2 days ago
Reeves's review was a sobering experience for hard-pressed taxpayers
SIR – Listening to the Chancellor's long list of extra government spending pledges, I thought to myself: 'Some poor sods are going to have to pay for all this.'
Then I realised that I shall be one of them.
J Alan Smith
Epping, Essex
SIR – After the promises announced by Labour in the spending review, the alleged inherited £22 billion black hole looks like a drop in the ocean.
Roger Gentry
Weavering, Kent
SIR – Labour is forever trotting out that its aim is to help 'working people', with policies designed to improve their quality of life.
In the past, the phrase covered manual workers, such as miners and steelworkers, but those industries no longer exist.
So who are modern-day working people? Arguably, everyone who works, but Labour's definition is probably much narrower: any workers who vote Labour.
Sandy Pratt
Storrington, West Sussex
SIR – The Chancellor's ambitions have numbers and dates attached, but there is no evidence that she has carried out any logistical analysis.
Building requires trained personnel, materials and space. Schools need qualified teachers. The health service needs experienced medics. Power plants and grids must have thriving industries to supply and maintain them.
Merely allocating money does not fulfil the ambition.
Michael Marks
Leominster, Herefordshire
SIR – Rachel Reeves clearly lacks confidence in her plans, as throughout the spending review she took shots at opposition parties, using their alleged failings to justify her decisions. She should let her proposals speak for themselves.
Given the poor state of the economy and its dismal growth on her watch, it was striking that the Chancellor did not fully explain how she will pay for her commitments.
She said about her policies: 'These are my choices. These are this Government's choices. These are the British people's choices.' I don't think this claim would stand up if a general election were held today.
Peter Williman
Chatteris, Cambridgeshire
SIR – When the next general election comes along, the only thing opposition parties will have to do to relieve the present administration of its responsibilities is remind the electorate of the Chagos and winter fuel fiascos.
These offer sufficient evidence of incompetence – though plenty more is likely to be provided over the next four years.
John Firrell
Litton Cheney, Dorset
Covered faces
SIR – Reform UK and Kemi Badenoch are right to trigger a debate rather than campaign for a ban on all face coverings, including the burka. Jack Straw, as a Cabinet minister in Tony Blair's government, did the same thing in 2006.
Both Mr Straw and Mrs Badenoch have said that they were not comfortable speaking to people whose faces were covered, and expressions therefore obscured, in their constituency offices.
Surely the same concerns apply to teachers and students, judges and witnesses in court, and to medical professionals and patients, where it is essential to see each other properly.
This should not be an outright ban, nor confined to religious apparel.
B Brodkin
Edgware, Middlesex
SIR – I write to plead for open faces for men, women and children on behalf of the millions who, to a greater or lesser degree, rely on reading faces to grasp people's communications.
I cannot talk with anyone of any background who has even a partially closed-off face. That's not rudeness – it's a practicality. And there are many millions like me, as nature is remarkably casual with hearing.
Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne (Con)
London SW1
Why we need nuclear
SIR – Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, and Labour deserve credit for deciding to build Sizewell C and invest in small modular reactors (report, June 10). We need these to provide clean, reliable energy and help us move away from fossil fuels, and to tackle climate change. More nuclear power will lead to well-paid jobs and greater energy security.
Many environmentalists oppose nuclear power, but this is naive and unrealistic. Germany showed how closing nuclear plants and investing solely in renewables leads to burning more fossil fuels, as well as more expensive energy. Nuclear has high energy density and so requires less land and fewer materials.
It is very good news that Labour stood up to the environmentalists, and, by investing in nuclear power, it is doing what is best for the country as well as the climate.
Mark Dawes
London E11
Space to remember
SIR – Charles Moore (Notebook, June 10) writes about Holocaust Memorial Day and the risk of the concept being watered down.
In January this year, I was surprised to see that this day was not printed on my calendar, so I emailed the company concerned to ask why. The reply stated that it wasn't able to include every important date, and this was partly so that there would be enough space in the boxes for customers to write in.
