LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Not in interest of local or national politicians to help

Our centre has become a meeting place for the displaced and disenfranchised who have either lost jobs, moved countries in the so far unfulfilled hope of securing a better life or been thrown out of what used to be a support system for those in trouble.

It’s too easy to simply say it’s the fault of the Tory government or the Labour-run council, careerist politicians who don’t care etc.

It’s a mix of all the above and much more.

The government is made up of a bunch of privileged, privately educated toffs, whose family connections and schooling has helped them into positions they have no qualifications for.

They have no idea about the difficulties faced by “normal” people and as a result no clue how to deal with them, should they, of course, have any desire to improve the lives of those they purport to serve.

The opposition chose to oust a leader who did care but was never going to win the support of a media run by friends of the government and those wanting to take Labour back to the centre or right of centre.

Locally, we have — although it is not quite as clear cut as it once was — a council made up of careerists, who, a bit like Tony Blair, would be happy to represent whatever party had the best chance of winning.

The majority of the Labour councillors are about as socialist as Boris Johnson. Or Keir Starmer, for that matter.

The problem with this is, of course, that as those in power locally differ very little in opinion from those who run the country nationally, nothing will change.

Services at the lowest level — for those with alcohol or drug problems, struggling with their mental health or finding accommodation — are slashed by the government reducing the budgets of local authorities, who comply by cutting from the bottom to preserve their own fat-salaried jobs.

We have regularly seen stories on these very pages about the council employing people on astronomical salaries, always using the excuse that the amounts need to be so high to attract the best candidates.

Those supposed best candidates then either fail spectacularly or do well enough to be deemed suitable for a job on an even higher salary with another local authority.

It’s the same with the health service and the police. People on massive wages slashing from the bottom until the services are no longer fit for purpose, meaning yet again that those who need the support the most are left without.

If it’s bad now, imagine what it’s going to be like if this continues, and Brexit, Covid and the war in Ukraine have given them a great collection of excuses to ensure it does.

It will never change while those in power deliberately pit those without against each other.

It really does feel as if they are laughing at us.

It feels as if the situation is beyond retrievable.

I wouldn’t say the human race has run its course, but it’s gone way past its peak and there’s no-one who can do anything about it or, more accurately, actually wants to.

An extremely sad and shameful state of affairs.

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