Letters—Another Starmer failure as hospice care crisis worsens

Hospices have to rely on charitable donations

Yet another fruit of Tory rot is ripening in the form of the collapse of hospices across the country. Charities have shamefully been left to carry out crucial elements of end of life care and have faced repeated bouts of funding cuts.

It is now reaching the point where bosses are sacking staff and patients are left to die without the dignity and comfort they deserve. Once again, Labour are failing to step up and do anything tangible about the ruins that the Tories have left behind.

With the looming October budget expected to promise nothing but more misery, hospices are having to prepare for worst-case scenarios. More and more people facing the end of their life are being offered less and less support.

Charities should never have been left to fill this healthcare gap. Urgent action is needed alongside worker and patient organisation to secure full funding and NHS integration.

Elliot

BMA member, Coventry

An amazing friend of mine, Rosie, recently died while in hospice care. At the point of her death, there were no beds available in the hospice, which had recently cut the number of beds from 16 to 8. And he staff are now facing redundancies.

Across England, NHS funding for hospices has been cut by 47 percent—so redundancies and bed shortages have become more common than ever.  Rosie campaigned incredibly hard against cuts to hospices and to fundraise for them.

But these efforts cannot compensate for the huge cuts in NHS funding. In the 6th richest country in the world, governments have choices.

The Tories chose a 25 percent increase in arms spending and cuts in NHS. Why are Labour replicating this?

Karen Reissmann

Manchester

A London anti-fascist battle to remember

Given the current rise of the far right it’s useful to look back at how they were opposed and pushed back in the 1970s. One example is the “Battle of Wood Green” that took place on 23 April 1977.

The fascist National Front planned to march down a busy north London high street. The march was opposed and broken, and they never returned to the area.

It is right to say that some of the opposition on the day was spontaneous. Some shoppers waded into the fascist marchers to oppose them. But there was a good deal of anti-fascist organisation too.

A young Haringey councillor—now Islington North Independent MP—Jeremy Corbyn had worked hard to bring together all those who opposed the march. There was a peaceful protest but also a more robust response by a range of anti-fascists including the SWP.

The model of inclusivity while not restraining militancy remains vitally important.

Keith Flett

North London

Wary of four-day plan

The new Labour government announced last week that workers in Britain could have the option to request a four-day working week under new government plans. This sounds great but there is a catch—we would still need to work our usual contracted hours.

As socialists we support shorter working weeks and increasing flexibility. But workers squeezing 37 or more hours into four days is not the radical demand some present it as. Four working days of ten hours or more won’t leave more time for care, leisure, hobbies or family. It will instead leave workers exhausted on their day off.

Campaigns should draw on previous slogans such as “work less so more of us can work”. They should incorporate truly radical demands like full pay restoration, 24-hour childcare and a massive expansion in public transport.

Neoliberalism will grind workers down under the guise of flexibility. Trade unionists should demand a different vision of a fulfilling work-life balance.

Jane

Leeds

Protest in Botswana

Around 150 activists met police lines last Wednesday in Gaborone, Botswana, as we protested against the Constitutional Amendment Bill. The bill gives excessive powers to the president—Mokgweetsi Masisi.

We were met by police and their riot vehicles. But we stood our ground. We chanted outside parliament while voting on the bill was ongoing inside. The bill eventually failed to pass—another victory for extra-parliamentary action.

Kirsten Marobela

International Socialists Botswana