Austerity? We had rockets raining down on us

From: Dr Sheila Hopkinson, Gorman Close, Chesterfield.

I AM puzzled at the talk of ‘austerity’ during this election campaign – I ask myself, ‘What austerity?’ I was a child in London throughout the Second World War and I think I remember true austerity.

We had the blackout, the Blitz,

Doodlebug raids, V2 rockets raining down. I slept in an Anderson shelter in the garden; almost everything was rationed. My clothes were handed down from an older cousin and then passed on to a younger one.

The end of the war brought little relief – rationing was worse, fuel scarce and we had to endure the terrible winter of 1947.

Heating in our three-bed house consisted of a coal fire in the sitting room. A bath once a week and the water saved to soak the clothes for the next day’s wash. That was austerity.

From: Hilary Andrews, Nursery Lane, Leeds.

ANOTHER plea for the

Government to do something (The Yorkshire Post, December 4) in order to improve the nation’s health. When are these dogooders going to realise that what is needed is a dose of common sense and self-control by those who over indulge? Or are we going to have to reintroduce ration books to get the health outcomes we want to achieve?