Defence remains the Achilles’ heel of Labour’s plan for government

[Pelican Press 0]

Defence ******** the Achilles’ heel of Labour’s plan for government

SIR – Labour’s first six steps for government sound good on a very superficial level (

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). But the defence of our country is the first – and by far the most important – job of any government, and it was not mentioned.

I would take Labour’s pledges more seriously if they acknowledged that the Armed Forces must be resourced to a level that ensures our security, and that this must take priority over all other uses of taxpayers’ money. If Labour made such a pledge it would earn its position in the polls and be fit for government.

M H Richards
Bicester, Oxfordshire

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SIR – While listening to the Labour Party on defence (“

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), I couldn’t help wondering: how many Sir Keir Starmers are there?

We remember how, if we had all followed Sir Keir’s advice, Jeremy Corbyn would have become our prime minister, and consequently we would no longer be in Nato, our nuclear deterrent would have been scrapped and we would have effectively become Europe’s Costa Rica, with no army, navy or air Force.

Brian Christley
Abergele, Conwy

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SIR – It is worth remembering that members of the military don’t just ****** wars; they also conduct search and rescue, assist the police, and step in to empty our bins, guard our prisons, drive our ambulances and put out fires when the strike-bound down tools and walk out.

Indeed, I was part of the tri-service medical personnel deployed to cover the nationwide ambulance strike of 1989-90. Thirty five years ago the military had the resources to ensure that people who needed emergency medical help received it. Today, I doubt it does.

Furthermore, the military will educate, train and qualify any tri-service staff who want to expand their skills – from paramedics to electricians – and will pay applicants while they qualify so that, unlike many university students, they won’t be saddled with huge debts. People who have been through the military tend to be smart, fit, punctual, disciplined, determined, have high standards and are able to work in teams or alone. So, when they leave, they are often a great benefit to employers in both the public and private sectors.

There are thus huge economic benefits to having a large military. Investing in it should be a priority.

Angus Long
Newcastle upon Tyne

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Paying for the NHS

SIR – Geoffrey Young (

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) asks whether he is wrong to suggest that those with substantial pension funds should be asked to make a contribution to their treatment by the NHS. The answer, I’m afraid, is that he is. He also believes that those spending time in hospital receive “free bed and food”. Wrong again, I’m afraid.

One of the most worrying aspects of the debate around the provision of healthcare in this country is that we have been fooled into believing that the taxpayer-funded NHS is free. It is about as free as train travel undertaken on a pre-paid season ticket. Another, of course, is that “our NHS” is the envy of the world. Strange, then, that no other country on the planet has adopted the same model. Or that our health outcomes rank poorly among developed nations.

Mr Young can be sure that those fortunate enough to have substantial pension funds will have contributed handsomely via the tax system for the paltry healthcare services available to them. They will rightly resent a request to pay for a second time.

Andy Berry
Hersham, Surrey

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Who wants my vote?

SIR – As a lifelong ************* voter, I have been deeply conflicted about my voting intentions in the coming general election. I was even considering a protest vote for Labour.

However, you then reported (

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) the claim by Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, that a win for Susan Hall and the Conservatives in the London mayoral election would have been “a win for racists, white supremacists and Islamophobes the world over”.

Presumably that includes me: a decent, hard-working, aspirational, tax-paying and law-abiding citizen of the ***. Obviously I am not the sort of person wanted by the Labour Party.

Conflict resolved.

Mick Caulkin
Southampton

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SIR – Many correspondents (

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) suggest the ************* Party has moved away from “conservatism”, and a growing chorus claims that Reform *** is now its true home. It is not.

In a recent poll, I read that Reform voters are against immigration and globalisation, and voted for Brexit. To me, these stances are not “*************” at all. Traditional conservatives understand the need for, and the benefits of, immigration and globalisation.

As a normal, Right-leaning ************* voter, I will not be going anywhere near Reform.

Chris Goddard
Newick, East Sussex

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Unnecessary knight

SIR – I find it very hard to understand why Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, should have been knighted (

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). This is one of the highest profile roles in the British establishment. Does it really need additional grace and favour?

Richard Marlow
Harrogate, North Yorkshire

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SIR – With the House of Bishops and upper echelons of the ******* of England seeming increasingly keen to promote division and discord on so many fronts, hundreds of thousands of people – lay and clergy alike – despair at the decline of the ******* we love.

A recent visit to my home county of Cornwall left me heartbroken at the accelerating collapse of parochial ministry within the Truro diocese under successive recent bishops.

The coup de grâce was a quite disgraceful Evensong at the cathedral, purporting to celebrate 30 years of women’s priestly ministry. It was actually an ignorant liturgy, much of which was a moan-fest of the “smash the patriarchy” kind. It was certainly no advertisement for the *******, nor for women ministers, many of whom I greatly admire.

