Letters - Tuesday, June 22, 2021

We are indebted to our volunteers. Without them, many of our services would not function, let alone charities and community projects.

I think we need to be careful, however, of relying too much on this unsung, unpaid army of lovely people.

Volunteers, by definition, do not get paid, and until recently we have been able to call upon a large group of older people who were able to retire at a reasonable age (60).

Those days are disappearing. Women, who form the bulk of our volunteer army, are having to wait until they are 67-years-old until they retire, and then they may not have the time or money to spare.

We have learnt throughout this pandemic how much we rely on our public services.

Those same public services are now on their knees.

There is a shortage of nursing staff, schools have become reliant on volunteer helpers and many libraries have to close.

It was in the 1930s when we realised that philanthropy alone could not meet the need.

That paved the way for the introduction of all those public services which we now see as the mark of a civilised society, such as schools, decent affordable housing and the NHS.

All this was introduced immediately after the war by the Attlee Government, which was a Labour Government; and it brought you all these things as well as wiping out 40 per cent of the national debt from the war.

All in the space of six years!

Quite an achievement.

Our public services need proper funding.

We must not ask for everything to be done by “volunteers”.

Jo Burton

via email

POLITICS

Bercow the rat defects to Labour

So ex-Commons Speaker, John Bercow has decided to defect to the Labour Party.

A clear example of a rodent swimming towards a sinking ship.

Dr Barry Clayton

Thornton Cleveleys

POLITICS

Extra kick in the teeth ... for Labour

The Conservatives certainly took a hammering at the Chesham and Amersham by-election but Labour’s historically abject performance is surely more worrying for all those unfortunates who follow the Party.

And Sunday’s (June 19) news that the controversial John Bercow, widely accused of pandering to the Remain cause in his previous position as House of Commons Speaker, has now joined Labour must be like an extra kick in the teeth for the party’s prospects.

John Bercow’s intervention will clearly put new heart into the dispirited Conservatives after that surprising drubbing in the by-election.

Gordon Lawrence

Address supplied

POLITICS

Metropolitan elite grouping together

If dear old John Bercow has joined the Labour Party, then all I can say is that Boris Johnson must be doing something right.

Millions of people will see this move from Bercow and Keir Starmer for what it is.

Bercow, Jeremy Corbyn and Sir Keir Starmer all plotted together in Parliament and in the courts to overturn what was the biggest democratic mandate in UK political history.

Yet just when you think the country has finally come together and accepted the Brexit reality, up pops up dear old Bercow himself.

Which simply proves how out of touch Keir Starmer and his metropolitan socialist elite really are.

Keep up the great work Boris and I’ve no doubt who the working class will be backing next time.

Geoffrey Brooking

Address supplied

COVID

Responsibility of parents in crisis

Surely one of the parental responsibilities in a crisis must be home education of children in order to minimise their children falling behind with their studies?

I remember, as a young child, my mother spending time with me, especially with reading and writing. My mother was a housewife without any formal teaching expertise whatsoever.

MR P L TAYLOR

Address supplied

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