It’s a mixed bag today as readers wonder if Rishi can set the ship right, if art should be destroyed and, of course, more ghostly stories…
■Please, please, please Rishi Sunak be a success as prime minister. This country needs stability after the mess of Brexit and Boris Johnson. We need to come together to get this country back online. Go, go Rishi!
Bob Jones, Kidbrooke
■ Mr Sunak said on the steps of Downing Street that he would rule with ‘integrity and humility’. His use of those two keywords is a very clear signal that he intends to rule in a different way from Mr Johnson. Integrity is defined as ‘the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles’ while humility is ‘the quality of having a humble or low view of one’s importance’.
Mr Johnson showed neither of these two important qualities when he was in power, which is why Sunak’s choice of those words is important. He clearly wants to distance himself and his Johnson-era government. In doing so, he signals a new way of managing.
This is a very welcome development – it marks a break with the past and the dawn of a new era of trust in our political system.
Alan Jensen, West Hampstead
■ I am surprised to hear talk about the ethnicity of our new Prime Minister. I hadn’t even thought about this matter. To me he is a man and our prime minister. It’s about time we stopped seeing different skin types and about time we started seeing the real person behind it. We are all human.
Anne Tamulonis, Cambridge
Rishi Sunak Becomes Prime Minister: What Happens Next?
■ Why, when it is said that the country is in turmoil, do it? opposition parties call for general elections? This would in effect create a period of no government and thus prolong the unrest.
David, London
■ It became clear from the summer leadership race that Sunak was the only viable candidate as he is financially competent. He is our youngest prime minister in 210 years, so I hope we get out of a downward cycle of policies taken only in the interest of the elderly.
Julia, Mitcham
■ I don’t understand how anyone can think the Tories are a better choice than Labour. Except for the rich, we are all worse off. Brexit is a disaster, and don’t get me started on the recent prime minister shenanigans.
Tom, Lewis
Riddle of Braverman’s Return to the Office
■ There are two conclusions we can draw from the reappointment of Suella Braverman as Minister of the Interior. Either she was hypocritical when she said ministers should take responsibility for their actions after she resigned for violating the ministerial code on email security, or she was lying when she said it broke the code that led to it. that she resigned.
Pedro, Hammersmith
Blame Thatcher for devastating changes to the way NHS financed
■ James Bradshaw says Tony Blair was our worst Prime Minister because of his privatization initiatives in the NHS (MetroTalk, Wed). Mr. Blair only continued what the Tories had begun.
Jack, Musselburgh
■ I partially agree with James Bradshaw: private financing initiatives in the NHS should never have been introduced. However, the real rot started when Margaret Thatcher pushed for trusts (introduced under John Major in 1991), assuming hospitals would work like businesses. The constant changes and reforms since then have cost the NHS a fortune, benefiting only business advisers and outgoing senior NHS staff.
Martin, London
Teddy bear and boots that go down at night…
■ To add to the ghost stories shared on MetroTalk. When my brother was five, he woke up crying one night. When my father asked him why, he pointed to the corner and said there was a little boy who was wet and covered in green stuff and called him. The next morning, a child was found drowned in the canal.
Ann, Richmond
■ This happened when I was young in my wartime home country before we moved to England. Late one night, our family was in the back living room when we heard loud footsteps on the concrete floor in the dark sitting room at the front as they walked toward the doorway. The footsteps were heavy and echoing and sounded like army boots. Mama asked, ‘Who is that?’ My brother looked into the front room. Nobody was there.
The next day, my cousin told Mom that his older brother had died the day before. Mama said to him, “So that was him then. We heard his footsteps.’
Peter, Birmingham
■ In my bedroom I had stacked a shelf of mommy’s stuffed animals in a row. They had been there for months.
One night I was awakened by a thud. I saw what time it was, but went back to sleep. The next morning I found Mom’s favorite teddy bear on the floor. It had fallen exactly six months since she died.
Sarah Mortlake
Please stop snooping and turn off Dora The Explorer
■ As for the worst public transport nightmares poll (Subway, Wednesday), I had to endure a sniff every ten seconds on my bus trip this morning.
Back, Morden
■ Like feet and bags on chairs, and man spreaders, etc., I hate consistent sniffers. Use a tissue and blow your nose. I also hate people who talk loudly on their phones and, during the holidays, parents who let their kids watch Peppa Pig and Dora The Explorer at full throttle on their tablets.
Kev, Suffolk
■ I now hate traveling by train. People play music and videos without headphones. There are also loud phone calls – and you can also hear the person they are talking to. The calls are not fast – they often take more than 30 minutes.
Glen, Belvedere
■ Snoring in the train, breathing loudly with headphones.
Emma, Cambridge
Carr’s show misses the point of art
Jimmy Carr is definitely not okay. On his show Jimmy Carr Destroys Art on Channel 4 on Tuesday, he asked the public whether works by the likes of Adolf Hitler, Picasso and Rolf Harris should be destroyed. In the end, the Harris artwork was saved and Hitler’s was destroyed.
It doesn’t matter who the artist is, it’s about the art, it’s history. He is no better than the villains who destroyed ancient art in Afghanistan. Shame on you, Jimmy Carr, and shame on those who took part in your outrageous program.
With all, by email
Long live nagging Miri!
■ Heather Says It Was Wrong For Metro To Refer To It Miriam Margolyes as a ‘national treasure’ (MetroTalk, Wednesday) but then lists all her best features – obnoxious, cranky and foul mouthed!
Aidan, Dartford
■ Who knew a national treasure had to be spotless? What a boring world that would be. I love Miriam Margolyes – she speaks more common sense than any Tory MP!
Mike, Burgess Hill
■ I was listening to Margolyes on Louis Theroux’s podcast Grounded and my respect for her collapsed. She is a vulgar woman.
Andy, London
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