Letters: Tories must stick up for their party's values if they want to be re-elected

SIR – Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Business Secretary, justified the Tory tax U-turn by saying: “This is politics”. Some of us remember that it used to be politics to stick up for what one believed, having achieved power, and not cave in at the first “little turbulence”. It used to be that politics was about making your case.

Ben Houchen, the Tory mayor of the Tees Valley, called for the removal of the bankers’ bonus cap to be reversed, saying that “the economic argument is understandably a sound one” but “most of the country” might not want it.

The lowering of the top tax rate from 45p to 40p (still a huge amount for the state to take in addition to National Insurance) was also economically sound, as is increasing benefits in line with average earnings rather than an inflation rate that is on its way down.

Mr Houchen and his ilk should make this argument and support their new leader. It would not only be right, but it would also get them re-elected.

Tim Coles
Carlton, Bedfordshire

SIR – The Tory party has a problem. The grass roots wanted Liz Truss. The MPs want Rishi Sunak.

Eddie Peart
Rotherham, South Yorkshire

SIR – We thought we were getting another Margaret Thatcher, but it seems we have another Theresa May.

Trevor Joyce
Canterbury, Kent

SIR – After taking all that time to choose a new leader, many Tory MPs are not happy with the result.

Instead of accepting it and doing their best for the country, they are behaving like Remainers who did not accept Brexit. How many of the current rebel MPs criticised Remainers for doing this?

These MPs should be ashamed of themselves for not accepting the democratic vote, and should move on and work with Liz Truss to get this country moving up, not down.

Bernard Howes
Godalming, Surrey

SIR – Michael Gove, a key Brexiteer in the referendum campaign, is now behaving like a Remainer. Is he eyeing up a job with the BBC?

Simon McIlroy
Croydon, Surrey

SIR – We all knew that Liz Truss was not Margaret Thatcher, but we hoped; and we all knew that Boris Johnson was not Churchill, but we hoped.

In failing to support their party leader – again – Michael Gove and the rebels around him have probably hammered the last nail into their own coffin, and handed the 2024 election to Labour.

This is a party in thrall to wokery, unable to define a woman, that takes the knee, that for years happily supported the dangerous eccentric Jeremy Corbyn as its leader, that hated Brexit and wanted to reverse it, that wanted longer, tougher lockdowns, that pursues the politics of envy, and that is home to MPs who are now happy to join picket lines. God help us.

Major Nigel Price (retd)
Wilmslow, Cheshire

‘Free’ NHS

SIR – It is unclear if Dr William Walker (Letters, October 4) is criticising the Canadian healthcare system for expecting payment for service. Had he been at a private hospital in Britain, he would have faced the same situation.

In the past, when we trusted people, I had several foreign visitors who failed to pay for treatment. One gave a false name and address; another had a taxi outside the hospital, into which his wife pitched him from a wheelchair, and was at the airport before we knew he had gone; others assumed their home healthcare insurance covered them in Britain, which it didn’t.

Interestingly, they were all American. We learnt to take at least a credit card payment before admission.

To people in our country, however, the NHS has given the false impression that healthcare is not only free at the point of delivery, but free.

David Nunn FRCS
West Malling, Kent

SIR – Sally Bennett (Letters, October 1) mentions suffering from “scanxiety” when awaiting the results of radiology investigations. She is not the only one affected. Radiologists also suffer, but for totally different reasons.

We are highly trained doctors who interpret all of these scans but we work in a specialty with 1,900 vacancies, predicted by the Royal College of Radiologists to rise to 3,600 by 2025. We are over capacity, with more scans being performed than we can look at, so there is the inevitable delay in getting the scans reported.

We are acutely aware that patients are coming to clinic to get results, and if we know they are coming we can direct our attention to their scans so that they don’t have a wasted journey. This doesn’t always work and, by doing it, we are moving other more routine work further down the reporting list.

Each scan is complex and consists of many hundreds, sometimes thousands, of images that all need to be manipulated and looked at carefully. We don’t want to rush because each patient deserves their scan to be reported as accurately as possible in order to inform the next part of treatment or provide reassurance that all is well. Some scans are quick to look at, others take a long time to consider, and we give each one the time it needs.

The main problem we have is that we don’t know what is on a scan until we look at it, and so our anxiety is not only fuelled by the long list of unreported examinations, but also by knowing that all sorts of serious and potentially life-threatening pathology might be present on a scan as yet unexamined. This is particularly the case with routine scans.

There is no easy answer for either patients or radiologists, and until someone has the nerve to make some difficult choices, this situation will sadly continue.

