Readers' letters - May 5

I listened a short time back to the wonder of Mozart’s Coronation Mass, and again relished his genius.

Then I asked myself do I want another coronation in June, a Conservative one, and I say no.

I say no as a convinced Leave voter and one who would still vote that way again, knowing it would 
not be cost-free and 
quick.

My concern is the NHS and what a rampant Tory party would do.

My gut instinct is not to trust them, privatisation is in their DNA – profit first and the sick second.

It is thanks to NHS staff that I am alive and, after I have heard them talking about the current state of the service, I am concerned.

It is little wonder Theresa May is not keen on talking about it.

I look at Jeremy Corbyn and see a politician I can not relate to, especially on national security.

I see a Labour Party incapable of making any firm stand on Brexit negotiations when most of their MPs are Remain backers.

The Lib Dems I see as little more than Merkel’s poodles, her doormat.

If a country gets the politicians it deserves, what has this country done to deserve May, Corbyn, Farron?

Soon I will listen to Bryn Terfel and Anna Netrebko singing Mozart and later watch the TV news and hear politicians – what a contrast between the great composer and the grubby and tacky.

But I will vote in

June.

M K O’Sullivan

via email

nhs

Remember our nursing heroes

Across the North West, nursing staff are preparing to celebrate a day very close to our hearts. Nurses’ Day is marked around the world each year on May 12 – the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth.

It is a time when we come together to celebrate the work that nurses and healthcare assistants do every day of the year, a hard-working army of thousands going above and beyond for their patients.

Some nurses will use the day to have a tea party, run a conference, or simply take a short time out from their busy schedule for lunch – something a lot of people take for granted, but which for nursing staff can be a luxury.

This year, the Royal College of Nursing is celebrating nurses for the superheroes they are.

Your readers can help by telling their stories of how nurses and healthcare assistants have been their heroes.

If they are on Facebook or Twitter, they need to use the hashtag #nurseheroes and tag us @RCNNorthWest. Our members greatly appreciate the support they receive from the public. Our nursing staff will do their best to continue to be your heroes.

Paul Wood

Operational Manager, RCN North West

parking

Parked cars are a danger for residents

Re: Parking dispute (LP May 2). I live in Moorfields Avenue. My main objections to the parking are the fact cars park both sides of the road, often opposite each other.

This makes it a slalom course for anyone driving up and down the road.This road is not a quiet road on the estate.

It is used as a rat run for cars trying to avoid the traffic lights at Black Bull Lane.

This makes it dangerous and also difficult for us to see and get safely out of our drives.

I agree the council should be doing something about the parking at the hospital and I personally cannot see what impact a multi-storey car park in the hospital grounds would have on the residents who now benefit from the restricted parking.

Carol Underdown

via email

nhs

Positive feedback about our NHS

P McKenna wanted some positive feedback about the NHS (LP Letters, April 28).

Well, here I go. Last year I broke my collar bone after falling because, lifting my far too heavy shopping into the hall, I fell back onto the drive.

I waited a week before going to the A&E Department. (Stay away, we are asked, so I did, until the pain got too much). I was treated very well and, due to their kindness, I recovered.

Next I lost my hearing, my ‘hearing canal’ has closed.

Again the care I received was excellent, as is the ongoing care.

Don’t complain, nothing is perfect and even if the NHS received over a trillion pounds a day, it wouldn’t be enough to give people everything they want. Need yes, want no. Hope that helps, P McKenna.

tiredallthetime

via lep.co.uk

society

A call for a new model of living

There is no wonder that various forms of extreme behaviour are at large in this country as mass iniquity is on the rise. The main political parties hold their core beliefs in mortgage culture and obscene property values .

In any potential future, there needs to be much less emphasis on what the value of a house can or cannot achieve. People are living longer and the time-honoured passing down of homes and monies is faltering fast due to longer life expectancy and care home costs and all the younger generation will be left with is housing that is unobtainable – courtesy of their parents’ and grandparents’ speculatory obsession.

There needs to be a call for new models of living that do not surround so-called ownership but that’s a big one considering the years we have been drip-fed this silly vision by bank and government, although it is a way of controlling a so-called society.

With the greatest recession ever looming, massive forms of social housing will be required and real communities will slowly emerge, not ones driven by greed and unaffordable lifestyles.

Ian Wilson

via email

nostalgia

Memories of my London Marathon

Re: today’s Looking Back picture (see above). This was my one and only marathon run, the second Gillette London Marathon in 1982.

My daughter, Cheryl, then aged nine, joined me for the last half-mile of the race, which in those days finished on Westminster Bridge.

My wife Gillian met us at the finish and said, looking up at Big Ben, “Where have you been all this time?”

My reply is unprintable!

Just by chance, the BBC cameras picked us up and we became ‘famous for 15 minutes’ by featuring on the Sunday evening highlights programme.

Yes, the time of five hours, 41 minutes and 38 seconds IS my personal best!

Wilf Riley

via email