Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments.
‘Brexit has shown that Europe and the EU were never the problem with the UK’ says reader
In response to Gary, we do not need to wait and see. All the things listed didn’t happen in the (barely one year) since Labour has been in power versus the 14 years the Conservatives were at the helm. It’s, therefore, wrong to think you can now lay it all at Keir Starmer’s feet, whatever his shortcomings.
And as for the worsening uncontrolled immigration situation? Well, you can lay that squarely on Brexit. Europe has no reason to want to aid the UK anymore on this issue – it was hard enough when we were part of the EU!
So yes, it’s worse now. But Starmer is doing the right things to hopefully ensure we can once again control immigration to this country.
It will take time. If there’s one good thing to say about Brexit it is that it has shown that Europe and the EU were never the problem with the UK.
So let’s please stop this wilful ignorance about why things are the way they are now in this country. Agatha, Surrey
Does a lack of strikes equal a ‘sleight of hand’?
I’m not sure why Gary from Essex (MetroTalk, Wed) chooses to characterise hospitals now meeting appointments due to lack of strikes as a government ‘sleight of hand’.
Does he perhaps feel that the previous lot’s abysmal performance was in fact the norm and that any improvement must be some kind of trick?Martin, London
‘Labour havent ‘given in’, doctors have been underpaid despite doing God’s work’, reader defends Labour parties performance
Gary is right in that we will have to wait five years for a true comparison between Labour and Conservative performances. But I would like to address some of the points he made.
Unemployment going up has nothing to do with Labour and, with regards to small businesses closing at their highest rate in more than ten years, file that under Brexit – which was under the Conservatives’ watch. Government borrowing? Well that’s squarely down to the Tory black hole, and Brexit again.
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As for waiting list times, they have improved. And, as the partner of a doctor, Labour haven’t ‘given in’. Doctors have been underpaid in relative terms for ten or so years – despite the fact they’re doing God’s work.
As to his final point regarding illegal immigration being up, that’s down to Brexit, which was voted for by every district in Essex – and I’m assuming that includes Greg by the sounds of things. Greg, Highgate
Reader comments on the cost on providing medical aid to children from Gaza
Adrian Appleby (MetroTalk, Wed) is worrying about how the UK is going to be able to afford treatment for children wounded because of the war in Gaza (MetroTalk, Wed).
He needn’t fret so much, the profits we’ve made from the sale of the bombs and the bullets and the various aircraft parts will more than make up for the damage wrought upon their tiny bodies from the blasts that killed their families…P Guy, Liverpool
‘the lost art of queuing at bus stops’
Further to your letter about the lost art of queuing at bus stops (MetroTalk, Wed), I once worked with a very experienced TV presenter and she had a saying to describe certain people who were slightly pushy in personality as ‘last at the bus stop, first on the bus’.
I always to this day smile at bus stops as I think of those extremely wise words. Jan, London
‘Nothing is perfect’, reader expresses support for the NHS
I find the words ‘shames the NHS’ on the front page of Monday’s Metro unfortunate.
Of course what this patient experienced with a rat found in her drawers was very unpleasant, but ‘shame’ is too strong a word and smacks of over-generalisation. This happens all too often, be it about the NHS or other issues. We have found the NHS to be wonderful in dealing with my husband’s ill-health, in particular over the last few months.
The staff have treated him with nothing but kindness, professionalism and patience, all while under enormous pressure. They could even have been forgiven for any mistakes made – within reason of course.
Nothing is perfect and the NHS should not be castigated in this way. Pat Horitz, Dorking
Reader asks, ‘why should my taxes pay for other peoples weight-loss drugs’?
Why should my taxes pay for other people’s weight-loss drugs and follow-up support on the NHS (Metro, Tue)? It’s not an illness. It’s over-eating, bad diet and lack of willpower to stop.
I don’t mind paying for treatment of illness, but not this. KT, Edin
‘Start treating people the same and help everybody’ says reader
Once again the government are being called upon to help pay for school uniforms for people on benefits, with debt adviser Money Wellness looking for grants to be made available across the UK for low-income households.
What about the couples who are working hard to provide for their family but don’t come into the government’s bracket when it comes to extortionate prices for school uniforms that have to be bought from specific outlets? This includes state schools, not only private.
Come on, if you care, start treating people the same and help everybody. Den, Dartford
Is there something wrong with our electoral system?
Further to Rory O’Kelly’s summations (MetroTalk, Wed), there must be something terribly wrong with our electoral system when a party can win an election with 3million fewer votes than it received when it lost the election some years earlier. Roger Smith, Witham
How quickly can you solve our crossword?
I just wanted to give you guys a pat on the back for publishing my letter today light-heartedly taking the rise out of your inadvertent double entendre headline about rat droppings found in a lady’s drawers.
We all slip up now and then, and you could so easily have ignored my letter but you saw the funny side and didn’t mind bringing attention to your slip up. I am impressed!
Incidentally, thank you for a really good, free paper which I enjoy every day, especially the quick crossword. This morning, I achieved a personal best, solving it within four minutes. My chest will be puffed out all day. William Buckley, Reading
