Forcing nurses to accept the latest pay offer isn’t the victory the government thinks it is

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

People gather in London ahead of a Support the Strikes march in solidarity with nurses, junior doctors and other NHS staff (PA Wire)

If the NHS staff council vote to accept the government’s pay offer, it will be a pyrrhic victory for health secretary Steve Barclay. Forcing the nurses into such a deal is a slight to their dignity, dedication and popular acclaim, but more importantly it will exacerbate resourcing difficulties by hindering recruitment and accelerating the resignations of experienced staff, frequently into much more expensive agency posts.

The NHS will be poorer in financial, qualitative and experiential terms. For the Tories it will further alienate thinking voters, but maybe that is their hidden agenda: they will be more assured of being able to pass on the mess they have created in the NHS and the rest of the country to Labour to sort out. Job done.

Tim Sidaway

Hertfordshire

The only thing worth watching

Thank you, Sean O’Grady, for the super review of the upcoming not-to-be-missed The Windsors Coronation Special. Although I am far removed from a TV addict, I have glanced at the schedule for the coronation weekend and it looks suspiciously like the only programme worth watching.

Beforehand, I shall tuck into a hearty past unconnected to Britain or the empire; then later I shall chant some slightly altered, but still profound words from, Hunter S Thompson: “That is still the problem with too many from this generation. Somewhere a long time ago they fell in love with the idea that the aristocracy – even the slickest and brightest members of royalty – were real heroes and truly exciting people.”

Robert Boston

Kingshill, Kent

More on allegiance

How dare anyone ask for my allegiance to a monarch, who is there by outmoded birthright and privilege, which emphasises the lack of democracy and is a blight on the country’s development. I have lived in this country for 84 years, except for two years of postdoctoral research in USA.

I have the vote and will use it to get rid of this dreadful government who would rather take a union to court than talk to them. Unfortunately, my vote cannot be used to express my desire to remove the monarchy.

What considerable knowledge and skills the King has in environmental matters are curbed by the government who would not allow him to go to Cop26.

Sadly, the royal family is dysfunctional and now that the stalwart has passed on, it is time to phase out the monarchy, let them all work for a living, cut the terrible expense and replace aristocracy with meritocracy.

Robert Murray

Nottingham

Arcane and exclusionary

There are contrasting views about the British monarchy. They’re either hard-working symbols of shared history and pageantry, or anachronistic embodiments of inherited privilege. What is certain is that the royal family’s constitutional entanglement with the minority Church of England is arcane and exclusionary.

The King is free to lend his patronage to any group he wants but being the supreme governor of the established Church of England is not the corgi-fancying society.

Catholics are specifically excluded from succession to the throne; Anglican churches themselves are attended by fewer than 2 per cent of the English and the King’s role tacitly endorses their leaders’ continued opposition to LGBT+ equality.

We wish Charles Windsor and his supporters no ill but until there is a secular head of state, whether privately religious or not, the coronation, with its holy oil and fragments of the “one true cross” (thanks goodness the Romans thought to keep some in the attic for 300 years) will not feel inclusive to the majority non-Christian and non-religious British citizens.

Neil Barber

Edinburgh Secular Society

It’s time to resolve the nurses’ dispute

This nurses’ dispute is now tearing the heart out of our beloved NHS and clearly undermining treatment being provided at the point of need. It is a mess caused by the Tories’ lack of investment for 13 years that has seen waiting lists hit record levels, 5 million people a month now waiting more than two weeks for a GP appointment, and our beloved NHS staff left struggling to make ends meet.

This is why we need a fair pay settlement for nurses and a Labour government under Keir Starmer that will guarantee face-to-face GP appointments and double the number of doctors trained each year, paid for by abolishing the Tory non-dom tax status.

Geoffrey Brooking

Havant