Letters: The bill to fix the Houses of Parliament is too high. Let’s use a disused office block instead

HOW much to renovate the Houses of Parliament?

Have you seen the projected budget for the renovation of the Houses of Parliament? [£40 billion] That’s a lot of money! Modern government has no business operating in a ‘palace’. Let alone a Victorian copy of a gothic cathedral.

Don’t get me wrong, nobody loves old buildings as much as me. Auguste Pugin, who Gilbert Scott subcontracted the bulk of the pencil work to, is one of my favourite clever, artistic people of that time. But as a venue for modern democracy? It sends all the wrong messages. Besides, it’ll be under water in a couple of decades. The Thames Barrier is already operating at almost maximum capacity.  

What about a peripatetic parliament? Every five years, any city or town could bid to host it for the next five-year period. Any old disused multi-storey car park or warehouse or scabby office block would do. Spread the love, spread the jam. Imagine the knock-on benefits once the show moves on. Urban regeneration on steroids!  

In the olden days royalty would move their court from place to place to save from starving any one area or noble house. Interestingly, this was known as a ‘progress’. The principle is the same. Why pay parliamentarians a bonus to live in the most expensive place in the country? Why concentrate all the royal jelly in the one hive? Because that’s the way we’ve always done it? There might just be a better way. 

Gardner Molloy, East Lothian 

Slaying the giants

As John Bird writes, the Beveridge Report of 1942 was a milestone in addressing ‘the Five Giants’: want, disease, ignorance, idleness, squalor. These problems remain today, though we might rename them poverty, ill-health, lack of education, unemployment and substandard housing. 

Why have we not done better than this, all these years later? One reason might be too much emphasis on delivering remedies on an individualised, top-down model: benefits, free medical care, rehousing, free university places, which eventually became unaffordable for the state.

I wonder how our country might have evolved had there been more of a sense of us all needing to pull together; of bottom-up initiatives; joint responsibility for everyone’s wellbeing. Rather than it being “their” responsibility to take care of “us”. Such notions thrive in other cultures, such as Scandinavian models. Instead, have we moved to expecting the state to do it all for us? This was surely not what Beveridge intended, but it may be an unfortunate side effect. 

Sylvia Rose, Totnes 

Read more:

• Should MPs be moved out of parliament while it is restored?
• This is why parliament needs to replace the e-petitions system with a House of Campaigns
• Revealed: MPs rack up huge taxpayer-funded rent expenses while pushing through cuts to benefits

Readers respond to Reform UK’s claim that churches are being turned into mosques

Pretty sure more churches have been turned into Airbnbs. 

@gembookbee, Instagram 

Who cares what Reform say? Why are you giving them publicity? 

@seasideredss, Instagram 

@seasideredss it’s an opportunity to debunk their claims. Hopefully people who might vote for them will stumble upon this and see these statements for what they are: manipulative lies. 

@emilyselkie, Instagram 

If reform and their supporters cared so much about churches they would be full every Sunday. 

@rebeccabtraveller 

If you’re worried about churches being turned into mosques, the really easy solution is go to church. I say that as a Catholic who goes to church, yet see all these people with crosses in their bio who just want to politicise the issue rather than actually do anything that prevents it. 

@darkcloudenthusiast, Instagram 

So what? Even if it was true. 

@kittywhiplash3000, Instagram 

Hi Big Issue. Just a short note to say thank you for taking a balanced and evidence-based approach to this topic. 

Hassan Joudi, Muslim Council of Britain 

Be the change

When you featured MYQER as one of the Health and Disability Changemakers, something very real happened. People signed up. Not just out of curiosity, but because emergency preparedness resonates. 

We saw an increase in new users in the days following the feature. Messages from parents; from carers; from individuals managing complex conditions; from people who simply wanted peace of mind. Your platform does more than spotlight ideas. It validates them.  

Every platform has a first user. Ours was my daughter. The first QR code generated was hers. The first emergency profile was hers. There was one simple question: If something happens, will the right information be there in time to save her? That question became MYQER. 

Your feature amplified a solution rooted in lived experience. And that ripple is already visible. With gratitude, 

Anita, founder, myqer.com 

People power

Thank you for putting the story of Kenmure Street on the front page and giving it such prominence in the magazine. This sort of resistance really floats my boat! 

Mark, Bristol  

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

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