Letter of the week: How to deliver social care with dignity

So sane, so Dutch. Amsterdam was my home once, and the difference between there and England was chalk and cheese.

Now in Scotland, my wife and I have recently cared for her dad, keeping him at home, as were his wishes. It’s no walk in the park, especially with dementia and Alzheimer’s. The support from nurses and doctors, and the local hospital, was amazing, with many turning up at his funeral. This access to the local community was along similar lines to the village described.
Keith Brisley

Social care, even for those with dementia, can be delivered with dignity, with the help of a pub with music, the library. I had three friends with dementia. Until the end, they knew their way home. Some carers are wonderful, but it is still a cage.
Heidi Foster

Re: “Trump has put a nuclear gun on the Middle East table” by Paul Mason, TNW #492

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference recently wrapped up in New York, with yet again, no agreement, primarily because of the nuclear armed states’ refusal to live up to their obligations. Exasperated, a large majority of states negotiated the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This November, it holds its first conference in New York. All states, especially those serious about honouring the NPT’s original promise, should participate.
Fiona MacGregor

Re: “Need to raise taxes? Tell them a new story, Andy” by Matthew d’Ancona, TNW #492

Matthew d’Ancona offers a fine exposition of Burnham’s dilemma minus the tools to resolve it. One such tool: make tax populist. Enable taxpayers to pride themselves on their contribution rather than feeling cheated.

A prerequisite is more clarity on where the money goes and how it is managed. This would be an exercise in bureaucracy but, done intelligently, it would also show government where its leaky pipes lie.

Britain’s commercial prosperity post-1980 was marked by a vast increase in the number of accountants in senior commercial positions, a greater emphasis on cost management and a boom in the annual reports business, communicating the link between numbers and practical realities. Government, meanwhile, especially MPs, have remained stubbornly financially illiterate.

The serious issues this country faces will not be fixed until, as d’Ancona explains, people realise that the problem is collectively theirs, and that the money used to fix those problems is also, collectively, theirs.
Peter Krijgsman

The article says Andy Burnham had capped bus fares in England and Wales. He does not have the power to do this – it is devolved to the Welsh government. 

Burnham seems to have made the same mistake. He recently came to Cardiff and promised to address issues that are not within the province of Westminster. Treating Wales as simply another region of England will simply be repeating the mistakes of his predecessors at No 10.
Andrea D’Ambra 

Re: “Next year, Britain will experience emigration – what can Burnham do about it?” by Sunder Katwala, TNW #492

Maybe instead of paying millions to France and bleating about the EU doing nothing/little to stop migrants, we could try to help sort their countries’ problems, so they don’t need to seek sanctuary here. 

This country has welcomed people from overseas since the time of the Romans. It’s how we deal with their arrival that should be our biggest concern.
Richard Robinson

The boat crossings are not a migration issue. It’s about exercising our humanity. Shabana Mahmood’s approach diminishes us all.
Frank Connor

Most immigrants to the UK do not arrive as undocumented asylum seekers in dubious boats. They arrive as legal immigrants on planes, with passports and visas.
Judi Sutherland

Re: “I can’t help noticing that you seem to be wearing pervert glasses” by Matt Muir, TNW #492

I found this article very sad because I have a good friend who suddenly lost his sight a couple of years ago and Meta glasses help him. They describe where he is, read WhatsApps and texts, and tell him who is phoning. It is such a shame that the glasses are now being perceived as described in your article because of some lowlifes.
Ste Livesey

Suggested Reading

I can’t help noticing that you seem to be wearing pervert glasses

Matt Muir

Re: “The new bureaucratic nightmare of Make Tax Digital” by Marie Le Conte, TNW #492

I couldn’t agree more with Marie Le Conte regarding HMRC’s new Make Tax Digital. But it’s even more stupid than she points out. You only have to file four times a year (under threat of fines if you don’t) if your income reaches a certain threshold. So what happens if, 11 months into the tax year, you suddenly receive an offer of work that unexpectedly pushes you way over the limit and you’ve inadvertently broken the law? Do you have to turn it down to avoid a criminal record?
Mick O’Hare

Re: “Why the Aussies are the only ones standing up to the tech giants” by Lynne O’Donnell, TNW #492

I would also like to see the UK take an equally strident position on big tech, as well as adopting compulsory voting and retirement provisioning, and a ban on gun ownership. 
Janet Bayford

BELOW THE LINE

Re: “Have you got Odyssey derangement syndrome?” by Matthew d’Ancona, TNW #492: 

Even though I have not seen The Odyssey, I was reminded of my last trip to the Imax in Waterloo, arriving in time for the trailers. My wife and I were deafened by the din from the screen.

Has Hollywood gone mad? Why is it that almost every action has to be accompanied by a punctuating crash of music? You can delight in listening to the simplest of sounds without the need for this musical punctuation, which is seldom better than the noise of a child bashing saucepans together. 
Hugh Coleridge

Re: “What Philip Larkin taught Andy Burnham” by Lucy Reade, TNW #492: 

Just a simple note of real appreciation for a simple poet and for a simple but profound piece by Lucy Reade. To The New World forever.
Ray Gaston

Re: “My date with a Rupert Lowe fan” by Sophie Smyth, TNW #492:

Wonderful piece. I felt the most important line was the last sentence. No matter how uncomfortable life gets, we’ve got to keep talking to one another.
Claire Chaudhuri