Letters: Tony Blair and the health unions sowed the seeds of the NHS’s collapse

SIR – It is encouraging that Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, intends to take on “hostile” health unions (report, December 11).

However, it is important to understand the causes of many problems affecting both primary care and the wider NHS.

The first is the disastrous deal that Tony Blair struck with GPs in 2004, whereby doctors received a handsome increase in pay together with a reduction in obligations to provide patient care out of hours.

The second is Labour and its union supporters demonising Tory attempts at reform as the intention to “privatise our NHS”, when they know this to be false. This has shifted the NHS into the “too difficult” pile for 40 years, the result of which is the near collapse we see today.

It remains to be seen whether this Damascene conversion is serious, or a cynical attempt to make Labour more appealing to Tory voters in 2024.

Nigel Short
Thurlow, Suffolk

SIR – I have decided that the only way forward is to vote Labour, in the hope and belief that here at last, in Wes Streeting, is an MP prepared to reform and resuscitate our dying NHS. 

He will have battles on all fronts, not least with the British Medical Association, but he is a man of principle and determination. I wish him luck.

Sarah Raw
Toft, Cambridgeshire

SIR – I am a retired doctor and have just been an inpatient in a major NHS teaching hospital, requiring surgery for an injured shoulder.

I witnessed universally compassionate care of patients in distress, and medical and nursing staff supporting and coaching students and juniors.

I also witnessed huge levels of distress during the night shift when nurses were told that nobody was coming to take over the shift, leaving them with the emotional and practical problem of what to do with a ward full of sick people, some with very pressing problems. The two well-qualified and competent nurses who were then seconded to the ward were understandably overwhelmed by the impossible task presented to them, but they set to none the less.

The Government is ultimately responsible for this entirely unsatisfactory, unsafe mess. Successive governments have chosen not to see the exodus of nurses due to unsustainable workloads and insufficient pay. The removal of paid nursing apprenticeships in favour of degrees has compounded the problem, with insufficient new nurses coming into the pool of available staff.

The Government needs to raise the wages of poorly paid nurses to reward those valiantly struggling to provide nursing care now, and to encourage nurses back into the profession. Nursing apprenticeships need to be reintroduced.

However, this Government seems incapable of action. I despair.

Dr Carey Nash
Arbroath, Angus
 

Lord Young’s legacy

SIR – Perhaps lesser known among the remarkable achievements of Lord Young of Graffham (Obituaries, December 10) is his role in helping the Prince’s Trust to become the leading charity of youth enterprise that it now is.

This was through his early spotting of the great potential of the Youth Business Initiative, which the then Prince of Wales had created to assist and fund unemployed young people to get off the dole and start their own businesses.

In 1986, Lord Young’s offer on behalf of the government of matched funding provided the catalyst for its merger with Sir Angus Ogilvy’s charity, the Youth Enterprise Scheme, to create the Prince’s Youth Business Trust under the umbrella of the Prince’s Trust.

Progress was turbocharged, and within 10 years, some 25,000 new businesses had got off the ground. Two-thirds of these were still flourishing after the time period in which, usually, the same number would have failed – a tribute both to the Prince’s Trust, of course, but also to Lord Young’s remarkable foresight and abilities.

Rupert Fairfax
Assistant private secretary to the then Prince of Wales (1986-88)
Castle Bytham, Lincolnshire

SIR – Lord Young was a brave and principled Thatcherite torchbearer whose energy and ideas will be greatly missed.

A staunch supporter of Brexit, deregulation, privatisation and free markets, he understood that the Conservatives’ future political success is dependent on the party keeping faith with its low-tax, pro-business and property-owning philosophy. Moreover, in his memoirs, he recalled how even at the zenith of Thatcherism, true believers were in a minority within Cabinet.

His death comes at a perilous but by no means hopeless moment for the Conservatives. Following the setbacks of recent weeks, especially the overturning of the mini-Budget – the best articulation of the party’s core values in more than 30 years – and the subsequent imposition of the highest taxes since the Second World War, Thatcherites must keep the faith, fight our corner and resist the temptation to defect to insurgent parties that have no chance of electoral success.

Philip Duly
Haslemere, Surrey

Kane’s courage

SIR – I know nothing about the “beautiful game”, but I did sit and watch the England versus France match in order to keep my husband company. I am so glad that I did, as I could not believe the courage it took for Harry Kane, England’s captain, to walk up and take those two penalties with a large part of our country and much of the world watching.

His obvious disappointment but quiet dignity when the second one failed to find the back of the net was humbling. He has restored my pride in my country.

Linda Willby
Thornton le Dale, North Yorkshire

Two, six, heave

SIR – I have just watched a documentary that showed people removing furniture to clear the way for festive decorations at Blenheim Palace, to the chant of “One, two, three, lift”.

