Jeremy Corbyn’s pledge of new bank holidays is a cynical, patronising ploy
At a time when Labour needs to set out its post-industrial stall what do we get? A promise of four new bank holidays – and a £10 minimum wage.
Four new bank holidays? For some. Not the NHS, not the emergency services, not those stacking the shelves at Tesco, not those making the Amazon and Deliveroo drop-offs and not those doing the shit jobs nobody else want to do. For them it’s work as usual. This is a cynical and patronising ploy aimed at regurgitating and identifying “the workers” of old Labour – and a £10 minimum wage (fat chance) won’t make up for the insult.
Oh, and the four new bank holidays are to be named after Christian Saints. A subliminal message here perhaps to certain sections of our secular society?
Mike Dodds London W11
Jeremy Corbyn's suggestion of four additional public holidays, one for each nation's saint's day, is superficially attractive but is ill thought out. First of all, although we get fewer public holidays than the G20 average, we always get all of them. In many countries, if (for example) Christmas Day or May Day falls at a weekend, there is no compensating public holiday during the week; the holiday is lost. Secondly, all but one of our public holidays fall in a five-month period running from Christmas to the late May public holiday. Of the four national saints' days, all but St Andrew's Day fall within the same five-month period whilst St Andrew's Day is less than a month before Christmas.
An additional public holiday to break up the long decline into winter and ever shortening days after the late August public holiday would be welcome: perhaps at the end of October, during the half-term week.
Philip Nalpanis St Albans
Paul Nuttall needs to educate himself on the burqa
Fortunately I missed the latest misled and misinformed politician’s clumsy attempts at hitting the easiest target in sight, that of Muslim women. If Islam is to be dealt with via any sort of integration plan then why not for all the Muslim Mullahs out there or even the probably rising numbers of NEET (not in employment, education or training) Muslim Youth?
The stereotypes are obvious to all and yet each time it's the oppressed Muslim woman who the liberators
of the free world decide to intimidate. First you were forced to wear a burqa, they claim, now we'll force you not to wear it!
As a perfectly happy Ahmadi Muslim hijabi teacher in the North-east, the irony of it all never ceases to amaze, confound, even amuse me. A piece of material on my head is as harmless to me as the sleeve on an arm or a sock on a foot. I'm proud to have been born in this country, to have benefitted from its wonderful Education system and when in need the NHS too. I have some great neighbours and friends. I love that we keep calm and carry on. Let's keep going with dialogue, understanding, tolerance and continued vigilance against any threats. But let's not use Muslim women as easy targets (or make integration plans involving socks).
Tayyaba Ahmed Teeside
Our democracy has been devalued by point scoring
After the First World War, improvements to suffrage in the UK between 1918 and 1928 gave us universal suffrage allowing all men and women over 21 and without property restrictions to take apart in elections. Yet as we approach 100 years of what we would now recognise as democracy, some of the latest party manifestos show little evidence that we have been making progress in using these hard fought for rights.
Too often politicians seem to take their starting point as who they can blame rather than what we can set out to achieve together. In Scotland this is further exacerbated by the SNP narrative of grievance and division, with a leadership intent on manipulating Scotland on the basis of identity.
Our democracy seems stuck in an immature politics of point scoring and personality, when what the country needs is good government focused on achieving effective and demonstrable progress.
Keith Howell West Linton
James Bond or Doctor Who?
I was interested to read the correspondence from Anant Nagpur suggesting that the new James Bond will be James Norton (Letters, Sunday). But, with respect, isn't Norton going to be the new Doctor Who?
Adam Tandy Richmond
Keep sport away from politics
Your recent article (Football and hope in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic – a forgotten region fighting Fifa's sanctions, Independent.co.uk, Saturday) distorts the reality of the situation in the region.
Sports and football should be kept away from politics. Reference in the article to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan as “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic” is contrary to the norms and principles of international law, while reflecting views of only the Armenian side in this matter does not fit in the context of fair and objective journalism.
The reality is Armenia occupied sovereign territories of Azerbaijan by force and established an illegal puppet regime there. Four resolutions of the UN Security Council reaffirm the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, condemn Armenian occupation and demand immediate, unconditional and full withdrawal of occupying forces from all seized lands.
As a result of Armenia’s occupation Qarabag football club is perhaps the only football club in the world in
asylum. The club is not a political chess piece for Azerbaijan, as wrongly argued by your writer. We hope that peace will prevail in the region again and Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of NagornoKarabakh, within Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, will enjoy Qarabag’s football games in the future.
Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesperson, head of press service, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan