It’s middle-class students who are the worst off
Despite what the demonstrators chant, i’ve concluded that charging university fees actually does benefit the worse off in society.
As a first-year history and politics student at sheffield University from a single-parent, low-income family, i get £ 7,434 a year in maintenance loans and grants.
i find myself as well off — or even better off — than my friends and peers from middle-income, more privileged backgrounds.
As a politics student in a northern city, i often hear Left- wing generalisations about our Government’s alleged failure to make university accessible to the poorer parts of society.
in fact, many students i know from better-off backgrounds don’t even receive enough money to cover their rent for the year and have to rely on the financial support of their parents to help pay their rent as well as ensure they have money to live on.
My loans, together with grants i get from my university, mean i have more than enough to cover my rent and live comfortably, while other students i know struggle and rely on family members who aren’t keen to fund their lifestyle.
i understand the basic principle: the larger your family’s income, the less government support you’re entitled to receive, and the more your parents are expected to support you. But what if your family is unwilling to fund your university dreams?
What if both Mummy and Daddy would prefer to spend their money a sunny holiday in Marbella and skiing in the Alps rather than hand it over to you to fund your singlebed, shared-bathroom flat?
it’s unfair to claim that university is no longer accessible to those from poor backgrounds.
From Year eight until my final year of college i had free school meals, and have benefited greatly from the system.
i got an A* and two As in my A-levels, attend a Russell Group university and now enjoy a large three- quarter bed and en- suite facilities. the students who are worse off are those who come from a more privileged background, but lack the parental support to attend university. BEN STRINGER, Widnes, Cheshire.
How to give real aid
the Department for international Development (Mail), which has no fewer than five ministers and employs nine directors and even more consultants, is unnecessary.
the UK did perfectly well without it until 1964, when harold Wilson invented it to create a Cabinet job for Barbara Castle. its main role, ever since, has been to provide an extra source of patronage for the prime Minister of the day.
if David Cameron were serious about development, he would abolish DfiD and spend its entire budget on providing a clean water supply for communities in the poorest countries.
this simple initiative would provide instant benefits for public health and would free millions of people, particularly women and children, from the backbreaking toil of fetching water, allowing them to move into education or productive employment. HARRY BERESFORD,
London SE15.
Takeover fears
A FRieND tells me that if the German takeover of the London stock exchange goes ahead, the Government will immediately lose revenue, because trading shares, on which stamp duty must be paid, will be redirected, over time, to Germany, where stamp duty is lower. this will happen initially by big traders taking their business there and will trickle down to smaller investors.
he also thinks investors will tend to transfer their money to German banks to satisfy payments, resulting in a knock- on effect to our banking system.
R. A. SMITH, Hadleigh, Suffolk.
Charity in peril
i VOLUNteeR for a charity which looks after carers — people paid a pitiful (and taxable) £62.10 a week for looking after relatives, friends or neighbours, as opposed to care support workers, whom we employ.
Our position is even more dire than that of social services, as we have to find the money to pay the national living wage as well as introduce pension contributions for our staff.
We work for local authorities, in our case stoke- on-trent, Newcastle-under-Lyme and North staffordshire, plus private clients.
Unfortunately, councils are being coerced into trying to reduce the amount they pay for our services, as they suffer ever- reducing financial support from central government. this means our private clients must generally pay us more.
We don’t aim to make a profit. We would like to remain in existence to support our carers, but this is becoming ever more difficult.
Name and address supplied.
Save our chemists
iN MY local independent chemist last week, i saw a petition aimed at getting customers’ support to counter measures allowing the Government to withdraw the funding which enables them to dispense prescriptions.
i willingly signed, because the loss of independent chemists will hit people in many areas, especially the elderly and infirm who have only these small businesses in their town or village.
i wasn’t aware of this impending cut and would like to bring this to the attention of the wider public. Mrs PENNY TRUSCOTT,
Amersham, Bucks.
Wartime safeguards
it’s true that the UK took in many migrants fleeing persecution by our enemies in World War ii (Letters).
But it’s also true that many other migrants who had been here for many years, but were of German or italian origin, were detained on the isle of Man just in case they might be a threat to our security.
ROGER LANCASTER, Bristol.
Well done Tim and Prue
hAViNG been on a Baltic cruise six years ago, i’m delighted to see in timothy West and prunella scales’s swedish canal trip on tV that the countryside still looks the same and that the people are just as friendly and helpful.
it’s been gripping seeing how tim and pru interact. she might be a tad over 80 and have mild dementia, but many would never know it.
Mr West doesn’t hide away his lovely wife, but continues to help her live a fascinating life, travelling on a long- forgotten form of transport which they’ve loved for years. i really feel he’s extending her life and health in a way in which the medical profession cannot.
two members of my family have this condition, and it definitely isn’t easy to handle, but being a professional and a loving husband, tim makes it all seem natural.
Apart from the travelogue side of the series, this is an excellent representation of people growing older and dealing with ageing with style, humanity and common sense — a lesson to us all.
BRIAN FOX, Watton, Norfolk.
Gazumped by Lords
As A housing association tenant, i’m desperate to exercise my new tory-promised right-to-buy — but i’ve now been told properties in localities where there are fewer than 3,000 homes are to be exempted from the scheme.
this is grossly unfair and certainly not spelt out in the tory manifesto, for which i voted. how can these new exemptions take away my right when other housing association tenants who live in towns will be able to proceed?
this was apparently the result of a house of Lords amendment, forced through on a compromise.
i doubt if many members of that chamber are housing association tenants. this anomaly must be challenged. how was it allowed to go through almost in secret? STUART CHALLONER,
Romsey, Hants.