Doctors deserve better than a health secretary who undermines them

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

‘Staff in every part of the NHS are nothing short of awesome and deserve better’ (Reuters)

What an insult for Lincolnshire MP and health secretary Victoria Atkins to refer to protesting doctors as “in training”.

These doctors are the lifeblood of our beloved NHS. These doctors are working tirelessly, saving lives all the time.

I write this letter from my own hospital bed where I am being treated for COPD. These doctors saved my life last Friday after toxic gases built up in my blood and I had to go on to a ventilator.

And these same doctors just days later are making me fit to go home for Christmas.

Nobody should ever undermine the work of any doctor or member of the NHS.

The staff here, and every part of the NHS, are nothing short of awesome. They deserve better.

Geoffrey Brooking

Havant

An early Christmas present

I see the good people of North West Leicestershire have just received an early Christmas present; they no longer have the ignominy of being the only constituency represented by the Reclaim Party.

They are still stuck with Andrew Bridgen, of course, but at least now as an independent and not part of Laurence Fox’s, hodgepodge of conspiracy theorists and malcontents. Further, if the ex-Tory MP seriously thinks that by becoming an independent he will secure his re-election then he must be even more deluded than he is about the Covid pandemic and vaccines!

Robert Boston

Kent

Take the credit, avoid the blame

Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak are very quick to try to claim that inflation coming down is somehow linked to their handling of the economy, whereas a major factor is the recent drop in oil prices.

Those claiming for a commensurate reduction in interest rates seem to be unaware of what is happening in the Middle East with the re-routing of tankers and cargo ships. The price of oil and magnitude commodities will surely rise again soon.

When that happens will the government take a share of the blame?

Geoff Forward

Stirling

A little light on substance

Am I alone in finding the description of what Michelle Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman did as “following the advice of their advisors“ just a little light on substance?

Her husband’s group of companies on the Isle of Man specialises in gathering up funding from investors and high-net-worth individuals to do just such deals as this one. And there will inevitably be a heavy-duty legal team in that mix too.

Is this how they normally behave, and if so maybe a wee bit more scrutiny of how these funding structures work is in order?

In any event, they had all the advisors they needed on speed dial and we can all see how well that went...

John Sinclair

Pocklington

We cannot let misplaced blame lead to hate

Following the 7 October attack on Israel, I have been surprised by the level of antisemitic attacks in the West, notably the US and Canada.

Jewish people must not be collectively vilified, let alone physically attacked, for the acts of Israel’s government and its military, however one feels about the latter’s current brutality in Gaza.

And it should be needless to say that diaspora Palestinians and Western Muslims similarly must not be collectively blamed and attacked for the acts of Hamas violence in Israel or Islamic extremist attacks outside the Middle East.

What would young Jewish, or Palestinian, children think and feel if/when they hear such misdirected vile hatred towards their fundamental identity? Scary is the real possibility that such public outpour of blind hatred may lead some young children to feel very misplaced shame in their heritage.

Frank Sterle Jr

Address Supplied