Ken Warne closure a sad loss for Richmond town centre

Peter Warne, who ran the shop for over 30 years, was a big part of our local community. He supported masses of charity fundraising events and was always willing to offer support, many coffee mornings benefitting from cut price milk etc.

You could also always get those favourite items that no supermarket sold. Warne’s was a traditional grocers shop, open long hours and the gap it leaves in the market place will be hard to fill.

Thank you Peter for your many years of service to the town.

Linda Curran, Richmond.

Costly saving

LIKE many I am shocked by the news that Rachel Reeves has decided to ensure the vast majority of pensioners will not be able to receive the winter fuel allowance.

This news seems to have been met, universally, with disgust, especially as analysis published in 2017 warned that plans to cut the fuel allowance for ten million pensioners would increase excess deaths by 3,850 that winter.

Also, it is a well-known economic fact that there is always an opposite reaction and after effect to any spending cut of such magnitude.

In this case it’s certain that the NHS will be further burdened by a vast increase in people they will have to care for because of illness caused by having to choose between heating and eating.

In fact, it’s thought it’ll cost the nation far more than the £1.2bn Ms Reeves expects to save.

Bishop Auckland Labour MP Sam Rushworth, along with his Darlington counterpart, voted along with the government to take the allowance from this vulnerable group. People will not forget his actions in the next election.

Surely the best solution would be to pay the universal benefit, introduced by a Labour government, but make it a taxable benefit?

This way those who are poverty-trapped and unable to claim will still get the benefit but possibly be liable to pay income tax, therefore returning a percentage to the Treasury, with the wealthy facing up to £120, based upon a 40 per cent rate and £300 for over 80s.

J B Collinson, Middleton-in-Teesdale.

Bearing the brunt

I’M writing in response to Kevin Cooper’s recent letter on behalf of Age UK, which highlights the devastating impact of cuts to winter fuel payments on older people, “Fuel petition” (D&S Times letters, Aug 30).

Despite government claims of an “end to austerity,” these cuts reveal a pattern of policies that disproportionately target the most vulnerable in society.

As winter approaches, those already struggling to make ends meet, particularly older people, will bear the brunt of these decisions.

It’s undeniable that these measures will further compound the hardships faced by the most at-risk individuals in our communities.

While pension credits are often promoted as a safety net, the reality is that the system is both complex and burdensome.

Many older people, either unaware of their entitlements or too proud to claim what they perceive as charity, remain excluded from the support they desperately need – precisely the reason Gordon Brown introduced the winter fuel payment in the first place.

In a different reality, perhaps Rachel Reeves and her colleagues could forgo some of the generous allowances they receive for clothing and perks, and instead offer pensioners much-needed essentials like jumpers, blankets, and coats?!

Unless this government of austerity rediscovers its conscience, we will inevitably witness preventable deaths this winter.

The situation demands urgent reconsideration before lives are lost to cold and neglect.

For those equally concerned, Age UK’s petition calling for a rethink of these cuts is on their website ageuk.org.uk.

It’s time to stop pretending that austerity is over when, in reality, these actions punish those most in need.

Let’s ensure that this winter, the government doesn’t abandon those they’re sworn to protect.

Thank you for your attention to this vital issue.

Marie Carter Robb, Durham.

Two-tier society

DOCTORS, nurses, care workers, ambulance workers and the fire services, can all unite to take strike action, but things are very different for pensioners who have no union stand up for them.

Many pensioners provide unpaid child care, plus home care for loved ones suffering from dementia and physical disabilities.

Many do vital voluntary work in the community and many supplement their state pensions well into old age with low-paid employment workplace unrepresented by the protection of a union.

If pensioners were heartless enough to withhold their unpaid, and paid, labour as public service workers uncaringly do already, many innocents would surely suffer, but sometimes it takes drastic action by trade unions to get results.

Cessation of the cold weather payment at such short notice instigated by the current, heartless Labour government, whose leader repeatedly claimed to be the “party for the working people” but who takes no account of retired working people, will cause distress, discomfort and hardship for many senior citizens who had worked hard all their working lives, having dutifully paid their National Health stamps from an early age in the hope of receiving a living pension in old age.

