Letters: Why are people ready to hand our NHS to Farage and his millionaires?

A Big Issue reader says that while it’s OK to feel let down by Labour, we mustn’t give Nigel Farage a chance to dismantle the NHS.

NHS not for sale 

I must take issue with letter ‘Politically Homeless’ savaging Labour on its policy decisions. I joined Labour in 1982 to fight Thatcher and canvassed for every election – even the futile Corbyn campaign (look at him now happy to try to damage Labour;  another George Galloway). Yes, our policy delivery has been atrocious but to think about voting Reform makes me question these people. 

No gumption to stick to the task and try to solve all the issues left by the Tories – and happy to hand the NHS etc to Farage and his millionaires with their one-policy agenda.

Jim

No-brainer 

I believe that not only do we have a housing crisis in the UK, but also a housing policy crisis. Previous governments have made empty promises about building affordable new homes, and now we have more promises that look increasingly unlikely to deliver. 

The city of Bristol has dozens of working people living in caravans, yet within a 20-mile radius, there are thousands of empty properties. I have read that there are around 750,000 empty properties in the UK and yet, so far, I have heard no mention from any government minister proposing a plan for their renovation, or recognition of the charities and organisations that have taken the initiative to do something about this.

As an example, Leeds Action to Create Homes (LATCH) works with the local council to identify and purchase some of the 3,000 empty homes in the area and then renovate them for affordable rent. This also benefits the community by training and using unemployed people to give them construction skills, which will make them more employable in the future. I am sure many other organisations would like to get involved with projects like this with encouragement and incentives from the government. It seems like a no-brainer.

K Ward, Somerset

Read more:

• Will fixing the NHS be enough to save Starmer’s government? Maybe. But only on one condition
• Labour should take a leaf out of Zohran Mamdani’s book and give young people something to vote for
• Giving 16-year-olds the vote: Will it beat far-right populism or does it play right into Farage’s hands?

Picture-perfect PiNs 

Our vendor Easton was delighted when an acclaimed artist gave him a picture of him on his pitch. Bhupinder Singh, aka PiNS, met Easton when he was selling outside the 10Foot exhibition. He later returned to hand him this drawing (right). It made his day!

Jerri Corbett, BI sales and outreach

Size it up 

Chaitanya Kumar gives a good explanation of the demands on the future electricity grid but his assessment of the economics of nuclear power don’t add up. The problem with Sizewell C is that it will only pay back its massive investment when it runs 24 hours a day every day, with summer breaks for maintenance. It makes no sense to build nuclear to cover the relatively few days in winter when there is a shortfall of wind and sun.

Besides which, costs of wind, solar and batteries are continuing to fall, while nuclear gets more expensive, and we haven’t even started investing in suitable long-term waste storage. Solar modules are now as cheap as fence panels, and if placed vertically they will give more energy in the winter (when needed) though less in summer. Meanwhile, we should invest in insulating UK homes, so that less energy is wasted on those cold, dark days!

Arthur

Re: How greengrocers on wheels could change the UK

As a child in the 50s we had green­grocer vans, bakery vans, and even fresh fish vans, as well as our ice-cream vans. In our village we also had a Co-op, a butcher, cafe and fish and chips shop.

Nancy Quinn, Facebook

We had greengrocer, baker, the onion seller on his bike, the ice-cream van, and fish vans coming round our street in the ’70s.

Karen Fisher, Facebook

Same round our way. Ours was called the Daisy van… Sold everything from fruit and veg, dairy, sweeties, and he sharpened kitchen knives too.

Colly Met, Facebook

Back in the 50s and 60s we didn’t need recycling bins – we had the rag-and-bone man. But not so much plastic then, I guess.

Chris Stevens, Facebook

I remember a similar thing in the late 60s, then there were very few cars to go shopping. Also electric vehicles delivering milk in glass bottles. Funny how progress looks!

John Hughes, Facebook

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