Latest news with #PollyToynbee
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Don't believe the hype about nuclear weapons
Polly Toynbee is right to point out that while nuclear war has been pushed down the 'league table of fear', most recently by concerns about the climate crisis, the nuclear threat itself remains 'as great or greater' and should be the subject of much more urgent debate (I changed my mind on banning the bomb, but the threat of nuclear war is growing – and so is complacency, 7 August). All the more surprising, then, that she overlooks some of the more promising steps towards nuclear disarmament. In particular, momentum is building behind the UN treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons, which came into force in 2021 and is now supported by nearly half the countries in the world. The treaty was the focus of much of the debate in Hiroshima, where I attended the 80th anniversary commemorations, and it deserves to be much better known. How disappointing, then, that the UK government is not only failing to support it but is actively trying to suppress information about the impact of nuclear war as one of just three countries to vote against the creation of a UN scientific panel on its effects. Instead, it's choosing to accept a recommendation from the recent strategic defence review to run a PR campaign to convince people of the 'necessity' of a growing nuclear arsenal. If we are to have any success in challenging this, we need to promote a public education campaign that sets out the existential threat posed by nuclear weapons, the flaws in so-called deterrence theory and measures that could immediately reduce risk – taking weapons off hair-trigger alert, for example, and joining China in a 'no first use' policy. Recent polling from More in Common suggests that young people believe nuclear conflict is the greatest threat to Britain. We owe it to them not to give LucasVice-president, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament; former Green party MP I normally agree with Polly Toynbee, and was also on the Aldermaston marches as a child, but she is misguided in believing that a joint European nuclear capability would make us safer from Russian aggression. If Russian tanks were to roll into Poland, does she envisage Europe threatening to take out Moscow? If so, I hope that it would be an empty threat and hence useless; if a real threat, we are on the road to Armageddon. Maybe it would deter a nuclear attack or threat, but is such a situation conceivable? After all, Vladimir Putin could launch a nuclear attack on Ukraine, which has no nuclear umbrella. The more places that have such weapons, the more the risk of misjudged situations. In practice, the nuclear option is useless, unsafe and costly, as well as WestonWillesden Green, London The dangerous myth that the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima ended the Pacific war is perpetuated in all the coverage of its 80th anniversary. When I attended an intensive summer course with my students, organised by Hiroshima City University in 2005, we discussed the evidence against this contention. Subsequently, Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, in his book Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan, laid out the overwhelming evidence that it was the Soviet entry into the war that finally forced the surrender. Nuclear weapons kill people and may destroy the planet – they do not end NewmanEmeritus professor, London Metropolitan University Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
The Guardian
14-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Labour's free childcare policy doesn't go far enough
Polly Toynbee is right to praise the government's investment in our children's future by promoting free breakfast clubs and extra nursery places (To those who question what Labour stands for – look at Best Start. It will change Britain's future, 8 July). However, as regards the free childcare for preschool children of 30 hours a week from September, what is rarely discussed is that the 30 hours are termtime only. Most nurseries are open all year round. Few working parents have the luxury of working only in termtime, and it actually equates to free childcare of around 22 hours per week all year round. This just about covers the cost of working three, not four, full working days. So please can people be honest about what is being SmartMalvern, Worcestershire In response to Polly Toynbee's excellent article on the government's plans to bring back Sure Start, rebranded as Best Start Family Hubs, there has been no mention of the numerous small charity projects round the country, such as the one we have in our town, which have tried to keep its legacy alive. The council and community groups came together to take the transition grant offered when our children's centre closed, and kept some of its essential core services going. Will there be funding for small community-based hubs such as ours so that families can access support in their own neighbourhoods? I do hope CaveFaringdon, Oxfordshire So Polly Toynbee thinks that Labour has always put children first. Except, that is, for the thousands of children massacred, injured, starved and orphaned in Gaza. About them, Labour couldn't care McLeishEdinburgh Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trust no one when it comes to ID cards
Polly Toynbee posits a world in which everyone has a smartphone and all government agencies can be trusted (Digital ID cards would be good for Britain – and a secret weapon for Labour against Reform, 9 June). What colour is the sky in this world?Linda MockettWinnersh, Berkshire • Am I the only one thinking about Sellafield and wondering by what stretch of the imagination nuclear power can be called 'clean' (Sizewell C power station to be built as part of UK's £14bn nuclear investment, 10 June)?Dr Nigel MellorNewcastle upon Tyne • This year, I received my 50 years' service badge from Aslef – a couple of years late, but we are train drivers, after all. During my career, I always 'worked on the railway', never on the trains (Letters, 8 June). Malcolm SimpsonSalisbury, Wiltshire • So is an airport a plane station or a runway station?Colin ProwerChipping Norton, Oxfordshire • I am sick of hearing calls to raise the price of alcoholic beverages (Letters, 8 June). This would have little or no effect on the middle and upper classes, but would punish those on lower incomes. What next? A rise in food prices to deal with the obesity problem?Noel HannonLondon • Damned bold of Dave Schilling to assume Elon Musk and Donald Trump ever had anything like friendship, as opposed to plans to exploit each other (Male friendship isn't easy. Just ask Trump and Musk, 7 June).Brandi WeedWoodland, California, US
The Guardian
29-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Is Labour being outflanked on the left by Nigel Farage?
