
Correspondents reveal their true colours
The correspondence on the use of green ink (Letters, 26 June) reminded me that when I was the editor of Martindale's Extra Pharmacopoeia (a long time ago) I received a lot of letters written in green ink. Invariably they were promoting ridiculous ideas. I had no idea that they might have come from an admiral or the head of an intelligence service.Jim ReynoldsPenrith, Cumbria
Am I alone in starting to feel a little less safe after reading that the UK and other European nations inside Nato are dancing to Trump's tune and have committed to a massive increase in arms expenditure (Trump hails 'big win' as Nato states agree to raise defence spending to 5% of GDP, 25 June)?Matthew RyderSt Neots, Cambridgeshire
Congratulations on the most savagely funny opinion piece I've read in a long time (Congrats to Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez on the wedding – and to Venice for running them out of town, 25 June). There are some of us in the middle of America who appreciate finely honed sarcasm. Not many of us, but we do exist.Mike MelnykCanonsburg, Pennsylvania, US
Steve Lupton asks (Letters, 26 June) if there is any sort of gift other than a free one. Well, there's always a free lunch …Geoff HolmanKnutsford, Cheshire
'Free' gift? There's always a bit of blackmail somewhere.Marion KuitKendal, Cumbria
Can I widen the debate? When did we lose the definite article? On Radio 3 people play violin, piano etc. Not a definite article in sight.Catherine WilliamsWorksop, Nottinghamshire
Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mail
34 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Labour's botched welfare cuts 'target the wrong people', with rising numbers still signed-off as too sick over the phone
Labour's welfare cuts were branded 'calamitous' yesterday for targeting the wrong people and failing to tackle root-and-branch reform. Sir Keir Starmer 's credibility has been left in tatters over the reforms, over which he climbed down at the eleventh hour last week to avoid defeat in a crunch vote tomorrow. He was forced to give £3billion worth of concessions by watering down cuts to disability benefits after 126 rebel MPs threatened to defeat the legislation. But senior Tories said Labour was still targeting the wrong people, and that the overhaul will not deliver fundamental structural change. This is, they say, because it does nothing to tackle rising numbers being signed off over the phone rather than in-person as too sick to work since the Covid-19 pandemic. There are also concerns about the plummeting number of reassessments, and assessors getting £80 bonuses for whittling through applications as it is often deemed quicker to sign off people as unfit to work. Yesterday Manchester mayor Andy Burnham called on Labour MPs to still vote against the Government's 'half a U-turn' welfare cuts tomorrow despite Sir Keir Starmer's climbdown. Many of Labour's reforms, which include reducing future support for people who claim money to help wash and dress themselves, were rushed through at the eleventh hour ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves's Budget last Autumn when it emerged her sums didn't add up. Yesterday, Health Secretary Wes Streeting admitted further concessions were on the cards. It came as analysis by the TaxPayers' Alliance campaign group found almost one in ten Britons now receive Personal Independence Payment (PIP) disability benefits in England and Wales, with more than a fifth of people receiving them in some areas. Esther McVey, a former Tory work and pensions secretary, said: 'The way they've gone about it is completely wrong. What they need to do is look at where there are weaknesses in the system which came about during start with youth unemployment. 'This was never about reform and support. This was to find £5billion for Rachel Reeves's catastrophic Budget. It is calamitous.' Under Sir Keir's U-turn, existing PIP claimants will keep their current level of disability payments. But new claimants after November 2026 would be entitled to up to £4,000 a year on average less, even if they suffered from the same condition meaning they couldn't work. Fifty MPs are expected to rebel by tabling a new amendment. But 83 MPs would be needed to defeat the reforms. Meanwhile, the Whitehall 'blob' at Angela Rayner's department will today start 'indefinite' industrial action in protest at being asked to not work from home so much. Housing Department staff and members of the Public and Commercial Services union will launch 'work to rule' disruption. Staff have previously complained about being asked to attend the office three days a week.


The Independent
42 minutes ago
- The Independent
Senate megabill would explode debt and kick 11.8 million off Medicaid: ‘Our fiscal house is basically on fire'
New estimates from the Congressional Budget Office have revealed that Senate Republicans' version of Donald Trump's spending package would lead to more Americans losing health coverage than the version of the president's flagship legislation that passed the House last month. The legislation would push 11.8 million Americans off insurance by 2034, according to the report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Over the same period, federal spending on Medicaid, Medicare and Obamacare would be cut by $1.1 trillion. More than $1 trillion of the cuts would be made to Medicaid. The estimates confirm the concerns of some Republicans who are worried about cuts to Medicaid, which amount to the steepest cuts to the federal healthcare program in history. Some Republicans, worried about the deficit and national debt, have pressed for further cuts, while others fear what deep cuts mean for their constituents. The estimates also clash with Trump's promise not to cut Medicaid apart from removing what he describes as fraud and waste. Washington Democratic Senator Patty Murray slammed the bill in a speech on the Senate floor on Sunday,. 'If you think you can look the American people in the face and tell them we have to bring down the debt after passing what might be the most expensive bill in history, if you think you can do that and then be taken seriously, you know what, if you believe that, maybe you are foolish enough to think that zero and a trillion are the same,' she said. 'I can tell you right now, if this happens, we will all laugh you out of the room because we have never seen anything like this, not in my time here in the Senate, not in my time on this planet,' she added. 'We are not going to let anyone forget that you're trashing the rules in order to pass this egregious bill.' Over a decade, the bill would add at least $3.3 trillion to the national debt, according to the CBO. The version passed by the House would have added $2.4 trillion. The public currently holds about $29 trillion in debt, with the CBO expecting the government to borrow a further $21 trillion over the next 10 years, leading to the assessment that the Republican legislation would worsen an already bad fiscal forecast. The $3.3 trillion estimate is also an undercount, as it doesn't include further borrowing costs, which would push the legislation's full addition to the debt closer to $4 trillion. 'Our fiscal house is basically on fire,' Democratic Senator Gary Peters said in remarks on the Senate floor on Sunday. 'But if our Republican colleagues jam through this bill, it's not going to pour water on that fire. It's going to pour gasoline on those flames.' Trump's 2017 tax cuts are also driving the costs. The president's 2017 tax cuts are set to expire this year, but Republicans want to extend them — amounting to another $3.8 trillion hit to the budget. Republicans have also added further tax cuts, including Trump's pledge not to tax tips and overtime, resulting in an overall Senate tax cut of about $4.5 trillion. Steep cuts to Medicaid and other parts of the social safety net are intended to offset those tax reductions. 'The national debt is at an all-time high, $36.2 trillion. Just in the last 16 years, it has tripled,' Peters noted in his remarks. 'Our annual deficits frequently exceed $1.5 trillion, including a record $3.1 trillion deficit in fiscal year 2020,' he said. 'Within the next decade, our country will spend more on servicing the debt than we do on any other federal account outside of Social Security,' Peters added.


Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
British-Israeli soldier killed while fighting in Gaza, reports say
A British-Israeli soldier has been killed while fighting in Gaza, Israeli media reports said. He was named locally as Sergeant Yisrael Natan Rosenfeld, 20, from the city of Ra'anana. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said it is "looking into reports that an IDF soldier who died in combat in Gaza is a British national". Please refresh the page for the fullest version.