For decades I have wondered why civvies chant this when moving heavy objects, while the Royal Navy uses the call “Two, six, heave”.

Does the Merchant Navy use the same call?

Bernard Walton
Blairgowrie, Perthshire

Channel migration

SIR – The Archbishop of Canterbury is, of course, entitled to his opinion that the Government’s handling of the Channel migrant crisis is “cruel” and “harmful” (report, December 10).

However, the fact is that Britain’s immigration system has been overwhelmed by economic migrants, most recently those from Albania, masquerading as asylum seekers – ironically, to the detriment of genuine asylum seekers.

Moreover, the Archbishop’s view with regard to the possibility of deportation to Rwanda is not shared by his fellow cleric Laurent Mbanda, the Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Rwanda, who earlier this year shared the view that the policy of removing asylum seekers to Rwanda was not immoral, and that Rwanda was ready to welcome people needing a home.

James A Cowan
Durham

Fake but festive

SIR – Congratulations to Judith Woods for buying an artificial Christmas tree (“Why fake fir could be the future of Christmas”, Features, December 9).

We purchased ours at great expense (£60, I think) in the 1980s. It comes out every year and looks magnificent. It has different colour schemes each time because the money I have saved has been spent on many baubles and decorations.

Eileen Fawdry
Hampton Hill, Middlesex

Port preference

SIR – Regarding the Basil Street hotel in London serving a glass of port before every evening meal (Letters, December 10), the apéritif of choice in this house is a highly refreshing dry white port and tonic – a porto tonico.

However, after a particularly challenging day, this can be upgraded to a vodka portini: three equal measures of London dry gin, vodka and dry white port, served shaken with ice and garnished with lime.

Steven Tong
Shifnal, Shropshire

SIR – Whenever I serve port at home, after decanting it I offer a snifter to my dinner guests as they sip the fizz on arrival.

This way, they are able to taste this most delicious of postprandial drinks while they are still relatively sober. They are then happily reunited with the port, now a friend, after dinner.

Ben Howkins
Staverton, Northamptonshire

Arriving too late to order an all-day breakfast

SIR – Marion Hansford’s letter (December 7) on teacakes not being served after 11am at Marks and Spencer reminded me of driving to Scotland from London some years ago. 

After many hours at the wheel, the prospect of an all-day breakfast at a service station in the Borders was very tempting. “Sorry, sir,” was the depressing reply when I tried to order one, “we only serve the all-day breakfast up to 11 o’clock.”

It took very little ingenuity, however, to order the individual components and assemble them on one plate. Problem solved.

Professor Richard Ramsden
Thame, Oxfordshire

SIR – I had got used to things only getting worse in Britain. So I was pleasantly surprised after Marion Hansford complained that Marks and Spencer had stopped serving toasted teacakes after 11am.

I’m old enough still to use Twitter, and saw that the Radio 3 presenter Petroc Trelawny had tweeted a copy of Mrs Hansford’s letter. Thousands responded to it. Next day Stuart Machin, the chief executive of M&S, solemnly pledged: “Toasted teacakes will be back on the all day menu.”

What benign power Telegraph letter-writers have.

Elizabeth Johnson
London SW5

Why Netflix is wrong about the Commonwealth

SIR – I’m distressed by the way the Duke and Duchess of Sussex dismiss the Commonwealth in their Netflix documentary (Comment, December 10). My father, Harold Platts MC, served as a civil engineer in the public works department of the British protectorate of Zanzibar in the 1920s. I have his photograph album showing the many infrastructure projects, road building, bridges and other improvements that he supervised. He is just one of many such examples in countries that now enjoy Commonwealth membership.

My father was decorated by the sultan of Zanzibar with the Brilliant Star of Zanzibar (Fourth Class) in recognition of his work. I have this alongside his medals from his Royal Engineers service in 1918-19 and the Defence Medal for four years as a captain in the Home Guard.

Humphrey Platts
Grantham, Lincolnshire

SIR – I’ve cancelled my subscription to Netflix in protest over the obscene reported payments it made to the Sussexes. So far, the episodes have been disrespectful to our Royal family, including our beloved late Queen.

The Commonwealth is a great institution that brings the world closer together, commercially and culturally. I feel sorry for those living in the Sussex counties, as the Duke and Duchess appear by their titles to represent them. The time has now come for these titles to be removed.

Christopher Lewis
London W9

Letters to the Editor

We accept letters by post, fax and email only. Please include name, address, work and home telephone numbers.  
ADDRESS: 111 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 0DT   
FAX: 020 7931 2878   
EMAIL: dtletters@telegraph.co.uk   
FOLLOW: Telegraph Letters on Twitter @LettersDesk