Will the NHS make the most of its extra £26bn?

Letters to the editor: our readers share their views. Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

‘Without efforts to cut NHS bureaucracy, the money will be frittered away’

If national insurance were a hypothecated tax, as originally intended, the link between paying it and getting its benefits would be clearer. But it isn’t.

What is so sad about the knee-jerk reaction of the NHS to the rise in employer national insurance contributions is the warning it gives about where the extra £26bn from the chancellor will go (“Now Reeves faces backlash from GPs, care homes and hospices over national insurance hike”, Friday 1 November).

Without a draconian effort to cut bureaucracy, modernise working practices and change arrogant and entrenched attitudes, it will be frittered away in the same way that other NHS payouts have been – and we shall see the same moribund service.

Beryl Pratley

Stockbridge

More bias at the BBC, please

With reference to the joint letter in The Independent criticising the BBC’s coverage of the war in Gaza as favouring the Israelis (Your View: “Broadcaster bias is failing to hold Israel to account”, Friday 1 November), I fully expect a similar missive emerging from the “other side”, critiquing bias against Israel.

I’m sure there would be an equal number of opposing signatories prepared to diss the excellent record of the BBC. Was it ever thus?

David Smith

Taunton

Get your hands off my land

The proposed new tax on farmland and business assets is a clear step towards nationalisation (“How farm tax could be a political issue after Rachel Reeves’s Budget”, Friday 1 November).

In effect, farmers will be paying between £100 and £200 per acre per year in tax for the ownership of land.

This means that in the likely event of farm profits continuing to stagnate or decline, the business of farming may no longer be viable.

Humphrey Mills

Steeple Bumpstead

Putting an X (formerly Twitter) in a box

Initially, Elon Musk promised that X (formerly Twitter) would be a politically neutral platform (“Trump’s Truth Social is now worth more than Elon Musk’s X after recent surge in stock price”, Thursday 31 October).

But increasingly, it has become an echo chamber for right-wing narratives, especially pro-Donald Trump advocacy. This shift raises significant issues about the platform’s role in democratic discourse.

Musk’s failure to uphold the neutrality he promised has severe implications for public trust and democracy. The biased amplification of narratives on X underscores the pressing need for regulatory action to protect the integrity of political debate and uphold democratic values. Now is the time to address these critical issues.

Huzaifa Talib Khety

Address supplied

At the rough end 

The Independent has pointed out a rise in those rough sleeping in London, which is emblematic of a much broader homelessness crisis (“Latest rise in London rough sleeping branded ‘shameful’”, Thursday 31 October).

Your report focused on the crisis response to this rise in homelessness, which is important – but it should not be a distraction from the longer-term goal of preventing homelessness in the first place. It is vital that the Rough Sleeping Initiative is extended to achieve this dual response.

Having the right funds for crisis response allows more resources to be channelled into rebuilding lives and preventing homelessness, whether that’s through employment skills, or advocating for more affordable housing, to name but a few.

Together, national and local government, with civil society organisations, can change things for the better for the thousands of people who are without a safe and stable home for the night.

Emma Haddad

CEO, St Mungo’s

The hardest lesson for private schools

So far as I am aware, all children in the UK have access to free state education. Private schooling is a decision made by parents. Private schools are commercial businesses. They are not charities, as I understand the term. (“The Budget raid on private schools like mine puts their very existence under threat”, Wednesday 30 October).

If there are insufficient customers prepared to pay the price for a business, they go under. Yet some commentators seem to believe private schools have a divine right to exist. I don’t agree.

Mark Ogilvie

Horncastle