Letters | 18 February 2016

Governmental ignorance

Sir: Your leading article (13 February) blames junior doctors for playing with lives in their dispute; but what alternative do they have when confronted with the monumental ignorance of our present government (and the last, and the one before that, for that matter)? The NHS, when it started, was propped up by the amazing dedication of the post-war generation and then the baby-boomers. Even so, by the 1960s it was dependent on cheap foreign labour. If people want a first-class service they have to pay for it. It is about time somebody made our government aware of the facts of life — and the junior doctors seem to have stepped up to the plate.
William Sellwood

Stafford

Communist suggestion

Sir: Your suggestion that doctors pay for their training should they decide to emigrate reminds me of a relative who left communist Czechoslovakia for the West after having trained as a dental technician. Accused of stealing her education, she was unable to return for many years afterwards for fear of imprisonment. Are you suggesting that we adopt the tactics of a communist state?

Apprentices and undergraduates of any worth are thin on the ground. Many children nowadays are too lazy to make anything of themselves. Surely the ones who are willing to invest several years of their lives in education and training should not have to pay for it, and indeed should receive an income for making the effort.
Tom Roberts

Derby

Claim back Europe

Sir: Two of your correspondents (Letters, 13 February) refer to the EU as ‘Europe’, and this has now become the norm. Can something be done about it? Europe is a continent, whereas the EU is an artificial construct with no physical existence, in which not all European countries even participate. Referring to the EU as ‘Europe’ gives groups like Britain Stronger in Europe an unfair advantage in the referendum campaign, implying as it does that those who want Britain to regain control of its own affairs are somehow not Europhiles.