The school concrete scandal is the price we pay for Tory neglect

The fact that the education minister, Nick Gibb, is openly admitting that more classrooms could face collapsing because of dodgy concrete simply underlines the price being paid for years of Tory neglect and austerity.

At a time when educational funding should at least have been ringfenced, what we are now seeing is another fine mess the Tories have got us into.

If we had anything like the financial commitment offered to education under Labour, as is so regularly set out by shadow schools minister Stephen Morgan, none of this would happen.

Whilst the Tories have literally left schools to rot at the same time as cutting taxes for the richest one per cent, Labour, thankfully, will ensure that schools are fit for purpose and that our children at the very least kept safe.

Geoffrey Brooking

Hampshire

I am heartily sick of the disruption on the railways. It’s been going on so long that new issues have been brought in, and both sides apparently dug in for the long haul. It could go on forever at this rate. I’m sure that both sides have interests to defend, but caught in the middle are the travelling public.

It’s true that buses and or coaches are sometimes an alternative, but they tend to take longer and run less frequently than trains, in my experience. It’s true that sometimes one can car-share, but that isn’t always an option. The most recent strikes seem designed to make going away for weekend events more difficult or impossible.

All in all, I think all the parties involved need their heads banging together. More generously, as it’s been a year, I am willing to provide a birthday cake provided they sit round a table together and come to an agreement as they eat it.

Michael Gunton

Southsea

Why do we have an education system? Not for the student, although some will benefit from good jobs and higher salaries but will then pay more tax.

Education is for the benefit of the country.

We could not survive in this technological age without a highly trained workforce. Why then is the cost of higher education foisted onto students when the nation benefits? A direct monetary benefit from students in science, engineering and maths and a cultural benefit from students in the arts, so we can honestly declare ourselves as a civilised country!

The fees for higher and further education should be paid by the government, with students only responsible for living expenses. Even then accommodation should be on a cost basis and not seen as a means of making profits from first-year students who are in a vulnerable situation.

The cost of education is indeterminate – rather think of a situation without higher education and the research it fosters and our standing in the world order.

Robert Murray

Nottingham

Taking spending power out of the economy by raising interest rates and hence mortgages seems an outdated tool. Because of fixed-term mortgages, there is an unavoidable lag in the effect, which makes it hard to judge when enough is enough without rolling over into recession. And the mechanism unduly penalises the young and less well-off while leaving the wealthy older generation relatively untouched. It seems perverse.

It would be preferable to increase taxes which would have the same effect, but which could be better targeted across the population. And the proceeds could be spent improving productivity and/or the environment – or if that were too inflationary (God forbid), the level of debt could be reduced.

Alas, at present I see no prospect of this happening as neither the Conservatives nor Labour could take the risk of such a policy which would likely prove electoral suicide. But after Labour have vainly tried more of the same medicine after they win next year’s election, perhaps there could be a move to a national government comprising the main parties as in the 1930s who could share responsibility for such an effective but politically difficult policy.

Tim Sidaway

Hertfordshire