Liz Truss’s Thatcher cosplay is not going well

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The lady’s not for turning, until she is (Reuters)

Liz Truss’s Thatcher cosplay is not going well.

As many have indicated – if you ignore the fortnight’s grace gifted to this disastrous administration by the death of the monarch – this, in terms of credibility, is the shortest-lived “democratic” government in British political history.

Throwing Kwarteng under the proverbial bus does not enhance Lizzie’s look, though she is perhaps too dim and deluded to see this too. The lady’s not for turning, until she is.

Amanda Baker

Edinburgh

Two questions

On Sunday morning, Kwasi Kwarteng was very confident that his proposal to cut the 45p tax rate for the highest earners was an essential part of a package designed to stimulate UK growth. On Monday morning the policy was ditched.

My first question is was he doing the wrong thing then, or is he doing the wrong thing now? My second question is when can we expect his resignation or sacking?

Deborah Everett

Manchester

Hope extinguished

It’s not so much about changing society at this stage. Where’s the change going to come from? The trade unions are much weaker than they were previously. The Labour Party is just another gang of careerist opportunists claiming they can run the same system better than the other gangs.

Jeremy Corbyn, who was a shining light and a ray of hope, was unceremoniously extinguished by, among others, his own party. He was a threat to the whole social order, so he was pilloried from all sides.

At this stage, it’s just whether enlightened opinion can help steer society away from its most harmful destinations. Even John F Kennedy, whom many consider a hero, bombed Vietnam and launched a campaign against Cuba. Obama bombed Libya and approved the use of more drone strikes than his predecessor, George W Bush. If these are the so-called heroes championed by those wanting societal change, then it just shows how misguided they are.

When we realise most of those in the highest corridors of power do not have our best interests at heart, we might just have the chance of ensuring, through the influence of mass progressive movements, that any future leaders are never able to avail of their dangerous tendencies. This might be our only saving grace. I don’t think it’ll get any better than that.

Louis Shawcross

County Down, Northern Ireland

Low-skilled Tories

Home secretary Suella Braverman argues that Britain has “too many low-skilled” immigrants who “are not contributing to growing our economy”.

She’s wrong. Britain has far too many low-skilled, far-right politicians like Braverman who use the racist tactic of scapegoating immigrants to divert attention from the fact that their government of no-talents is tanking the economy.

Sasha Simic

London

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The need for charity

In 1857 the Crossley family of Halifax, owners of the largest carpet mill in the world, donated People’s Park to the people of Halifax, and subsequently built almshouses in an act of philanthropy.

Can this compare to modern entrepreneurs who prefer to spend on trips into space (having not contributed enough to destroying the planet) or buying a conscience-free counting house on their own tax-free island?

Of course, they might give generously to charity, but then the need for charity is driven by wealth inequality. Also before government interventions of minimum or living wage, the only thing preventing multimillion-pound profit-making employers from paying their staff a living wage was their own greed and lack of care for those people.

Richard Whiteside

Halifax