Labour have opened Pandora’s Box over Winter Fuel Allowance, Metro readers say
Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments.
Still no charges?
Keir Starmer insisted he was ‘going to have to be unpopular’ as he defended his ‘tough’ decision to cut winter fuel payments (Metro, Mon).
Speaking in his first major TV interview in No.10, the prime minister said he expected the support of Labour MPs in today’s vote on whether to axe the allowance for all but the poorest pensioners.
Challenged on whether those who rebelled would be stripped of the whip, Sir Keir said that would be for the chief whip to decide. I think chancellor Rachel Reeves must have let out the last mutant descendants of Nyx and Erebus from Greek mythology.
However, I do not know what Rachel has done with Elpis (hope), as I have heard it escaped from Pandora’s box. No matter how many times Elpis beats its wings, Labour will never control hope.
Just ask Lord Strathclyde, who described Labour’s plan to cull the 92 hereditary peers as ‘high-handed’.
Labour are like wailing creatures, from Pandora’s box, especially hardship, and deceit. Like Labour, they have never left the earth. Harry John, Linton, Cambridgeshire
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When is this Labour government going to take responsibility and stop moaning about the past 14 years and get on with the job they said they would do? The one they are well paid for. John, Bromley
The winter fuel allowance was introduced by Tony Blair’s Labour government in 1997. Clearly, the implementation was botched back then because it should have been means-tested from the start.
However, removing it arbitrarily is plain wrong and very cruel. I fail to understand why it is not being withdrawn in a staggered fashion. Steven, London
Estonia is reportedly considering whether to house foreign prisoners in one of its jails.
Sounds like this ‘rent a cell’ scheme could be the answer to all the UK’s prison population problems.
It’s just a pity the last government never thought of it before squandering countless millions on the half-baked plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. Carlos, Lancashire
A lesson in why uniforms matter
Pedro in Hammersmith (MetroTalk, Mon) says we shouldn’t have school uniforms in this country and that in countries such as Portugal, most schools have none.
I say that he’s wrong. Uniforms do what they say on the tin: create a uniform environment for everyone.
They allow pupils to focus on their studies rather than the latest fashion trends. And they also reduce bullying and peer pressure. Joe, Liverpool
Ten-year-old Evie Smith was excluded from school after teachers said her hair was ‘distracting’ (Metro, Fri).
Evie bleached half of her brown hair to look like Melanie Martinez before the pop star’s gig in Manchester this month.
How can a hairstyle be distracting? I can’t understand the reasoning behind excluding Evie.
With all the ‘be yourself’ and ‘be individual’ culture at the moment, this is what Evie was doing – maybe she wants to be a hairdresser?
The colour of your hair doesn’t affect your brain, plus your hair isn’t part of a uniform that you put on each day – it’s already on your head!
I wonder how many of Evie’s teachers have dyed hair, piercings and tattoos? Addy B, Leeds
New balls, please?
Tennis has yellow-green balls – why does the world of football also not adopt this colour?
Surely it would make it easier for footballers to see the ball, when sweat pours down into their eyes and because of their long floppy hair?
And surely it’s a better colour when it comes to spectators in distant seats at football matches? Eva Maria Kania, via text
Musical taste widens as we get older
John in Brixton (MetroTalk, Mon) says that as we get older, we choose to listen to the music we like – usually that of our youth – rather than whatever music is currently popular.
As I have got older, my musical taste has widened to encompass way more than it did in my youth. This includes a lot of songs that are currently popular as well as different genres of music I would have never listened to in my younger years.
While there will still be stuff I don’t like, I find myself way more open-minded towards music. Amelia, Brighton
In Friday’s Metro, you referred to LL Cool J as ‘making music’. Personally I don’t regard someone shouting words from a rhyming dictionary into a microphone as making music. Steve, London