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
