Letters - Tuesday December 29, 2020

There have, rightly, been calls for more support for pensioners alone at Christmas, whose numbers have doubled since last year.

However, isolated elderly people deserve not just calls and Christmas cheer, but all year round care and support.

Millions of pensioners have died alone and unsupported in the seven years since the Government failed to act on Jeremy Hunt’s alarm call – when he described the neglect of the elderly as “a source of national shame”.

The Government can best redeem that neglected pledge and boost lonely pensioners’ spirits by announcing that fully-resourced social care will be delivered by July 5, 2021, as demanded by Sir Simon Stevens, to provide the care and support they have waited for, for far too long.

Trevor Lyttleton

via email

Education

Schools not required to test

Education unions and associations have joined together in advising secondary schools and colleges that they are not required to begin mass Covid testing from the start of the spring term. The Government announced that all secondary schools and colleges in England will be able to test staff and students from the first week of January.

However, organisations representing school and college leaders, teachers, and governors are concerned that the plans outlined by the Government for rapid testing are not deliverable by the start of next term, given that there are only two weeks to plan for this programme over the Christmas holiday period and numerous outstanding issues that must be addressed. The plans require schools and colleges to recruit and train staff, and put in place processes to manage a large-scale testing programme.

There are a number of unanswered questions including exactly what staff are expected to do, and what costs will be covered by the Government, which have to be resolved before testing can begin. It is imperative that any testing programme is sufficiently resourced with suitably trained staff.

The Association of Colleges (AoC), Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), Church of England Education Office, National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), NASUWT teachers’ union, National Education Union (NEU), National Governance Association (NGA), and Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA) are sending joint advice to their members which states: “If a school or college decides it is unable to set up such testing systems, based on the current plans, you will receive the full support of our respective organisations. Any of our members who come under unreasonable pressure are advised to contact us immediately.”

It goes on to state that schools and colleges stand ready to support the national effort to roll out mass testing, and that our organisations invite the Government to discuss with us what support will be needed for the roll-out of lateral flow tests.

Sam Ud-din

District Secretary, National Education Union

Sport

No heading but is boxing ok?

Just at a time when there is much discussion about the damage done to the brain by heading a football, to the point where it is banned in schools, there is equal discussion about tackling in both rugby codes.

It is a bit confusing to try to understand why we appear to be happy seeing the likes of Tyson Fury beating the living daylights out of his opponent, doing untold damage, in a ring surrounded by jeering people. A bit like gladiators fighting in a Roman colosseum 2,000 years ago. In fact one has to smile when one considers that in many men’s eyes the greatest sportsman of all time was, in fact, one of those ‘ring performers’.

David Craggs

via email

Society

Le Carré ... a patriot

Re the recent passing of John Le Carré. A true patriot, he regretted the very notion of Brexit: “My England would be the one that recognises its place in the EU. The jingoistic England that is trying to march us out of the EU, that is an England I do not wish to know.”

Well said, John Le Carré. Rest in Peace.

Ken Cooke

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