5 REASONS TO...

ENJOY A HEALTHY PORTION OF BROCCOLI

1. It contains plenty of fibre which is essential for a healthy digestive system and regular bowel movements.

2. Broccoli is full of vitamin C which helps boost your immunity.

3. It’s a good source of vitamin K, essential for forming clots to prevent bleeding after injury.

4. Broccoli contains potassium, which we need for normal blood pressure, and zinc which supports your immune system and aids wound healing.

5. It’s rich in vitamin B6 which helps the body use and store energy from proteins and carbohydrates for metabolism.

DR ap Gwilym puts forward a sound proposal to make council tax more progressive but this could widen the gap between wealthy and poorer areas unless accompanied by increased support from central government for deprived areas through the Revenue Support Grant, which used to called Rate Support Tax. Reductions in this support for poorer councils were a key factor in Conservative austerity budgets from 2010 in “levelling down” Labour councils in the coalfield constituencies of northern England and Wales inevitably also felt the effects via the Barnet formula.

Effectively Osborne stopped central government spending falling in health and education and loaded most of the cuts onto local authorities and other unprotected areas.

There is no way these “red wall” seats can be “levelled up” without significant changes to housing, education and healthcare policies.

Nor will Wales have the resources to implement change without the Barnet consequentials that would follow from increased English spending in these areas.

Our NHS is playing a key role in vaccinating us against coronavirus but Health Secretary Hancock perseveres with his further privatisation through “reorganisation” aimed at incorporating privatised care for the elderly.

Thankfully, this does not apply to Wales but will have a knock-on effect similar to that of the withdrawal of bursaries for trainee nurses. Margaret Phelps

Penarth