Nothing was handed to us on plate back then

I DON’T think our politicians realise the damage they are doing to our society when they compare the benefits elderly people receive today and what our young people can expect in the future, when they retire. I was born in the 30s survived the war and grew up in a devastated city which took many years to rebuild, but we had a belief in a better future, and more importantly, jobs, which through the strength of our trade unions were mainly well paid. Many young people today have been painted a picture of a time when things were handed to us on a plate and we had some kind of rosy existence, but the reality is that everything we gained, decent wages, safe working conditions, were achieved by fighting for them, nothing was given to us. The UK is becoming increasingly divided, nothing showed this more clearly than the Brexit vote, but it’s not just Brexit or young versus old, it’s a lack of respect, mainly by politicians, for nurses, doctors, teachers etc, who are often portrayed as disruptive or lazy, not as valuable members of society. The UK is a great country but today’s problems, insecure low paid jobs, lack of decent housing in particular, are the result of poor political decisions over the past thirty years or so by all parties who never looked beyond the next election and ignored any long term planning for our young people’s future, when it was obvious our society was going to dramatically change from a manufacturing base to service industries with little security, these decisions are the price our young people are paying today. Bob Arnott, Holbrooks

Where have all the swifts gone?

THE first swift arrived on May 22. It was followed by three more later that day. It’s now June and they are still very few swifts here.

We used to speculate on whether they would arrive by St. George’s day and were disappointed if they did not. When they did arrive several years ago the air was full of them and they numbered in dozens.

But now it seems that they are on the way out. MT Hancock, Wyken

Right to fly Union Jack at half mast

IT would be right to keep Union Jack flags kept at half mast after a calamity. For Union flags to go up and down in a day or two is insulting. Ian Harris Radford

We can’t continue year after year...

THE referendum ‘remoaners’, the ‘lovies’ in the entertainment industry, Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour leadership seem to want unlimited freedom of movement within the European Union.

Last year 270,000 net immigrants entered the country.

This means all these people need a doctor, need housing, need to go to the hospital, their children need a school place. These numbers all have to be assimilated into the community.

We must be mad to think we can continue this year after year. Only a break with the freedom of movement when we Brexit the European Union can we control the numbers.

People claim that we need this level of immigration to supply our hospitals with doctors and nurses and industry engineers, we must realise not all these people are doctors, nurses and engineers. John Hancox Holbrooks