Dr Heather Harris
Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Tolkien cash-in

SIR – Tanya Gold is right that Amazon’s The Rings of Power is a betrayal of J R R Tolkien, but this is nothing new.

Although Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy largely did justice to the work, it still cut out sections of the plot (which was excusable, given the extent of the source material) and changed the ending (which was not).

The Hobbit, however, turned a short children’s story into three blockbuster films with new storylines, characters that never appeared in the original, and an excess of computer-generated imagery. To create five seasons of The Rings of Power out of no more than Tolkien’s footnotes is, again, simply cashing in on the work of a master.

Charles Smith-Jones
Landrake, Cornwall

Schooled for success

SIR – I attended Richard Fairclough Secondary Modern (Letters, October 4) in Warrington in the 1950s. We received a sound education and strict discipline, which enabled many pupils to become highly skilled tradesmen in several fields, from construction and engineering to the nuclear industry.

We also had access to night school, which was the secret weapon of the working classes and facilitated progress. Many of my peers became business owners, and well-to-do as a result. I started in business at 18 and worked for myself until I retired.

I was pleased to read that Peter J Newton managed to get a university place, but I can assure him it is not the only avenue to success. None of the children I grew up with went to university – but all had successful careers and contributed to the wellbeing of the country.

Desmond Wilcox
Warrington, Cheshire

SIR – I failed my 11-plus and went to an extraordinary secondary modern. It had a farm, metalwork shops, pottery kilns and huge playing fields, and also taught the standard curriculum. My CSEs and more modest number of GCEs didn’t hold me back – as my jobs as board director with a Japanese multinational and CEO of an industry body show.

The lively teaching and the breadth of pupils made for a very enjoyable six years, and friendships still endure.

Ian Dickens
Gurnard, Isle of Wight

SIR – Aged 11 I visited a local grammar school, a grand ivy-covered Georgian building surrounded by playing fields, tennis courts and gardens, with a Greek theatre. I also visited a secondary modern, a bleak 1950s-built functional block with an asphalt playground and railings surrounding it. To me it looked like a prison. My utter terror that I might have to go there caused me to fail the 11-plus the first time, and I had to resit. Bring back grammar schools by all means, but the alternatives must not scream “second best”.

Mary Southgate
South Hanningfield, Essex

Sloe and sherry

SIR – Sloes are the gift that keeps on giving (Letters, October 4). Once the sloe-flavoured gin has been decanted from the berries, simply replace it with the cheapest sweet sherry you can buy. The result, after another year, will be a delicious port-like drink.

Peter Chennell
Wimborne, Dorset

Why the Elgin Marbles belong in Athens

SIR – We welcome John Lefas’s campaign to return the Parthenon Sculptures, improperly removed from Athens by Lord Elgin more than 200 years ago and still held by the British Museum.

Polling in Britain shows that, when the facts are known, a clear majority supports the sculptures’ return. This country’s international standing can only be enhanced by such gracious acts as initiating the reunification of the sculptures.

Mr Lefas’s initiative correctly identifies the British Museum Act 1963 as a major point of contention. The British Government presently says it’s a matter for museum trustees. The trustees say they are prevented by that legislation from returning the sculptures.

The law needs to be changed in order to overcome this impasse. The Acropolis Research Group – an international coalition with a common interest in the restitution of cultural artefacts and other treasures that were appropriated in dubious circumstances – encourages British politicians and museum trustees to engage fully in this project and put right a matter that has stained Britain’s reputation for more than two centuries.

Andrew George
Geoffrey White
Matthew Taylor
British Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures
David Hill
George Vardas
Elly Symons
Jim Mellas
Australian Parthenon Association Inc
Alexandra Pistofidou
Austrian Committee for the Return of the Parthenon Sculptures

SIR – Should Britain repatriate the Elgin Marbles, Benin Bronzes and Rosetta Stone?

Many years ago my wife and I visited Lascaux II, a perfect copy of the prehistoric works of cave art. Since 1983, 10 million people have visited these replicas, and I suspect that no one has been disappointed.

Modern technology should be able to produce accurate replicas of the aforementioned works of art. The originals could then be returned.

Tony Palframan
Disley, Cheshire

Tea or coffee? There’s no need to choose

SIR – In the early 1960s, while in my late teens, I was a bus conductor in Birmingham. The depot canteen charged a penny for a cup of tea (Letters, October 4) or coffee – made, of course, with Camp Coffee.

A variation favoured by the West Indian crews was a “teacoffee” – a cup of tea, poured from the huge aluminium teapot, into which was stirred a spoonful of Camp Coffee. The result was tasty and caught on among the rest of the crews, despite the price premium of an extra halfpenny.

David Law
Salisbury, Wiltshire

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