Keith Jacques News Today

SIR – The idea that voting for Reform UK could result in the party replacing the Conservatives in the longer term (Letters, April 29) is a fantasy. The electoral arithmetic simply doesn’t work that way, and the suggestion that we should regard a decade of Labour government as a price worth paying is glib. Labour’s cultural and social agenda is diametrically opposed to the worldview of those drawn to Reform. I would advise anyone considering supporting this party to read Hila...

SIR – Thames Water (Comment, April 1) has been rebuked by Michael Gove, the Levelling Up Secretary, for asking to increase water bills by 40 per cent. Yet it has already increased my water bill by 75 per cent since February, regardless of the fact that the countryside is now saturated (there is never any real shortage of water in this area) and even though there has been no reduction in the discharge of sewage into rivers. It needs to be allowed to go bust. C M Chadwick Lechlade, Gloucest...

SIR – How is it possible that a family solely dependent on benefits can be better off than someone earning £70,000 a year – more than twice the average wage? This is an absurd situation, and it is driving those who pay the most tax to despair. The benefits system should be a safety net for those who fall on hard times or are unable to work through no fault of their own. It should help prevent poverty and destitution. It should not provide for a better lifestyle than that of so...

The lawsuit is the fourth alleging abuse by former city officers, but a lawyer for the defendant says the allegations were investigated and dismissed many years ago.

SIR – Nicola Sturgeon will do anything and throw anybody under the bus in her destructive focus on independence (“Sturgeon’s Indyref2 strategy in disarray”, report, November 24).

05:00, 7 MAR 2021 Vehicles parked along Church Lane in Derrington on February 21 (Image: Keith Jacques) Want Stoke-on-Trent news emailed to you direct from our journalists? Sign up to our newsletterInvalid EmailSomething went wrong, please try again later. Subscribe When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they’ll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. OurPrivacy Noticeexplains more about how we us...

SHARE: For the past several years, City & State has closed out the year with a list of leaders in the private sector who are actively seeking to help New Yorkers and make our state a better place. It was a nice, uplifting feature that reminded us all that there’s more to life than making money as we brainstorm our own New Year’s resolutions.  But 2020 was different. As we shut ourselves in our homes and lost family, friends and neighbors to a deadly pandemic, and as the federal government ...