Dan Poulter’s defection won’t fix an unequal NHS | Letters
Reading Dan Poulter’s defection (“Top Tory MP defects to Labor in fury at NHS crisis”) was of particular interest to me: I am a mental health nurse in the NHS; I also cover the A&E department at my local hospital; and I work for the same NHS trust. He lists many reasons why he is appalled at the state of the NHS, and does well to highlight the suffering that mental health patients are being forced to endure, thanks to a lack of resources and outsourcing to private providers.
However, it was laughable to read his praise for David Cameron’s Conservative party, with its “commitment to the NHS”. Poulter speaks of his concerns about health inequalities, but it was Cameron’s party that unleashed austerity and only highlighted these inequalities. Poor mental health is overwhelmingly experienced by people of lower socio-economic status. Thanks to Cameron’s policies, many people have accelerated into poverty.
Dr. Poulter says Keir Starmer represents change. The current Labor Party says it will continue to outsource and has said nothing about improving the lives of nurses like me. Dr. Poulter may have genuine concerns, but as a psychiatrist he should know that the definition of insanity involves doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
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So it took Dr Dan Poulter fourteen years to realize that the Tories were bad for the NHS. How relieved I am that he wasn’t involved in the diagnosis of anyone I know.
Angela Singer
Cambridge
Put these horses on the grass
Considering Andrew Rawnsley’s pieces on defense spending and Michael Hogan’s on escaped army horses, why, a century after the cavalry horse became obsolete, does the military persist in maintaining what is in some ways a circus spectacle? is in fancy dress? The Royal Signals motorcycle show team was disbanded in 2017 – probably due to the aging of the helm rider.
Colin Bennett
Kilburn, Belper, Derbyshire
We saw HIV coming
In 1973 I studied medicine at King’s College Hospital, where intensive research was being conducted into hepatitis B and hepatitis C, neither of which had any tests. We students were very aware of hepatitis caused by IVs and needlestick injuries, as we collected all the blood samples in the ward – without any protection (“’Plasma was called liquid gold’: the true story of the British infected blood scandal”).
After we returned from ten weeks of studying and working in hospitals abroad, we met in the refectory to talk about our experiences. One student had just returned from Cook County Hospital in Chicago. Commenting on the effect of the financial incentives associated with blood donation in the US, he said that even people with very unsanitary lifestyles, including convicts, were donating blood. We agreed that all kinds of viruses would be easily transmitted within the US blood transfusion service. HIV was appropriately monitored.
Dr. MJC Brown
Northwood, Middlesex
Don’t listen to the landlords
I’m glad Rowan Moore endorses much of Nick Bano’s story about private renting in Britain (“Against landlords”, Books, new review, April 21). However, he appears to be capitulating to the defense often put forward by landlords: rent controls and secure tenancies would inevitably lead to homelessness.
The convenient sources of self-enrichment afforded to private landlords since the 1980s, in the form of secured short-term rentals, buy-to-let mortgages and rental subsidies, have contributed significantly to a world where young people cannot start families and many suffer poverty and poor health.
Ownership is no proof against housing problems, so there is no reason to think that fair rents and long-term leases (as enjoyed by many in Europe) uniquely cause homelessness. Nevertheless, the horrors of modern tenancy law are making the news. The solution may lie in market regulation, the conversion of private rental portfolios into social housing through mandatory state purchases, or elsewhere. But we must believe that renting can be made affordable and safe, even if the private landlord may wish otherwise.
Julian case
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Angela Rayner: the real deal
I’m not sure Angela Rayner would appreciate being credited with possessing the same ‘it’ as Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage (‘Blair had it, so did Johnson… the quality of Rayner’s support despite her blunders’). It seems to me that Rayner is really, um, real. She has no guile. What you see is what you get. Johnson and Farage, on the other hand, are privileged individuals who cynically adopt, for political purposes, a carefully constructed persona designed to make people believe they are “one of us” and “anti-establishment”. Rayner’s appeal lies in her true authenticity, which is why the Tories see her as such a threat.
Charlie Adamson
Honley, Holmfirth, West Yorkshire
Tourism trumps everything
The hand-wringing over overtourism in your editorial has a parallel in the world’s slow response to climate change (“Sometimes the planet’s hotspots are best left unvisited”). Like Cassandra, I and my fellow campaigners at the British charity Tourism Concern in the 1990s knew what would happen if tourism continued happily. We drew attention to the ignored consequences of all-inclusive holidays, huge cruise ships, trekking in vulnerable mountain areas, holiday rentals in areas with few local homes and tourism’s demand for water in arid resorts. Unfortunately, the instinct to travel, like our instinct to live an energy-thirsty life, has outpaced efforts to change attitudes and curb corporate ambitions.
Alison Stancliffe
Newcastle upon Tyne
Courage of a young mother
Never have I experienced so many emotions in such a short time as while reading Lauren Bensted’s article about childbirth (“I felt myself split into before and after”). From disgust and sympathy at her health problems to anger at the state of the NHS, chuckles at her ability to see the humor in extraordinary situations and relief when she finally got the treatment she so clearly deserved, I not only reached the end of her ordeal in tears (of happiness) but with pure admiration for this brave mother. As she so eloquently put it, things could have turned out so very differently. This was an extraordinary piece of journalism and I wish Lauren and her family all the best from now on.
Sue Styles
Marton, North Yorkshire
Like Bensted, I was told by a nurse that many people name their stomas; like them, I felt no inclination to do so. She compares hers to a sea urchin; I think mine looks like a sea anemone when the tide has gone out.
Jocelyn Rose
Fort William, Inverness-shire