I live in fear for my daughter’s health because of this government

What our government has chosen to do to our NHS is not just unforgivable, but criminal. I recently had to take my daughter, who is disabled with chronic respiratory issues, to A&E. I have never seen a paediatric waiting room so full, with children lying on the floor, paramedics bringing patients in and finding nowhere to put them. As a parent, it is terrifying.

We now live in a state of fear. My child goes from coping well with a chest infection to severely ill, rapidly. She regularly needs to be admitted to hospital, and we know that the key to keeping her alive is being able to access treatment swiftly. Now, in 2023, we know that this is not possible.

Make no mistake. The defunding of the NHS is a political choice by a government that serves the rich, not the majority of UK citizens. They can’t comprehend that a service can exist for the good of the people, rather than to make a profit. That mindset in itself is a sickness.

Now between 300 and 500 people are dying a week purely because of what our Conservative government has chosen to do to our A&Es. How many more are dying because of the horrendous waiting lists for treatment? How can these politicians make such decisions and not be held accountable?

Don’t fall for their gaslighting. It’s not your fault for going to A&E because you couldn’t get a GP appointment. It’s not your neighbour’s fault because they emigrated here. It’s not the nurse’s fault because they campaign for a living wage. It is the fault of a government that chooses to risk the lives of you and your children.

Rachel Curtis

Northumberland

I feel compelled to respond to Des Brown’s letter of yesterday, “There’s more to rejoining the EU than just waving a flag”. I have to say that Mr Brown’s "Why?" and "What?" are specious. The "Who?" is answered by the certainty that, given sufficient “public opinion polls”, a politician would emerge to espouse any cause.

However, Mr Brown’s "How?" is a succinct and wholly accurate analysis of the reality we are mired in. Rejoining will have to wait till the pound is worth about €0.50 and we are so diminished that we would accept any terms.

To reach that point without the union fracturing, or violence on the Irish question, or general civil unrest, is highly unlikely. I have lived through the winter of disconten” and the poll tax riots and do not believe that the average Briton’s quality of life, including the NHS and the rest of the infrastructure of a civilised society, can be eroded much more without serious reaction.

The conclusion is therefore inevitable. We are not going to rejoin the EU any time soon and the consequences will not be benign. How we mitigate these consequences is beyond my imagination and, evidently, the imagination of our current crop of politicians.

Nonetheless, I wish all your readers and everyone at The Independent, a happy and peaceful 2023.

Chris D

Dumfries

Though former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been electorally "thwarted", it may be temporary.

Even before his election defeat to Lula, he had publicly stated that if he lost, it would be due to electoral fraud. Sound familiar? But unlike Donald Trump, Bolsonaro reportedly has the support of most of the Brazilian police force and was busy getting the military on side as well.

Brazilians have been implicitly threatened by Bolsonaro’s adamance that socialism is the real danger to their nation that needs stopping. He’s the same despot who’s allowed the Amazonian rainforest to be razed by both meat farmers and wildfires.

Disturbingly, in the midst of yet another unprecedented wildfire three summers ago, the Evangelical Christian declared that his presidency – and, one presumes, all of the formidable environmental damage he has inflicted while in power – is somehow divine: “It is difficult to be president of Brazil because it is a president that has less authority,” he said. “I am fulfilling a mission from God.”

Ironically, Christ’s teachings epitomise the primary component of socialism – do not hoard superfluous wealth in the midst of poverty; and he clearly would not tolerate the accumulation of tens of billions of dollars by individual people, especially while so many others go hungry and homeless.

Frank Sterle Jr

White Ro​ck, British Columbia