Able to afford boiling enough water for a single cuppa and switching on the immersion heater every other day despite freezing temperatures, D-Day veteran Jack Mortimer would be entitled to wonder if our country is paying a debt of honour to the generation who kept Britain free.
The terrible tales we tell today of people struggling to make ends meet are before April’s rocketing fuel bills start accelerate beyond recent rises, tightening the financial screw on people already struggling to stretch incomes to cover higher living costs.
The year of the squeeze, 2022, will force more folk to choose between eating and heating as poverty kills men and women in one of the earth’s richest countries.
It doesn’t have to be this way. It’s a choice by the Conservative Government.
And it’s a scandal that must be challenged, forcing the Tories into another U-turn – this time suspending VAT on energy bills, giving extra help to low earners and cancelling a hefty National Insurance tax rise.
Dignified, heroic Jack Mortimer and the others deserve our support.
Out the bigots
The sickening bigotry, prejudice and racism within the Conservative Party exposed by MP and sacked Minister Nusrat Ghani’s explosive claim her Muslim religion was why she was sacked from Boris Johnson’s Government is utterly repellent.
Deep nauseating schisms exposed in the Tories by the unacceptable discrimination, Health and Education Secretaries Sajid Javid and Nadhim Zahawi speaking in support of Ghani while Downing Street and loyal backbencher Michael Fabricant add insults to injury, mustn’t be ignored.
This ugly scandal cannot be dealt with by the Conservative Party or Parliament. The Equality and Human Rights Commission must launch a formal inquiry into evidence that bigotry against Muslims is unlawfully polluting the governing party.
Human writes
Being able to read, write and count – what are confusingly known as the three Rs- are essential to live an enjoyable, interesting and rewarding life so the number of pupils going to secondary school struggling to understand even simple words and sentences is dispiriting.
Improving the nation’s literacy so no child falls behind is a noble endeavour deserving more than lip service from politicians otherwise plunging disadvantaged families deeper into hardship.