Not only was another single entry printed for that date (Holiday, Australia), but room had also been found elsewhere in the calendar for Waitangi Day, Juneteenth and Presidents' Day. Priorities?
Sue Thomas
Monmouth
Brotherly love
SIR – My nephew, the second of my sister's three sons, sent his mother a card for Mother's Day (Letters, June 11) with the caption: 'If at first you don't succeed, try again. Love from your second son.' His older brother's reaction was not recorded.
Prep school closures
SIR – The announcement that two more private schools, in Putney and Kingston, are to close (report, June 7) following the Government's imposition of VAT on fees must be hugely upsetting for the children and parents involved. There are also 11,000 fewer pupils in private schools compared with a year ago.
It has become obvious just how unpleasant this policy is. It highlights how the Left simply does not understand ambition, or parents' desire to do the best for their children. Which is the 'nasty party' now?
Richard Allison
Edinburgh
Exasperating NHS
SIR – I received an envelope from the NHS containing two sheets of paper. One said: 'This envelope contains a letter.' The other had details of an important appointment.
It also told me that, if I needed to change the appointment, I would have to telephone the number provided, or I would be deleted from the list. But there was no number. About 20 minutes later, on my fourth try, I got to speak to a person. He didn't know that the number was not on the letter.
Roger Hart
Sheffield, South Yorkshire
SIR – I am a blood donor (Features, June 7). We used to be able to book our next session on the same day we gave blood. Now we have to do it later online. It was so easy before. This is probably why donors don't always rebook and donations are wider apart.
George Martin
Warmington, Northamptonshire
Lunch with Freddie
SIR – I read Simon Heffer's article about his friend Freddie Forsyth (Features, June 11) with some sadness.
In the early 1980s I was working in Hong Kong in Sutherland House, opposite the Hong Kong Club. One day I returned from lunch and, entering the lift to the 10th floor, I recognised Freddie, who was obviously going to the Foreign Correspondents' Club on the 11th floor. I had often been jealous of its members, as they invariably staggered out in the late afternoon, after a boozy lunch with colleagues, just as I was leaving the office.
Each time I read his letters to The Telegraph, I found myself agreeing with his views. I would have given anything to have had lunch with him and put the world to rights.
Neville Dickinson
Morpeth, Northumberland
Keeping churchyards trim – with a little help
SIR – Grass and weeds in churchyards need controlling, but what is the best way of doing this?
Strimmers and motorised mowers require energy and produce unattractive heaps of cut grass, and strimmers can damage gravestones. In theory, the parson can use the grass for hay-making, but that is probably uneconomic.
Goats and sheep (Letters, June 11) require fenced churchyards, which must be properly managed. Helpfully, they consume wreaths and cut flowers, which have a finite life and need removing before they become unsightly. Grazing at regular and stated times is ideal.
David J Critchley
Buckingham
The fundamental flaw in ID card proposals
SIR – Robin Nonhebel (Letters, June 10) believes that identity cards should be introduced to help curb illegal immigration and abuse of the benefits system. However, for an ID card scheme to be appealing, voters would have to trust the state. Along with millions of others, I don't.
Anyhow, I have an ID card already – it's called a passport or driving licence.
William Rusbridge
Tregony, Cornwall
SIR– Robin Nonhebel is quite correct. You have to ask why migrants want to come to the UK, bypassing Germany, France and other European countries.
Could it be because those countries have national ID cards? These let holders use government services, and are required to obtain work and access healthcare and other state benefits. ID cards would improve government efficiency, removing the need for multiple other forms of identification.
Yet we think we know best, and so the debate continues ad infinitum.
R Jones
Northwood, Middlesex
SIR – An ID card scheme would surely offer an opportunity for people-traffickers to enhance their income further by selling forged cards.
Carole Doggett
Milford, Hampshire
SIR – The idea of having to prove yourself to the state day in, day out is objectionable.
Why should I – a private citizen – have to verify who I am to a policeman, when the policeman should rightly show his warrant card to me?
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