NHS pay, bins, Scotland, Islamophobia and Covid

Cllr Paul Donovan, Wanstead Village ward, writes:

The one per cent pay submission relating to NHS staff is frankly derisory, betraying a government that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing (or no one).

Many will remember coming out onto the doorsteps to clap our NHS and care staff week after week as the pandemic spread, taking ever more lives.

These people risked their lives to go into work day in day out – one recently described these horrific times as work, sleep, eat and back again.

At the time, the public clapped, whilst the government failed to provide adequate personal protective equipment (PPE).

The prime minister himself went down with Covid – coming out full of praise for the NHS when he finally recovered.

So how do you get from such a position to a one pc pay offer?

It says: “We’ll clap you but not pay you.”

The insult of this pay offer deepens when other factors like the money squandered on consultants, some paid £6k a day, and the test and trace debacle, which is budgeted to cost £37 billion over two years, are taken into account.

The government refused to run our test and trace through the health and local authority networks, despite constant calls from local government and health chiefs.

When they did use these networks to implement the fantastic vaccination programme, it showed what it might have been.

Sadly, the contrast between the funding provided to private companies to provide test and trace compared to the derisory pay submission for NHS staff proves the old Tory Thatcherite mantra of ‘private good, public bad’ still reigns.

Please support this motion - don’t just clap our fantastic NHS staff, pay them properly.

Redundant bins

Terry Barr, Kensington Gardens, Cranbrook, writes:

The council have now rolled out the new wheelie bins to replace the old dustbins in the borough of Redbridge.

They are going to take away any old privately-owned wheelie bins at some point over the next few months.

However, they refuse to take away any of the old cylindrical dustbins which are now redundant.

They say that people can take them to the Chigwell Road recycling centre. Some people don’t have cars. A lot of cars don’t have a big enough boot for a dustbin.

In any case, do the council really expect people to put a filthy dustbin in their car?

The behaviour of the council is really arrogant.

And this, in a year when they raise council tax by 5.9 per cent.

Tactical voting

A Saltire flag is flanked by Union flags flying above Whitehall (Image: PA Archive/PA Images)

Will Podmore, Clavering Road, Wanstead, writes:

Survation conducted a poll for Scotland in Union between March 9 and 12, with 1,011 respondents aged 16+ living in Scotland.

The poll found:

• If there was a referendum tomorrow with the question “should Scotland remain part of the United Kingdom or leave the United Kingdom?”, 49pc said they would vote remain (+2 percentage points since September 2020), 37pc would vote leave, 10pc were undecided, 4pc would not vote, and 1pc refused to answer.

Scotland in Union has consistently used a question with a remain/leave option in polling, reflecting the Electoral Commission’s conclusion ahead of the 2016 Brexit referendum that yes/no questions should not be considered neutral as only one outcome is reflected in the question.

This shows that the separatists do not speak for the people of Scotland.

Scotland in Union has just produced a very useful practical guide to tactical voting to defeat the separatists: 2021 Scottish Parliament Elections Tactical Voting Guide (tacticalvote.netlify.app)

Islamophobia

Cllr Khaled Noor, chair, Muslim Professionals Forum (MPF), writes:

The MPF is pleased by some of the evidence the commission has collected in the report from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities in the UK – for example, the data showing that young BAME people are, on average, doing well at school.

But we are very concerned that they have not given due weight to the incidents of racism – and Islamophobia – which minority groups experience on an everyday basis.

The MPF has recently started working with partners in the legal profession on identifying Islamophobia in the legal profession and judicial system.

It is important that the commission’s report does not dampen the enthusiasm to do this kind of work.

Muslim professionals can do a great deal to ensure that young Muslim professionals are supported in the workplace and that management practices do not discriminate against BAME and/or Muslim staff.

We would be pleased to hear from and to assist anyone who has concerns about Islamophobia in the workplace.

No complacency

Professor Kevin Fenton, London regional director, Public Health England, writes:

This week we have had the chance to see family and friends again outdoors in a group of six or two households.

The careful lifting of these restrictions has been possible thanks to the efforts of all Londoners in sticking to the rules up to now, helping bring infection rates down across the capital.

But although we have made significant progress, the pandemic is far from over and the situation remains delicate.

The return to normal life needs to be taken step by step and we can only move to the next stage if we make a success of the last.

It therefore remains vital we do not get complacent and continue limiting transmission.

That means sticking to the rule of six and avoiding the temptation to meet others in larger groups or indoor settings, as well as remembering the basics of hands, face, space and fresh air.

We are on the right track for a return to normality but we must all help ensure the next step we take is forwards, not back.