The fact is that we are living too long, but help is on the way for those who are hell bent on plugging their fictitious, inherited financial “black hole” by milking the aged.

They can be sure of one thing – unable to afford to heat their homes, many will, as sure as eggs are eggs, fall ill and die – a saving not only of their cold weather payments but of their pensions as well.

The old age pension, now referred to not as a pension but a benefit, has become a two-tier benefit, a fact that may not be appreciated by most members of the public.

The truth is that those who received their pension before April 6, 2016 received far less than the 8.5 per cent rise this year than those who started receiving their pensions after that date.

No doubt the monetary gap between the tiers is likely to widen with each percentage increase.

The common belief that all pensioners are rich is simply not true.

My prayers are for the unfortunate folk in this unenviable situation this winter who will lose their much needed and planned for cold weather payments.

My sympathies also go to those who lost out on their inclusion of the second-tier pensions payments related to the infamous April 6, 2016 cut-off date.

Mary Morton, York.

Radio silence

THREE weeks ago, I sent an email to our new MP Lola McEvoy asking for confirmation or denial that British pensioners living in EU countries will continue to receive the winter fuel allowance after it is denied to those of us not on pension credit.

To date I have had no reply.

It is common knowledge that she voted to remove the allowance, is she now to embarrassed to communicate with her constituents?

I also sent the same question to Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, and have had no reply.

I leave you to draw your own conclusions.

Chris Jackson, Darlington.

Not a good look

TWO of the most powerful criticisms the Labour leadership made during the 14 years the Tories were in power concerned the economic policy of austerity, with its devastating impact on public services, and their record of sleaze.

After just 11 weeks of a Labour government, it appears that little has changed.

Most pensioners are losing their winter fuel allowance and more cuts to both services and benefits have been signalled in the forthcoming Budget.

At the same time, we have the revelation that Keir Starmer, in Opposition, accepted donations of more than £100,000 (some spent on his clothing and spectacles) and his wife has been given at least £5,000 for designer clothes.

Lord Alli, the Labour peer and main donor, has, in return, been granted special access to Downing Street.

This has been termed “passes for glasses”.

The level of sleaze has perhaps not reached yet the heights attained under Boris Johnson, but it is not a good look from a leader who claims to act with probity and integrity.

If this is the best Mr Starmer’s government can do, disillusionment will grow and his chances of a second term will vanish – already polls suggest support for the government has dipped under 30 per cent.

A more positive vision needs to be put forward and quickly.

Bill Stuart, Darlington.

Delusions of grandeur

WHY does this country still think it’s a world power, giving handouts to other countries, most of whom are potentially wealthier than we are.

I always thought that charity begins at home and being a pensioner who doesn’t qualify for benefits, I find this grossly unfair.

Edwin Pickering, Darlington.

Protecting posties

SADLY, there has been a rise of at least 15 per cent of dog attacks on postal workers and delivery drivers over the past year.

No-one should be vulnerable to being attacked by a dog, let alone when they are doing their job. If dog owners have any concerns about their pet when visitors come to the home or when mail is delivered through the letterbox, may I strongly recommend that you sign up to take part in the Blue Cross ‘Protecting Your Postie’ webinar on September 27 or December 16.

The free course takes place on Zoom and lasts for about an hour.

It will explain why dogs act in a certain way when postal workers arrive and the consequences of any incidents that occur.

It will also deliver measures to help manage a dog’s behaviour and where further help can be found. Protect your postie and sign up on the charity’s website today by going to bluecross.org.uk/protecting-your-postie.

Chris Packham, Blue Cross education ambassador.

That horse has bolted

’VE just heard the news that Sir Keir Starmer is to no longer accept donations to pay for clothes.

After his visit to Doncaster Races recently it’s a case of “shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted”.

Peter Garbutt, Stockton-on-Tees.

Feeling defeated

I THINK this country is worse off now than just after the Second World War.

Most roads are full of potholes, the cost of food and energy is sky high and now the Government are taking money off OAPs.

It makes me wonder, did we win the war? I think things are much better in Germany.

GO Wright, Sadberge.