Nigel Farage seems to have upstaged the Labour government, pledging to scrap the controversial two-child benefit cap and reverse the cuts to the winter fuel allowance. So why hasn't the government – after almost a year in power – done more to end child poverty? Gaby Hinsliff, in for John Harris, speaks to the Labour MP Stella Creasy and columnist Polly Toynbee
Telegraph
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
The nanny state still thinks it can raise kids better than their parents
Sure Start – Blair's early years project and pride and joy of Labour – could be returning to a children's centre near you. According to the government-backed child poverty taskforce, the early-years service might be making a necessary comeback, albeit if the government can find the 'huge investment to do it'. Kick-starting in the early 2000s, Sure Start was sold as government support for needy families – childcare services targeting those on the lowest rung of the economic ladder. During its heyday, it did provide families across the country with places to bring their babies that were full of toys and other children to play with. But there's no such thing as a free lunch. Sure Start's catch was big – families weren't simply being offered free resources that they wouldn't have otherwise been able to afford. Instead, the programme was a social-engineering experiment, attempting to remove the influence of working-class parents and instead socialise children via 'expert' intervention from the state. Back in 2005, 18 months after Labour's flagship programme had begun, a government-funded study found that Sure Start was having no success in improving the development of children in deprived areas. In response to the findings, Polly Toynbee wrote a defence of the programme in The Guardian, in which she told parents to 'take a deep breath', as the one change the study had picked up was that Sure Start mothers were engaging in 'warmer parenting'. What did this mean? Middle-class readers could breathe a sigh of relief, as the council-estate mums who had been re-educated at these children's centres were showing signs of 'less hostility, less smacking, less negative criticism and more affection'. The Blair administration's approach to the working class was always paternalistic, but Sure Start took patronising state intervention to insulting levels. Fast forward 20 years, and the current Labour Government seems to want to pick up where Blair left off. Starmer won't give poorer parents any help when it comes to the two-child benefit cap, but he has been excited to announce a national programme of toothbrushing in schools and nurseries, to monitor the dental hygiene of the great unwashed. Let them eat Colgate. While the Left used to understand the importance of a working class independent from the state, many now believe government busybodies know how to raise children better than their parents. Rather than being a helpful resource, the era of 'parenting experts' has trashed any sense of parental authority. I've seen this in real life – mothers attending weaning classes at our local children's centre, anxiously making notes on how many centimetres long the cucumber stick should be when given to a six-month-old. There's no shame in asking for help when it comes to raising kids, but parents today have lost all confidence in common sense, or that they might be able to figure things out for themselves. The more the Government wags its finger at us, the less we feel able to trust our gut. I'm all for government intervention when it comes to cold hard cash. Hackney council, where I live, has recently raised its nursery fees through the roof. Many families will no longer be able to afford to put their children in childcare – even with the free hours – which might well scupper the Government's promise to grow the economy. Opening up more centres and employing more staff is something every parent would welcome. But not if it means surrendering our families to the scrutiny and intervention of the nanny state. Leave the kids – and the parents – alone.
