It is interesting to see from Sean O’Grady’s article that Stephen Powis, NHS director, “wants everybody to get a jab”. Yes, please! (”Is the NHS in more trouble than usual this winter?” Thursday 12 December).
My daughter has been unable to work since mid-January because she has long Covid. She was previously healthy and active – but, like most healthy people of working age, not entitled to a Covid jab.
Her first bout of Covid kept her off work for a month. Had she been entitled to regular jabs she feels her second bout last January would probably not have led to her now being one of the long-term sick.
It’s a wretched state to be in, with no end in sight. As well as having a devastating effect on her personally, it is of course really bad news for the economy when multiplied by thousands of similar cases.
I would like to encourage readers to email their MPs about extending eligibility for vaccinations. Or, if they can, to search for and sign the parliamentary petition to “fund Covid booster vaccines for all, with priority for Long Covid sufferers” that she has put together.
Helen Watson
Henley-on-Thames
Clean energy plan
Thank you, Ed Miliband, for moving ahead with the government’s clean energy plan. It will end our reliance on fossil fuels and ultimately bring down household bills. The plan will also unlock £40bn of private investment every year, thus boosting the UK economy.
In turn, this will create thousands of skilled jobs on top of those being created by the building of 1.5 million homes, thanks to fixing the grid system and speeding up the planning process. Hence, this will provide more renewable energy projects which will in themselves reduce dependence on foreign energy.
So, unlike the Tories’ big, magic money tree policies of higher bills and higher taxes because of dependence on foreign energy, what we have is a Labour government putting British consumers first and making our country great again.
Geoffrey Brooking
Havant
Look before you leap
Angela Rayner announced that she wants 1.5 million homes built by 2029 and, subsequently, the Home Builders Association told her that there aren’t enough workers to do this.
Based on building trade estimates, the number of newly trained builders that will be required to meet the government target is in the tens of thousands – many of whom are needed immediately. Yet, the government says it is providing funds for only 5,000 apprenticeships a year.
So, what hope is there that these homes will be built? Should ministers be consulting experts before declaring targets?
It is likely to be worse. Shortages of materials have dogged the building industry in recent years, with a dearth of bricks and tiles. And, if carbon emission targets are to be met, where do the extra 1.5 million heat pumps come from, given that a fair fraction of existing homes will also be expected to convert and will be competing for installation?
The old, old lesson is: look before you leap.
Ian Reid
Kilnwick
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