Aditya Chakrabortty’s article (One Welsh town offers a window on to the catastrophe facing Britain. But where are the politicians?, 19 August) reminded me of Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel North and South. Written in the mid-19th century, it looks at the living conditions in a mill town during the Industrial Revolution. A mill owner rejects a union’s request for a pay increase and hires agency workers. This does not end well for him or his workers. Towards the end of the book, the mill owner, in allegiance with a union representative, opens a dining room to provide free dinners for his workers. Now, more than 150 years on from the novel’s publication, we have a CEO having to do the same. How have we returned to the need for free food and talk of hiring agency workers in a rich country in the 21st century?
Karen Wynyard
Whitstable, Kent
• As a volunteer at my local food bank, I read Aditya Chakrabortty’s article on food poverty with great interest. This was a sympathetic piece and highlighted the appalling fact that in 21st-century Britain, many of our citizens live in poverty. However, I take exception to the view of the food bank model expressed in the article by Robbie Davison, who says: “It’s not food that people would choose for themselves. It’s a model that says, ‘We know you’re poor, and this’ll do.’ That’s right wing.”
