Derogatory offer is divisive, nothing more
I SHOULD like to add to Jerry Shaw’s letter “Government must remember whose cash they spend” (Wednesday, March 10).
I have always thought it suspicious that from day one this Government chose to seize control of every aspect of the Covid saga.
Subsequently, we have been denied any opportunity to use our own judgement when it comes to protecting ourselves against the virus, to the point where we are now subjected to countless infantile rules.
I may have missed something but it did occur to me that a plentiful supply of ten-a-penny face masks and a dollop of common sense from the outset might have saved us all a lot of trouble, tribulation and taxpayers’ money.
Neither this Prime Minister nor any of his motley crew are even remotely qualified to make these life and death decisions and are completely out of their depth. The responsibility should surely rest with the people who are qualified.
The role of government should be confined to signing the cheques for whatever kit and support is needed and not to cherry-pick the scientific and medical advice they say they are following, discarding anything that doesn’t suit their agenda.
The last thing any of us needs is the spokesperson of the day flanked by the two bookends Whitty and Vallance appearing on TV to deliver the latest instalment of doom and gloom. The contribution from the two chief advisers is really nothing more than tarted-up common sense telling us nothing we can’t work out for ourselves.
If they were any good at what they do you would think they would be in a lab somewhere helping to invent the cure for this affliction.
It is often said even a blind squirrel will find a nut now and then but this Government has made a string of wrong and tardy decisions. It has remained behind the pace every step of the way. With them at the helm this country has incurred the highest death toll and the highest debt of any European country and yet they appear to be proud of their achievements.
I am quite sure that the NHS unions are aware of the public sector pay restraint, which has been policy for quite some time. That said it is unlikely that they nor the staff they represent would be expecting a pay increase at this time despite public outcry.
The fact that the Government chose to make this derogatory offer of 1% to one element of the public sector workforce knowing the frustration it would cause suggests that it is purely divisive and nothing more.
In view of the taxpayers’ money that has been wasted and abused by this Government over the past 12 months, they then add insult to injury by cynically announcing that the 1% offer is all that is affordable.
Steve Thornton, Long Eaton