Rail electrification should be a priority

HERE TO HELP THIS CHRISTMAS

CHRISTMAS can be challenging for many of us, but for families experiencing dying, death or bereavement it can often feel impossible.

People who are grieving may find the festive season particularly tough and emotionally draining, as that’s when we often miss our loved ones the most.

Many families may also be facing the last Christmas with a loved one or the first without them, and not know where to turn to help get them through the season.

Marie Curie is here for anyone with an illness they’re likely to die from, and for those close to them.

Our free support line and webchat is open over the festive season, including Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, offering practical and emotional support on everything from symptom management and day-today care to financial information and bereavement support.

Our trained Support Line Officers are there if you need support or a listening ear, as well as our Telephone Companion service that offers regular calls at a time that suits you.

If readers need support over Christmas and New Year, please contact Marie Curie for free on 0800 090 2309.

Alternatively, you can visit the charity at mariecurie.org.uk/support to chat online.

Matt Williams, Marie Curie Associate Director, Information and

Support

NOW that HS2 beyond Birmingham has been scrapped with promises to reinvest the £36bn saved in other transport infrastructure, it’s time to upgrade and electrify our national rail network.

Our rail service is an outlier across Europe in continuing to run diesel trains.

Switzerland retired its last diesel passenger trains back in 1977.

With only 38 per cent of our rail network electrified, Britain ranks 21st out of 32 European countries for electrification of its rail network and one of the worst for carbon emissions.

No other trains can compete for speed or energy efficiency with a train running on an electrified line.

The new trains on the electrified

HS2 line between London and Birmingham will run at up to 225mph, intercity diesel trains operate at 125mph.

But electrification is not only about speed.

Electric trains have lower running and maintenance costs, are quieter and cleaner, and greatly improve air quality both for those on board and for communities living alongside the track.

Have you ever noticed the poor air quality on many British railway stations?

Network Rail calculates that

13,000km of track must be electrified to meet the 2050 target for the decarbonisation of transport.

A programme of electrification was underway until 2017 when it was scrapped by then Transport Minister, Chris Grayling.

Only 62km of existing track was electrified last year, all of it in

London.

The electrification of our rail network has been derailed.

To create a low-emission, modern railway fit for the 21st century, the Treasury must reinvest its HS2 savings into a rolling programme of electrification to improve train services across the country – and achieve some real levelling up with trains that are cheaper to run, more reliable, faster and less polluting.

Caroline Snow

WE CAUSED SELF-MADE STAFF SHORTAGES

THE government would seem to have a huge problem, entirely of its own making.

It has pledged to bring down net migration, one of the driving forces of Brexit, whilst, paradoxically, going on worldwide recruitment drives to fill vacancies left by EU nationals who are no longer welcome.

Figures, released by the country’s official statistical agency, revised the net migration total for the year ending December 2022 — previously estimated at 606,000, itself a record — upward to 745,000.

The statistics relate to people given permission to enter the country by our government.

A Telegraph investigation found that the entry criteria for nurses from India and the Philippines had been weakened, presumably because not enough were being recruited.

In India, English language requirements have been altered and the pass marks for critical thinking exams have been lowered.

Nurses from the Philippines no longer need two years of real-world experience before they are eligible to work in the UK.

The investigation also found that Britain wanted to sign a new agreement with Nepal.

This would be highly controversial as Nepal is on an international recruitment red list – operated by the World Health Organization (WHO) – to prevent developed countries from actively recruiting from regions with a lack of health workers or those which have an undeveloped health system.

This is a totally unfair and heartless approach to solving our self-made staff shortage problems by recruiting from countries where staff have been trained and are needed there, but it’s exactly what we would expect from this selfish, heartless government.

When questioned about the rise in net migration, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak just bangs on about stopping the small boats as if they were the major cause of the increased net migration figures.

They actually account for just 4.2 per cent of total immigration with 65 per cent expected to be granted legal asylum.

So much for the alleged huge problem of illegal migration.

Do we want these workers or not? Could Esther McVey, their recently appointed Minister for Common

Sense, help them with this conundrum?

Sue Quinlan

GROWING CONCERNS OVER WAITING LIST TIMES

CARDIOLOGY waiting lists are at record levels in England with more than 400,000 people waiting for an appointment at the end of September 2023.

There has been a 76 per cent rise in people waiting for cardiac care since February 2020. This is an increase of 176,000 – enough people to fill

Wembley stadium twice over.

The longer people wait for treatment, the higher their risk of becoming disabled from heart failure or dying prematurely.

Today in England, around 375 people will die from a heart or circulatory disease. That’s one death every four minutes.

The British Heart Foundation is deeply concerned by these figures.

At BHF we know that delays in the diagnosis and treatment of a heart condition can have devastating consequences.

We also understand the human impact behind these numbers – the families dealing with grief and loss, worry and anxiety.

That’s why we are asking members of the public who have been impacted by cardiology waiting times to get in touch to see if you can help us raise awareness of the impact they have on heart patients.

If you are willing to share your experience of waiting for a cardiology appointment in England with the BHF, please email newsdesk@bhf.org.uk to speak to our team.

Dr Charmaine Griffiths,

Chief Executive, British Heart Foundation

USING FOSSIL FUELS DAMAGES NATURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT

WHEN my partner tries to pinch a chip from my plate, he points and says ‘Look, over there, a lion!’ It worked once – more fool me.

Just as the COP28 summit was about to start, up pops Rishi Sunak proudly boasting about the prospect of a new national park.

Good news, some would say.

But I think this shows how shallow the UK government’s understanding is of the climate issues facing the world.

Any number of new national parks will not undo the damage to nature that is being caused by our continued use of polluting fossil fuels.

Therefore, we should see this as the distraction it is and judge the Prime Minister on any serious proposals he is prepared to bring forward that address climate change.

The UK’s ability to show leadership and influence at COP still matters and is in tatters because of the government’s continuing obsession with yesterday’s technologies.

No, Mr Sunak, you’re not fooling me that you care about the environment!

Helen Fairhurst