Michael Rosen is right that social conditions under Liz Truss seem Dickensian (Liz Truss, we see the Dickensian world you dream of – and we refuse to go there, 7 October). It’s beyond irony that the new shopping centre in Northallerton, the largest town in Rishi Sunak’s prosperous constituency of Richmond, is named the Treadmills.
Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel North and South, named and edited by Charles Dickens, also seems remarkably relevant. Much has changed from the 1850s when it was written; it is now the south that is successful and manufacturing is no longer the engine of economic growth. But the themes of desperate poverty and industrial conflict are increasingly pertinent. If only we could believe that Truss’s government would follow Gaskell in encouraging greater understanding and cooperation to create a more harmonious society.
Sheila Cross
Newby Wiske, North Yorkshire
• Michael Rosen astutely links the language used in Liz Truss’s conference speech to that used by Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. He is also completely accurate when he states: “Worryingly for the government, we talk to each other.” We may not be as poor or oppressed as Bob Cratchit, but we the voters know that Truss’s rant against the “anti-growth coalition” is really aimed at us, our children, our friends and our neighbours.
Our shared experiences tell us that the past 12 years of Tory austerity and cuts have shifted the country much closer to the Victorian inequality and division that Dickens so vividly articulated, and we have had enough. Watch out, Liz Truss – we can show you what “turbulence” really looks like.
Peter Riddle
Wirksworth, Derbyshire
• Michael Rosen shows insight when he quotes Scrooge asking after prisons, workhouses and the Poor Law, all sticks with which to beat what Marina Hyde (Opinion, 7 October) refers to, in jest, as “the feckless, the useless and the undeserving”. Jonathan Freedland (Opinion, 7 October) accurately quotes Truss’s instincts – the carrots of reversed recent tax increases and freedom for bankers’ bonuses.
Of course, the unemployed need encouragement, as do business owners. But why do the wealthy always need carrots, while the poor are only ever offered a stick?
Dr Neil Denby
Denby Dale, West Yorkshire
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