Cuts, prejudice and a tragedy to shame us all
I WASN’T in the least surprised by the case of Matthew Daley, who stabbed retired solicitor Donald Lock in a road rage attack (Mail). I’m just surprised that such incidents aren’t more frequent.
Perhaps if the Government stopped rolling out useless cognitive behaviour therapy for all and sundry, there might be resources to deal with serious mental illnesses.
I speak not from the perspective of a mental health professional, but as an ex-patient of the system.
The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) policy has replaced communitybased community psychiatric nurses, who would be able to spot the signs that something is wrong.
There have been thousands of in-patient bed cuts in mental health and also hundreds (if not more) suicides.
And society itself doesn’t get off the hook entirely; most of us with mental illness know only too well what isolation and prejudice is.
We should scrap IAPT and employ and train proper professionals.
But it’s only when such a tragedy occurs that anyone seems interested in the issue.
LINDA PAYNE, New Ash Green, Kent. NHS care may be ‘brilliant at the weekend’ for some of those seeking physical health care (Letters), but for those who need mental health care (especially those under 16), this is far from the truth.
Here in Berkshire, no NHS child and adolescent mental health services are commissioned at weekends or on bank holidays.
Parity of care, in Berkshire at least, is a bad joke at which no one, least of all under-16s with mental health problems and their loved ones, is laughing.
Despite acknowledged year- onyear increases in demand for these services, there are now ten fewer NHS community child and adolescent mental health staff than there were 20 years ago. Further words fail me.
PAUL FARMER, Reading, Berks. WHy blame the NHS for the actions of Matthew Daley? He was obviously a seriously disturbed person; what was he doing with a driving licence?
Why did his family allow him on the road, given his uncontrollable temper?
He wasn’t taking his medication; why did the family not see to this? Did they expect the NHS to come round three times a day to administer it?
Why wasn’t he arrested and charged by police after smashing a car with a hammer and other apparently random attacks on people?
I expect people made excuses to protect him, but now pass on the blame to the NHS.
M. JAMES, Bournemouth, Dorset.
Our failing prisons
AS A prison officer with 28 years’ service working in a Category B local prison in London, I’m aware all prisons are understaffed and no longer safe places in which to work.
The Home Office adjusts what it regards as safe staff-to-inmate ratios (one officer to 30 inmates) so it can reduce staff levels from 25,000 to 16,000, then claim to the public that prisons are fully staffed.
The reality is that prisons are woefully understaffed and unsafe; unable to provide the meaningful regimes Justice Secretary Michael Gove and his team say they want.
The proposed scheme to allow serving prisoners to attend work outside prison on Mondays to Fridays just won’t work.
It’s been tried before and failed due to returning inmates smuggling drugs back into the prison.
Drugs are rife in prison and we simply don’t have the manpower to keep them under control. When I joined the service, it was a job for life with a wage that reflected the difficult task we do, a good pension and London allowance.
All that has now gone. There is now a low starting salary, poor pension, poor London allowance and, as a result, poor staff retention.
I could stay longer, but I shall be leaving the prison service soon; I don’t feel safe at work any more. With continual budget cuts and ministers who don’t have a clue, things can only get worse.
Name and address supplied.
Tasteless radish
AS JUNE 23 gets closer and the Brexit debate more heated and extreme, both sides have ignored an important issue — the dreaded Euro radish.
When I was a lad, biting into a genuine British radish could blow your socks off and cause steam to be emitted from your ears. The Euro radish, on the other hand, has neither taste nor texture and the sooner we’re rid of it, the better.
If that means quitting Europe, then so be it. It won’t be the first time that the continent has been isolated.
JOHN MACHIN, Dursley, Glos.
Driven to distraction
WHAT is a driverless car for? Is it to take granny to the doctor? Is it to take the dog to the vet? Is it to collect the children from school? Will it take itself out shopping? Will it pop off to Inverness for the day? I think I’ll stick to my 14-year-old Astra. At least I know where we’re going (using a map, not a satnav). SHIRLEY LANGFORD, Clanfield, Hants.
Comedy’s new low
HAVING been a fan of satire as well as more traditional UK comedy, I’d like to draw attention to the new morality in British humour that has emerged in the past ten to 15 years.
As a teenager in the Eighties, I experienced an acceptable mixture of The Two Ronnies’ ‘bums and boobs’ comedy, biting satire and stand-up comedians.
However, whereas the sauciness of Benny Hill was unduly attacked as sexist by politically correct Leftwing comedy practitioners, the innocence of that Seventies humour has now been replaced by cruelty, cynicism and a vile streak of misogyny, where jokes about rape, sexual abuse and mental illness are the norm.
It’s become socially acceptable for Left-wing comedians to peddle this grim garbage — and they’re given leave to indulge themselves on the BBC and Channel 4 in particular.
The liberal Left, which for decades held the high moral ground on so many issues, socially, culturally and politically, now countenances the most unpleasant comedy imaginable with dumbed-down, cynical TV broadcasting displaying a complete lack of respect for the intelligence and integrity of the British public.
A.M. THOMAS, Neath, W. Glam.
Scrap play-offs
WITH another football season over, we have another set of barmy results in the play- offs. In the Championship, Brighton just missed automatic promotion on goal difference, but were dumped out of the play- offs by Sheffield Wednesday who were 15 points worse than them over the course of the season.
Walsall went out to Barnsley, who were ten points behind them in League One. In League Two Accrington lost out to Wimbledon, also ten points behind them. And Forest Green, who finished second in the National League, lost out to Grimsby, who were nine points worse than them over the season.
It would be fairer to move three teams up and three down from each league and do away with the play-offs. In the unlikely event that my team (Nottingham Forest) finished third, I’d be very unhappy to see them lose the play-offs to a team nine, 12 or 15 points worse than them. DAVID McCABE, Milton Keynes, Bucks.
Frankly a genius
ERIC CLAPTON now considers that, on an emotional level, Frank Sinatra was a genius singer. This is a great compliment coming from a rock musician.
As it happens, most artists in all genres consider Frank in that light: he’s often described as the greatest popular singer of all time. He certainly turned it into an art form.
I would highly recommend that the younger folk who idolise Adele because she makes you feel emotionally moved — a rare quality in any decade — should listen to the ballads Sinatra recorded in the Fifties and early Sixties.
JOHN EVANS, Wokingham, Berks.