
Isn’t it time to call out the complete deception that is being peddled as “levelling up”? (“You can’t level up by raising taxes on the poor, Tories tell PM”, News). We know that Boris Johnson is ace at spewing out slogans and phrases that can sound good. Most are devoid of serious content and serve only as a distraction from what is really needed to give everyone who works, has worked, will work or would like to work a really fair chance in life.
“Levelling up” was invented only to persuade rich people who keep the Tory party afloat of the idea that fairness and social justice won’t cost them anything. They were never seriously asked to pay for the disaster that befell the world economy in 2008, even though their wealth was hugely bolstered by the abuses that brought that collapse about in the first place. It was whole populations of ordinary people who had to pay through years of austerity when services were cut to the bone and needs were ignored, so that after 11 years of Tory rule we are now on the brink.
Roger Pask
Barnham, West Sussex
Restore our rivers
Robin McKie’s very good piece on the need for a rivers act to restore and protect our waterways for people and for wildlife (“Heatwaves, sewage, pesticides… why our rivers urgently need a ‘new deal’ to avert crisis”, News) would have benefited from a reference to George Monbiot’s excellent investigative journalism on the subject of the River Wye earlier this year. His film Rivercide is a shock to the system and should be a wake-up call for government.
The fact that it took local community scientists to expose the failings of an underfunded Environment Agency in performing its statutory duties is a dreadful indictment of those in power. To the four suggested measures to be included in any future act should be added industrial farms and the inevitable effect of run-off of animal dung, rendering rivers lifeless.
Stephen Leahy
Leeds
Older women are abused too
Your article on the harassment of women and girls “up to middle age” ignores the legions of older women who encounter hostility or being patronised by these same men (“You can’t opt in and out of taking violence against women seriously”, Comment). Older women are subject to rape. Rape is a violent act that has nothing to do with sexual attraction.
Val Mainwood
Wivenhoe, Essex
The adventures of Mrs Trellis
Amelia Tait has discovered the hobby of scambaiting (“Who scams the scammers? Meet the scambaiters”, Observer Magazine). This is not new. Almost 20 years ago, a colleague began documenting their adventures as a scambuster in the guise of the well-known prolific correspondent, Mrs Trellis of north Wales. Some of her more memorable adventures are documented online at mrstrellis.co.uk.
Ruth Charles
Swavesey, Cambridge
The real cost of fossil fuels
Although I am one of those Bulb customers who has recently received notice of an energy price increase, I was genuinely shocked at the prices some people are being asked to pay (“Energy firm under fire for 80% monthly bill rise”, News). When, although in credit, I received notification of a monthly rise from £90 to £124.91, I thought that was bad enough, but it would seem that I may be one of the luckier ones. Certainly the solar panels I had installed in 2005 have paid their way, as have later investments in improved insulation.
Steve Edwards
Wivelsfield Green, Haywards Heath, West Sussex
Time to reopen surgeries
Much of the anger directed at GPs is caused by rigid application of Covid rules while other sectors are relaxing (“Doctors, receptionists and practice teams quit after wave of hostility over GP appointments”, News). Patients can see empty surgeries yet are prevented from going in (even masked) to make appointments and are told to go home and phone. It can take up to half an hour to get an answer. Patients are then quizzed by a non-medically trained person and if they are lucky get a phone appointment. This is limited to the specific problem and the GP cannot see anything else that could be significant. All this could be addressed by opening surgeries again.
Jane Ghosh
Bristol
A little respect
Re “The minimum wage is meaningless if we don’t treat workers with respect” (Business leader): I had almost given up waiting for someone to write about this appalling situation. Around 60% of the population earn £24,000 or less a year and the cost of bare essentials is rising constantly, which adds to the precarious lives of so many. Politicians note with enthusiasm that the economic health of this country depends on people spending, yet appear oblivious to the obvious – that the vast majority of citizens don’t have funds to spend on anything but the essentials unless they borrow or get credit.
Elsewhere in the world, leaders are living lives of unimaginable luxury while the majority live in poverty and you may wonder why there are no uprisings to put an end to this abomination. I would imagine that the travails of feeding your children day to day take up so much time and energy that there is little opportunity to fight the system. I have a horrible suspicion that the UK is heading in the same direction.
Anna Farlow
London NW2
Accept us as women
Do you have to deny Darwin’s theory of natural selection, as Nick Cohen claimed, in order to say trans women are women (“Shouldn’t progressives be in favour of people wanting to speak their mind?”, Comment)? I do not deny biological sex: it resulted in my existence. And I have a need to express myself as a woman. I felt misery and despair when I tried to suppress it, and increasingly now, reading hostility and denial in leftwing media. Just as platypuses are mammals that lay eggs, so trans women are women who confuse people who like clear, “logical” categories. Accept us as women and we flourish and contribute. We are ordinary people, not a threatening, dangerous minority group.
Abigail Maxwell
Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire