuts and borrowing to restore financial support to low-income families, they should also restore New Labour’s flagship Sure Start policy, invest in our crumbling schools infrastructure, incentivise teachers and ensure that NHS staff, rail workers and other people on low incomes are paid a decent wage in a secure job.
Stuart Finegan
Lewes, East Sussex
Despite the minimum wage, we have a very high percentage of poverty among families in which at least one person is in work (“A minimum wage alone can’t fix the UK poverty scandal”). So, what else needs to be done?
Surely we need a significant increase in social security spending which provides a universal basic income in kind, including rent controls, subsidised public transport, school meals for all, improved care services for people with severe disabilities and advanced old age. It will also entail the development of communities on the 15-minute neighbourhoods concept. Sadly, we have Labour’s Wes Streeting offering the false dichotomy of improved NHS or reducing child poverty, but not both. Why not?
Alasdair Macdonald
Glasgow
Probation service in ruins
The awful story of the murder of Michaela Hall by her partner follows similar accounts of untrained, inexperienced and/or poorly supervised staff not assessing effectively the risk posed by offenders (“‘They signed her death warrant’: how probation service failings left a violent man free to kill”). This highlights the terrible consequences of the privatisation of most of the probation service in 2014 when Chris Grayling was secretary of state for justice. This ideologically driven policy has devastated an important public service. Yet another example of the wreckage that the Conservatives will hopefully leave behind after 14 years of rule.
Roger McGarva
West Bridgford, Nottingham
How to beat the bullies
That playground bullies end up in better paid jobs is not a surprise (“Playground bullies do prosper – judging by their pay packets in middle age”). They are more likely to become workplace bullies and be promoted and protected, at the cost of their victims. What is surprising is that one of the authors of the study argues that non-bullying children should be encouraged to become more aggressive, so that they can later compete effectively for the higher-paid jobs. This is a perverse conclusion. There are a finite number of the better-paid jobs that the bullies wriggle into. If their victims were more aggressive, who would get those jobs? Naturally, the most aggressive within the all-aggressive cohort. What a joy to look forward to.
Instead, these playground bullies should be disciplined better. When all bullies are effectively handled at that age, and when their victims see this, there will be a more level playing field, where competence will trump bully behaviour.
Dr Ellen Kriesels
London EC1
Thanks, Sir Reg
To the list of “mayors who made a mark” (side panel to “The battle for London”), I would add Labour’s Sir Reg Goodwin. Though not strictly a mayor, he led the Greater London Council and certainly made his mark on London. In 1973, he introduced the Freedom Pass (contrary to Boris Johnson’s claim that he had done so), hugely enriching the lives of pensioners, like me and my wife, and disabled people.
David Murray
Wallington, Surrey
Cancer: I’d rather be a royal
Isn’t the uproar over Kate Windsor’s cancer diagnosis displacing the real issues “How Kate dropped her bombshell news”)? As a mother with three growing children, her diagnosis is tragic, but she won’t die from lack of treatment. Whereas the ordinary UK citizen with cancer is already dying from lack of treatment due to government policy. Her plight highlights the two-tier medical care system adopted by successive Conservative and Labour governments and I would much prefer to be a member of the British royal family if I ever became seriously ill.
Paulina Birchall
Hornchurch, Essex
So much hot air
David Simonds’s cartoon of Rishi Sunak “bouncing back” on a deflating space hopper brought a smile to my face. In the 1980s, I was director of the “Bradford’s bouncing back” campaign under the auspices of Bradford metropolitan district. There had been a spate of riots near the city centre and general unease across the city. The idea was to both change the national image of Bradford and improve the city’s race relations. Switch to the prime minister as seen by Simonds – I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Tom Clinton
Cononley, North Yorkshire
Cry cod for England
The French may be unimpressed with our cooking, but on a recent trip to Dieppe we were surprised to find every other restaurant in the busy harbour offering le fish & chips – photos and explanations in French provided for the uninitiated (“‘Beer louts with unhealthy diets’: why British cooking still hasn’t won over the French”). As Dieppe is easily accessible from the south coast of England, it might be thought that enterprising restaurateurs were trying to cater for the tastes of British visitors, but it seems that tourists from this side of the Channel tend to pass through on the way to somewhere else; the diners that evening were mainly French.
Hoping to try the local speciality sole Dieppoise, I had to make do with cod in sauce Dieppoise, which seemed to be on every menu. Perhaps French fishermen are catching a lot of cod? Something we are now being asked to avoid for the sake of sustainability.
Pamela Bridge
Great Wakering, Essex
