This time, Tory anti-strike tactics will backfire

The hypocrisy of a government that refuses to engage in meaningful talks with nurses over their woefully inadequate pay, while proposing a new era of financial deregulation that allows the return of dubious practices to inflate corporate profits and encourage obscene director bonuses, will not have escaped the public’s attention.

Relaxing the rules under which Britain’s free market economy operates, while placing restrictions on the rights of trade unions to effectively represent workers’ interests, is a dangerous distortion of all our democratic rights.

Attempting to scapegoat trade unions as the cause of Britain’s structural economic weaknesses has been a longstanding Tory tactic, employed in 1926, 1974, 1979 and 1985. It has occasionally brought them electoral dividends – though the long-term economic and social scars remain with us today.

This time, the Tories’ tactics look more likely to badly backfire on them.

Paul Dolan

Northwich, Cheshire

At various periods throughout my 75 years, I have played and watched football and I see it as potentially a wonderful canvas for demonstrating skill and teamwork.

Gareth Southgate and his young players display many admirable qualities. However, in recent years, I see the World Cup, which should be a showcase of the sport, as a disturbing, exploited spectacle and I need to rationalise this conflicted view.

It is tempting to see money and over-commercialism as the root of my feeling and, although that plays a part, it is not the reason. The answer is to be found in the exploitation of the event by those in many countries who wish to generate unpleasant nationalism. 

Abusive, jingositic headlines based on ridiculous stereotyping appear in many of our media outlets before England play a game against Germany, France, Argentina and many other countries. They are childish and infantile at best, and vile and divisive at worst. We are not the only guilty country, but we are among the worst offenders.

Political leaders over the years have realised the benefits to their agenda of exploiting nationalism. How often do you hear the ridiculous slogan “the greatest nation on Earth” expressed by “scoundrels” – to borrow Samuel Johnson’s words. At this critical point in human history, the world needs unity – not division.

It is for this reason that I shall be relieved when the World Cup is over, nationalism is off the stage and hopefully back in its cage, and I can get back to watching a football match as a celebration of human skill and not as an opportunity to divide us all.

John Dillon

Birmingham

The splendid article by Zoe Tidman did not overly surprise me in naming Burnley, Blackburn and Blackpool as three of our most deprived towns. Personally, I would have chosen my Lincolnshire namesake as one, but there you are – maybe it is fourth.

It also didn’t surprise me that all three voted for Brexit; they all fell for the untruths that their problems were caused by foreigners and not years of UK governmental neglect. By the way, they were in decline when I was at school, and that is over 40 years ago.

I wonder if many people in said towns have calculated how much EU funding – from one pot or another – they have missed out on since leaving the largest free trade bloc in the world? I would conjecture quite a considerable sum, and rising.

Robert Boston

Kingshill, Kent

With a raft of strikes set to hit festive travel, thank goodness Santa Claus isn’t reliant on planes, trains or automobiles.

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Santa’s exemption from immigration and customs controls means that Border Force strikes will not impact on his national and international travel plans.

There are, however, concerns this year about Father Christmas’s health: the increased workload due to the ongoing postal strike, coupled with the yearly pressure of intense seasonal expectation, is a worry. 

St Nicholas isn’t getting any younger, and an icy slip, trip or fall at the North Pole in the build-up to Christmas will not guarantee a timely response from an emergency paramedic. Delayed care, and potential complications due to his elevated BMI, could result in Santa being in bed on Christmas Eve. What would we then say to the children?

Gary Freestone

Leicester