The recent snow should remind us to thank the nation's carers

The recent heavy snow and ensuing disruption has once again demonstrated the courage and commitment of carers – paid and unpaid – who have battled the elements to ensure our most vulnerable continue to get the care they need.

A care home cannot close because of the snow, just as people in their own homes cannot go without their vital visit from a home-carer, however difficult it might be to reach them.

In floods and other disasters and emergencies we would, quite rightly, be swift to praise the emergency services that help others.

So in this period of treacherous and dangerous weather, we should also recognise and applaud carers who put their own safety and comfort aside, 24/7, 365 days a year, to look after us.

Mike Padgham, chair, the Independent Care Group

Harrogate

Christmas is a time when charity is very much at the forefront, but is it all a distraction?

Take food banks as an example. Go to any supermarket and you will find a basket full of goods, bought and donated by the public for food banks. Meanwhile, the supermarket pays the staff such low wages that they themselves often have to go to the food banks. The supermarket also has another basket round the back that is filled up with food to throw away.

Yes, it is good to give, but at the same time should we not be asking why, in one of the richest countries in the world, thousands of people have to use food banks?

Also, I pay my taxes to provide a fair welfare system that supports people when they fall on hard times, not subsidise bad employers who don’t want to pay living wages. Nor do I support the present system that seeks to punish people for their misfortunes and helps push them towards food-bank usage.

Paul Donovan
London E11

Last weekend Michy Batshuayi was ridiculed for using a hot water bottle. Match of the Day’s usually superb Jonathan Pearce did himself no favours by asking what Ron “Chopper” Harris would make of it. Players have been derided for wearing mufflers, gloves and tights. For his use of an umbrella, Steve McClaren was labelled “the wally with the brolly”.

Why? What is wrong with keeping warm and dry?

The implication is that these acts compromise masculinity, manliness, machismo – and therefore deserve to be lambasted.

When such innocuous behaviour attracts this kind of derision, is it any wonder that we are yet to see an openly gay footballer in the Premier League?

Football in Britain has an awfully long way to go before it can claim to be truly inclusive.

Max Jones
Broadstairs

It’s all too easy to sit on the sidelines and criticise whatever move the Prime Minister and the Cabinet make over Brexit. When the best thing that any of them can do is appear incompetent, what hope do we stand of a good agreement with the other 27 EU member states?

In my working life, I had to handle many situations where people weren’t performing well, and I just used common sense and some care and managed to get nearly all of these people to produce great results. When are we as a nation going to demand the same of our politicians?

Steve Mumby
Bournemouth

Your recent article about electroconvulsive therapy, unmodified and improved, was interesting and brought this treatment into the light again.

You may be interested in my anecdotal evidence about this treatment from the late 1960s.

My first wife became severely depressed and spent a number of months in a mental hospital. Happily, in the end she recovered and was able to return to normal life without recourse to ECT, which was regularly used in the hospital where she was treated.

The interesting thing is that a number of other patients underwent ECT and were apparently “miraculously” cured by it and left the hospital rejoicing. However, within the few months that my wife was in the hospital, many of them returned in at least as bad a state as they had been before having ECT.

It was apparent to us both that the short-term effects of ECT did not necessarily last for more than a few months. This was very sad for those to whom it initially seemed the ultimate answer, but it also posed a major question about the efficacy of the treatment itself. It would be interesting to know whether others shared this experience and also what the current medical view is about the medium term results of ECT.

Bernard Theobald
Nottingham

On Sunday millions of us sat enthralled at the magnificent Blue Planet II, as David Attenborough called on us to take responsibility for our planet and fight the rise in CO2 emissions.

Not two days later, I see dozens of people leaving front doors open in sub-zero temperatures, starting their cars 10 minutes before driving them off, and no doubt turning up the heating instead of putting on an extra sweater or pair of socks – all causing widescale waste of energy and thus increased CO2 emissions.

When will we learn that environmental responsibility starts at home?

Chris Bowers
Ringmer

Robin Le Mare argues that this is not the time to put another man on the moon (Letters). I disagree. David Davis should immediately be blasted off to join Boris Johnson who is clearly already there.

Ron Westmaas
Somerset