Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments.
Retention before Expansion?Reader says parties must focus on their supporters first
Robert Hughes (MetroTalk, Mon) says that ‘Labour has little to fear by losing the niche hard left and should let Corbyn and his disciples get on with it’.
It is worth remembering that in 2017, the Labour Party under Corbyn received 3 million more votes than it did in 2024 under Starmer.
Even in 2019, a catastrophic election insofar as the number of parliamentary seats was concerned, it received half a million more actual votes than in 2024. This represents quite a large niche.
Political parties striving to attract more supporters should understand that it is even more important to keep those they already have. I am not sure that Starmer and his colleagues have really grasped this point. Rory O’Kelly, Beckenham
Reader’s debate Labour government’s track record
So Robert Johnson takes issue with Chris Sheperd (MetroTalk, Tue) over the government’s record.
Under Labour: Unemployment is up; small businesses are closing at their biggest rate in more than ten years; government borrowing is going through the roof; crime in general is up; inflation is up.
Also, waiting lists are not down –appointments have been met due to lack of strikes, so that’s a sleight of hand with the figures.
Labour gave in to the doctors once on pay and look what has happened – more strikes. As for Labour councils going bankrupt all over the country, is that the Conservatives’ fault?
I would argue there’s more illegal immigration than ever before, too.
So yes, let’s judge the country in five years. I can wait. Gary, Essex
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Let’s all remember some public transport etiquette
I know this has been mentioned by other readers before but why are people so self-centred and lacking in simple manners or consideration for others? Behaviour that we thought was just kids being obnoxious is now being exhibited by grown men and women, adults who should know better.
My rant is about the very disgusting trend of listening or playing videos etc without a headset on public transport. It’s annoying that one is constantly put in a position of having to say something, and risk abuse or worse. With the demise of any kind of onboard supervision empowered to tackle this anti-social behaviour, ordinary citizens are taking the risk of challenging it themselves.
It angers me that I am forced to say something and it’s just awful by those who do it, daring anyone to comment or say anything.
Shame on you all. I know your mothers taught you better than that! Agatha, Surrey
Return of the bus stop queue?
One thing I would like to bring back from yonder years is queuing at bus stops. However, this would only work if the buses stopped right at the bus stop. If it stops 20 yards after or 20 yards before, as seems the case often nowadays, it wouldn’t work. Richard Farrar, London
Drawers or drawers?
Whilst I don’t wish to make light of this lady’s horrible experience of having ‘rodent droppings found in her drawers’ (Metro, Mon),
I do think you would have been wise to substitute ‘drawers’ for ‘bedside cabinet’ to avoid any ambiguity. William Buckley, Reading
‘Rats, mice and cockroaches’…in operating theatres!
The front page headline of Monday’s Metro (‘Rat horror for hospital gran’) will come as little surprise to people who’ve worked in our hospitals for any length of time. A theatre nurse friend of mine told me stories of a large hospital in London which had all manner of pests – rats, mice, cockroaches – cropping up throughout the building, including in operating theatres and kitchens. This was 20 years ago, mind, but I’m sure there are still many hospitals around the country with similar infestations.
Nowadays, my friend works in a smaller hospital, which was built from RAAC concrete, so they have to watch out for bits of the roof falling on them during surgery. I’m not even joking.
I’m afraid this is what happens when we don’t fund our health service properly. These are the things I think of whenever anyone claims that taxes are too high.
And you can’t pin this on immigration either, because our hospitals rely on immigrants – they are a large and established part of the workforce. Sharon, Manchester
Reader says bringing children from Gaza to the UK for treatment will only make ‘NHS waiting lists longer’
Why are hundreds of Gaza children being brought into destitute Britain for treatment – this will only lead to the underfunded NHS’s waiting lists becoming even longer.
The children should be sent to oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia.Adrian Appley, Kent
Are charity shops still a bargain?
The cost of items in my local charity shops has rocketed. I was shocked to see a T-shirt priced at £5.99, while it is currently on sale in Primark for £6. Mrs AH East, Leeds
‘Net zero is the most patriotic action we can take’
Mark Hardinge (MetroTalk, Mon) is mistaken when talking about the ‘futile net zero programme’.
Net zero is the only way we will have good quality jobs and sustainable industries for future generations. It is the most patriotic action we can take.
Nigel Farage is backed by oil and gas companies – surely the only reason he champions backward-looking and catastrophic policies. Christina, Sheffield
A forgotten, long-lost British band?
Thank you Michael D Baker (MetroTalk, July 29) for your anecdote about Ozzy Osbourne meeting Leicester band Spring at Rockfield studios in Monmouth.
Spring were a little-known band, who made an almost forgotten, long-lost great British album in my view – although drummer Pick Withers did subsequently find some fame with Dire Straits.
Coincidentally, another band, Indian Summer from Coventry, shared both management and a residency at Henry’s Blueshouse in Birmingham with Black Sabbath and also made a great, long-lost British album on the same label, Neon.
Collectors have always recognised the quality in these albums and both originals are now fetching large sums of money. But for me the enormity of Sabbath and the anonymity of Spring and Indian Summer is impossible to comprehend. It never ceases to amaze me.
Lots of things fascinate me about music, this surely one I am destined personally never to understand. Lionel Hutt, Keynsham
