Thoughtful tourist is a credit to Belfast
WASN’T it a lovely gesture for Belfast tourist Kate Law to thank Coventry taxi driver Major Singh for returning her lost handbag (Apr 2)?
She says Mr Singh is a credit to the city of Coventry. I say the kindness of her letter is a credit to herself and the city of Belfast.
I met up with a group of Belfast rugby supporters on the eve of Ulster’s recent game against the Wasps. Despite the rain, they were complimentary about the Cathedral, the pubs and both Wasps and Coventry Rugby.
Many had watched Cov thrash Esher 57-12 on the Saturday afternoon. They were great company and great ambassadors for the city of Belfast.
Belfast is a much changed city and it now welcomes visitors from all over the world. If you say you come from Coventry you will be given a special welcome by its rugby supporters and the rest of Belfast will show you same generosity of spirit as expressed by Kate Law in her letter.
It’s better than Dublin and half the price. Give it a try. Martin Judge Lime Tree Park
Mother’s milk is best start for child
I AM horrified by your story about mothers having to feed their babies in West Orchards. It is over 45 years since my days of breastfeeding. There was little enough support for and encouragement for new mums even then, and it seems figures for breastfeeding have gone down more and more since then. The best start for a child is the mother’s milk and the closeness of breastfeeding. It is so important for the health of babies and for bonding with their mothers. Of course discretion should be used when feeding in public, but it should not be hidden, either by a mother having to cover her baby’s head or being sent out of a restaurant. This just reinforces the taboo.
As for expecting a child to be fed in the toilet area, that is a disgrace.
Incidentally, if a designated area has bring given for bottle feeding why on earth can’t that also be used for breastfeeding? Susan Wright Tile Hill
Elegant new look at funeral home
GREAT news that The Co-operative Funeral Care in Lower Holyhead Road have newly refurbished their funeral home.
Designed for peace and serenity in elegant surroundings and colour.
Shame those carried in a shroud or coffin miss the opportunity to appreciate the changes. Fred Foster Radford
Austerity causing return of diseases
WE are now going backwards towards the 19th and 20th century with the rise in diseases such as rickets, gout, syphilis and scarlet fever.
This is due to ‘austerity’. The Tories have brought this about due to underfunding the health service, with scrapping some services that would have controlled these diseases. If the NHS heads towards privatisation these figures will get worse, just like when I was a young boy.
I can remember my mother taking my brother and me to see Mr Bonham, the chemist. It became cheaper to get his advice before thinking of going to the doctor.
Mother would buy the medicine for any slight illness from the chemist, although any diseases had to be reported to your doctor.
Then on the July 5, 1948, the NHS was born and things started to improve. We’ve seen these diseases all but disappear over time.
As soon as the Tories got back into power, things changed. Margaret Thatcher got rid of the SEN nursing status, replaced them with auxiliary nurses who were not trained to the same standards.
We then saw the shortage of fully trained nursing staff being felt on the wards.
Mrs Thatcher had this idea that if one could nurse the family in the home, they could do the job in the hospital wards – known has the housewife nurse, then called the auxiliary nurse.
This was the start of specialist nurses leaving the profession.
The Tories cut the number of trainee nurses to enter the profession for training; the reason for this was, by taking on auxiliary nurses, it was an easy way of making up the numbers on the wards.
Mr Tony Blair was to blame for PFI and hospital staff having to pay to park their cars. This should be stopped right now and a refund should be paid.
Another service I believe was stopped by the Tories was school medical checks.
After the Cold War had ended, so was the National Hospital Reserve Service. These people were volunteers trained by the Red Cross and St John’s Ambulance in the big hall at Coventry and Warwickhire Hospital.
I myself helped to teach the practical work with other members of both organisations.
We supplied men and women to help out on the wards giving up their own time without payment.
I think this was a big loss to the ward sisters for they helped do jobs that would free up nursing staff to carry on nursing.
I am really proud of those people who gave up their time to serve the hospital. John Bevan Binley
Anti-semitism row is snow joke
I RECALL British Rail complaining about the wrong kind of snow.
Now it seems Jeremy Corbyn is being accused of meeting the ‘wrong’ kind of Jew. Paul Graham Nuneaton