Cancer sufferers should never have to choose between eating and heating

I read with interest The Independent’s article on cancer sufferers. It is deeply wrong that when people are coming to terms with an illness, many are also forced into financial turmoil.

I regularly speak with dying people who are concerned about paying bills due to financial struggles. They often ask about what benefits they or their loved ones are entitled to. This shouldn’t be something people need to worry about when they are dying.

The government must rapidly bring forward its plans to expedite access to vital welfare support and also ensure that no one with a terminal illness has to choose between heating or eating this winter, by giving them support with energy bills through the warm home discount.

Brigette Flye

Marie Curie information and support line team leader

What is it going to take to force this Tory government into supporting the poorest families in this country better? A story about a newborn baby being frozen to death in its crib, perhaps?

That would certainly provoke a few ums and ahs from Johnson at PMQs, would it not? Of course, with this currently freezing weather it’s highly possible that this could actually happen in this country, seeing as many people can no longer afford to adequately heat their homes and feed their children.

In fact, if it did happen Boris would feign regret and assure the baby’s parents that he was “extremely saddened” on their behalf, knowing full well that his own small children could not possibly suffer such a terrible fate.

Linda Evans

London

Lovely man that he is, courteous and underplayed, regrettably Sir Lindsay Hoyle must be one of the weakest of people ever to hold the office of speaker.

When we have a prime minister who finds the telling of a lie as natural as breathing, we have a speaker who finds it against his nature to be cross. As reported by Tom Peck, during the course of this week’s PMQs, Johnson lied to the House.

Personally, I am utterly sick of reading of yet another blatant lie told by Johnson. Why on earth doesn’t Mr Speaker demand Johnson return and apologise? Come on Sir Lindsay, assert your authority.

Graham Barlow

Wirral

Surely, the wisest course of action that Novak Djokovic could take to resolve the Australian logjam and his future attendance in tournaments this year would be to start up an anti-vax tennis circuit.

There are reportedly other, admittedly low ranked, vaccine sceptic tennis pros and I am confident that many high profile anti-vaxxers – mindful of the demonstration timetable – would be delighted to join such a money-spinning spectacle.

After all, who wouldn’t pay good money to see Piers Corbyn wearing his best 1920s shorts?

Robert Boston

Kingshill

The pressure on the NHS is delaying urgent operations such as cardiac and cancer treatments. The backlog of almost 6 million patients on waiting lists is growing.

Yet Omicron is apparently not as severe a variant as Delta, a fact confirmed by vaccinated members of my own family and friends who have contracted this infectious variant. But an increased number of Omicron-infected patients are being admitted to hospitals, filling up ICUs. The logical conclusion is that the vast majority of those hospitalised with Omicron are unvaccinated.

If, as appears to be the case, Covid-infected anti-vaxxers are filling hospitals and putting pressure on the NHS, why are the published numbers not being broken down into vaccinated and unvaccinated cases?

If we are going to allow the small minority of unvaccinated to move around the community with impunity, infecting and being infected, we should at least be transparent in publishing the impact this has on the relevant numbers.

The vast vaccinated majority who do their bit for themselves and society at large have the right to know the impact their unvaccinated brethren are having on general access to the NHS.

Nick Eastwell

London

At Wednesday’s PMQs, Johnson boasted of what he was doing for pensioners like me, claiming that pensioners are “supported with the £300 winter fuel payments”. This is not the case as many can testify.

Firstly, the winter fuel payment is not £300. A 75-year-old pensioner like me does not receive £300 but £100, and my pensioner wife gets the same, bringing the household total up to £200.

Secondly, the winter fuel payment is not something that Johnson or his government can claim any credit for; it was introduced in 1997 by then Labour’s chancellor, Gordon Brown, at £200 per household. At that time, average fuel bills were around £650 now they are around £1,100 and set to skyrocket. The winter fuel payment has not changed since then, certainly not in the last 12 years of Tory rule.

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In typical Johnson style, he preferred to use a carefully prepared but dishonest soundbite to suggest that he was a hero who recently introduced the winter fuel payments, worth three times the real figure, simply to gain a few cheers from the backbenchers who prop him up.

No surprise really, as this is what we expect from a man who is all front and no substance, all dither, delay and denial, and well past his sell-by date.

John Simpson

Ross on Wye

Although we are experiencing rising crisis levels of people testing positive, increasing hospital admissions, all critical service industries facing staff shortages or absences, a prime minister admitting the NHS is under increasing pressure, etc – the “government” sees no reason to change current measures.

They keep saying “we are ready to act if necessary”, but in reality they are scared to and are letting the people decide what to do.

In my book, leaving it to individuals to decide on what action to take in a crisis is not governance, but chaos. I think the word is anarchy.

Tony Shephard

Shifnal

Emma Watson should be applauded for championing the rights of Palestinians. This helps in illuminating the gruesome realities in the occupied Palestinian territories and the shrinking prospects of a two state solution, comprising a secure Israel and a free Palestine, living side-by-side in peace and harmony.

Only the realisation of the legitimate aspiration of Palestinians to freedom and sovereignty can lead to sustainable and longstanding peace.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob

London