Whither the ******* of England, which, in John Henry Newman’s words, “I have loved long since, and lost awhile”?

Father Michael J Maine
Ditchling, East Sussex

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Music in care homes

SIR – What a lovely interview with Keith Herdman (

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).

I play at a couple of retirement homes and day centres with my trio, called Side By Side. I’m 82 and on guitar, keys and drum machine; Mickey, 83, is on bass; and Ken, 79, is on guitar. We’re all former professionals from the 1960s.

Mr Herdman is right: the folks don’t want war songs. One lady said to me: “We don’t want

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Crosby and Vera Lynn. We want Do-Wah-Diddy and The Beatles”.

So that’s what we give them and they love it. I hope we can do it for many more years to come.

Malcolm Lenny
Tonbridge, Kent

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SIR – When the body is frail but the brain still functions, the decision to go to an old people’s home is not easy.

My mother found herself surrounded by people so advanced with dementia that she was destined to go the same way. Bridge would have been a saviour, had her fellow inmates been able to play.

The most bizarre event was a visit to her room by a horse wearing a nappy. ****** might seem a better option.

Jonathan Williams
Sleaford, Lincolnshire

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Recipe for success

SIR – I agree that hearty food by Michel Roux Jr, without decoration, will be welcomed by diners (

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). Whoever thought a small pile of bubbles on a dinner plate would look attractive? Hopefully other chefs will follow suit.

If restaurants are struggling, they should give us diners what we want: good food at a fair price.

Jacky Staff
Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh

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An awe-inspiring vision of the Last Judgment

***** day: detail from the 15th-century mural at St Thomas’s ******* in Salisbury – NJphoto / Alamy /Alamy

SIR – The recent creation of a ***** painting for St Mary’s ******* in Woodham Ferrers, Essex, using traditional techniques (

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) reminded me of many times admiring the glorious 15-century example in my own parish *******, St Thomas’s in Salisbury.

It is the country’s largest and best preserved ***** painting, and, having been recently restored, is well worth a visit. I recommend binoculars: without them, I’d never have spotted the curious faces forming the ******’s knees.

******* sitting in judgment is the *****’s focal point, but the multitude of painted details, including my favourites – a dishonest alewife and a sinful bishop, with crowned monarchs heading in chains towards ***** – are equally awe-inspiring.

A more effective pictorial warning of your fate if religious teachings were not followed is hard to imagine, though today its phantasmagorical images make me smile.

Peter Saunders
Salisbury, Wiltshire

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Treating anxiety

SIR  – In the debate about ***** notes, Professor Dame Carol ****** is quoted as stating that anxiety is not a medical condition, implying that it shouldn’t justify being certified as unfit for work (

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). This view is both misleading – since there is no single agreed definition of a medical condition – and unhelpful.

In my 40-year medical career I have seen many people who have suffered from severe anxiety, unable to sleep and barely able to function, and who were clearly unfit for work. Most people suffering from anxiety do work, and, after receiving treatment, recover. Sometimes a short ******* away from work facilitates this recovery. Those at the more severe end may spend many months on a waiting list for treatment.

I am quite sure Dame Carol agrees that prompt access to evidence-based treatment would be much more likely to reduce sickness absence than stigmatising anxiety sufferers as not suffering from a medical condition.

Dr Phil Taylor
Kilmington, Devon

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Old-school tools

SIR – Otto Inglis’s letter (

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) regarding the automatic use of power tools nowadays raised a wry smile in our household.

My wife tells me I am the only man she knows who, when given a job to do, will preferentially use hand rather than power tools. No noise and more control are but two of the reasons.

John A Landamore
Lutterworth, Leicestershire

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Full English twists

SIR – I was surprised that the English Breakfast Society has said that masala beans, bao buns and chorizo can be part of a morning fry up (

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). Of course they can, but they cannot be part of an English breakfast.

I have twice tried the English breakfast with an Indian twist at a well known (and expensive) restaurant in central Manchester. It was, on both occasions, uninspiring.

Michael Ganley
Heywood, Lancashire

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SIR – Rather like the National Trust and parts of the Civil Service, the English Breakfast Society appears to have lost sight of its purpose and mission in advocating that bao buns and chorizo might now legitimately be served as part of the full English.

A stated aim of this illustrious society is “to restore the tradition of the English breakfast to its former glory”. It is now clearly failing to do so.

Whatever next – salad cream instead of ketchup, and a helping of deep-fried sushi?

Paul Embery
Pilling, Lancashire

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Keir Starmer,Labour,Jeremy Corbyn
#Defence #******** #Achilles #heel #Labours #plan #government

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