This country cannot afford another Tory government

I truly hope the Conservatives are heading for a landslide defeat in the next election, as this country cannot afford another Tory government. Listening to the prime minister’s recent round of interviews it’s clear Rishi Sunak is just repeating the same old waffle. He talks about helping hard-pressed motorists, yet is constantly using a private helicopter for all his journeys!

Sunak has never experienced what it is like to not have money, how could he ever understand the feeling parents get when they have neither money nor food to feed their family?

Meanwhile, other Tories are focused on cutting taxes for the rich. How will a change in inheritance tax help the working class?

This country needs a more compassionate government, one that lives in the real world.

Susan Lammin

Dumfries

Well said, Floyd Steadman, in the article on reducing youth knife crime. Far too much emphasis is placed on academic qualifications when many young people have talents that lie in other directions, that are every bit as useful, but more practical. His suggested focus on kindness, humility, hard work and empathy sounds like a recipe for a contented, rewarding life. It’s revealing that he was told that he was too kind to be successful. Sad to say, success is often equated with the acquisition of fame, wealth, or both.

But, as Katie Rosseinsky points out in her article about nannying for the super-rich, the extremely wealthy often don’t interact with the real world. If they have limited or no contact with normal life and ordinary people, that can’t be good for their mental health, or that of their children.

It’s well known (except, apparently by some leading politicians), that the most contented societies are those with the least inequality. Our leaders’ avowed intentions to maintain low taxes seem like a plan for the rich to remain rich and the poor to stay poor, and for us all to hover somewhere between unease and downright misery.

Susan Alexander

South Gloucestershire

I write with regard to those people in the public eye, who could use their platform for something worthwhile but instead choose (maybe to distract from their own shortcomings), to be cruel and disrespectful to a fellow human being.

There are times when it is hard to believe that we are actually living in the 21st century.

Janine Hyatt

Address supplied

It would seem part of the DNA of some Tory politicians and their supporters is that they must demonise the less fortunate in order to justify their own good fortune.

Asylum seekers who seek sanctuary in a safe country are classified as criminals. Those with no or insufficient income on which to survive are deemed to be benefit “scroungers” when seeking support.

This was amply illustrated to me recently while sitting in an airport departure lounge when we were joined by a wealthy lady who plonked herself down on a seat reserved for disabled passengers and justified her actions with the words: “These people get everything”!

Geoff Forward

Stirling

While it seems popular at the moment to criticise the Labour Party and particularly its leader for not making it sufficiently clear what they stand for, we can have no doubt about the Conservative stance – simple, old-fashioned greed and self-interest with nasty little sidelines in xenophobia and populism.

The real question when it comes to election time will be: “What do I stand for?” – and who most closely matches that?

At a time when even many of their historical and “natural” supporters have seen the light and are shifting allegiance, I suspect that, for the majority, it won’t be the Conservatives. Unfortunately, they still have a year to asset-strip the country and further damage or sell off what public services are left.

Mike Margetts

Kilsby