Social housing is one of our greatest achievements – why do so many people seem ashamed of it?

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‘Many people today would jump at the opportunity to rent a property from their local authority’ (iStock)

Gloria de Piero (‘Why is a lefty like me working at GB News?’, 21 September) has joined the long list of media commentators and celebrities who label “being raised on a council estate” as equivalent to the modern equivalent of Dante’s Inferno. Many people today would jump at the opportunity to rent a property from their local authority. The provision of social housing in the mid-20th century, by governments of all shades, was arguably one of the great achievements of the time.

The present government’s empty “levelling up” rhetoric is pathetic by comparison.

Andrew Cameron

Truro

When is this US trade deal happening, prime minister?

I am surely not alone in wondering what millions of people will make of the prime minister’s words on Tuesday: “I would much rather get a deal that really works for the UK than get a quick deal.”

The trade deal with the US was a key part of the Leave package, and suddenly it ceases to have much immediate relevance. Once again, an open door for the critics of the government to walk through, but where are the voices of discontent?

We might also wonder what “being a train nut” involves, given the prime minister’s hubristic lurch down the steps of his private jet on arrival in New York. Who will rid us of this mendacious regime?

John Evans

West Sussex

A chance to drop the ‘nasty party’ tag

Surely the fuel crisis we are now witnessing across our nation is the ultimate reason for a change of heart from Boris Johnson regarding his plan to cut universal credit? I’m a Boris Johnson supporter but even I can see the ticking time bomb here. Now is your chance to get rid of the nasty party tag once and for all, prime minister. It’s time to put country before party.

Geoffrey Brooking

Hampshire

Clinical failings

Dr Anthony Ingleton (‘Maternity care’, Letters, 20 September) writes: “You report today that more than £8bn has been lost due to failed maternity services [...] Has anyone heard of anyone in charge being disciplined or sacked?”

When I worked in the acute hospitals sector from 1990 to 2003, chief executives were sometimes fired for financial issues or breaching mandatory performance targets such as maximum waiting times, but never for clinical failings in their organisations. The contract for clinical care is notionally between the patient and the responsible consultant. It’s the consultant who gets sued if things go wrong, and whose fitness to practice is overseen by the GMC rather than the hospital management.

Meic Goodyear

Lewes

Hot air on the climate crisis

Boris Johnson has told a pre-Cop26 roundtable discussion at the UN that “history will judge” the world’s richest nations if they fail to “do much more” to tackle catastrophic climate change.

This is the same Boris Johnson who as recently as 2015 claimed the notion of man-made climate change was “without foundation”. The same Boris Johnson whose newly appointed trade secretary is Anne-Marie Trevelyan, a climate sceptic whose past tweets include citing non-existent “clear evidence that the ice caps aren’t melting after all, to counter those doom-mongers and global warming fanatics”. The same Boris Johnson whose government dropped binding commitments to the Paris agreement from the UK-Australian trade deal it signed just two weeks ago.

So, yes, “history will judge” – albeit there will be precious little posterity left to judge – those like Boris Johnson who have wasted precious time denying climate change, putting profits before the planet and who even now prefer to spout empty words instead of taking decisive action.

Sasha Simic

London N16

Fire fighting

The government says not to worry, the lights won’t go out this winter. Time to buy candles...

Barry Tighe

Woodford Green