Letters | 13 June 2019

The benefits of indecision

Sir: Belgium has often been without a government for months on end without suffering any economic collapse. In Britain in recent decades governments with large majorities and led by ideologically driven prime ministers have made disastrous decisions on welfare reform, foreign policy and selling off social housing. Isabel Hardman is correct to say that ‘decisions are needed to solve problems that have festered for years’ (‘The in-tray of horrors’, 8 June). However her analysis should also consider the benefits of government paralysis: the damage that has been avoided because superficial and ill-thought-out policies never saw the light of day.
Ivor Morgan

Lincoln

A doctor writes

Sir: In his interview with Katy Balls (‘Operation Hunt’, 8 June), Jeremy Hunt claimed he had faced down the junior doctors in a strike which ‘lasted almost as long as the miners’ strike’. That is untrue. The miners’ strike lasted 363 days. The junior doctors’ four strikes lasted for 24-48 hours each and only the last one included withdrawal of emergency care.