Why we should beware a ‘community right to buy’ | Letters
“Community right to buy” is the cruellest joke in the political locker (Editorial, 22 December),It’s the biggest scam, where the scammer convinces you that your property, your asset, is worth you saving up your pennies, plus a few fundraising efforts, finished off with funding applications to several do-good organisations, to buy what’s yours already,Every community centre, library, swimming pool and public building in the land was bought with the communities’ own money, as they paid through income tax and council tax to fund the public bodies that built them, as well as the running costs,It’s nothing short of a disgrace,The steady decline in public services and the closing of community buildings is destroying the social fabric of our country.
The idea that communities take up the role of councils that believe they can’t run or don’t want to run community buildings any more is a good idea in desperate times, but these assets should be handed over to community organisations at no cost, not sold to them.Donald Stavert Bathgate, West Lothian Community libraries in London’s Lewisham survived the austerity-driven “big society” rhetoric by the Cameron government because local people demonstrated, marched and volunteered.There was a political will in the local authority to do everything possible to keep them open.Now that we have a Labour government, it must not fall into the trap of allowing the “community right to buy” to become a cover story for local authority funding cuts and the closure of leisure facilities, libraries and community centres like previous Tory administrations.Extra resources are urgently needed in local government.
But this isn’t the only impediment,There is a dire need for joined-up government: arts, education, heritage and lottery support are desperately needed too,Political will at a local level is vital,Alan HallFormer councillor and chair of community affairs, Lewisham council The Guardian and many others are too quick to assume the viability of some community asset transfers,David Cameron’s “big society” projects were always undermined by extreme underfunding, but the whole model presumes that public services don’t really require rigorous thought or skills.
Making any venue open to the public involves skills related to building management and dealing with people,In my experience as a local councillor, some of these skills involve safely interacting with disruptive or addicted people who have objectionable behaviour and people who do not recognise the rights of others,Groups that want to run public buildings often want funding and have unrealistic views as to how much they can raise, and regard required checks such as those for criminal records, disabled access or insurance as “red tape”,Such groups frequently expect an overstretched public sector to ultimately protect them, meaning more costs for the taxpayer,Community asset transfer is not as easy as some of its advocates make it out to be.
James PowneyAuthor, Transforming Brent Libraries An unfortunate coincidence: your editorial quotes Angela Rayner saying “community ownership brings people together.Communities who own things are more connected, they share responsibility for the most important assets”; a headline on page 27 says: “Fund to save community assets shelved with £15m unallocated”.Jeremy CushingWiveliscombe, Somerset Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it.A selection will be published in our Readers’ best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
‘Running a bad airline is expensive’: is British Airways finally getting better?
Complaining about BA is a ‘national sport’, but even critics says its £7bn turnaround plan is starting to bear fruitIt’s been a long and turbulent time since anyone used British Airways’ old slogan “the world’s favourite airline” with a straight face. After a decade during which the UK flag carrier was tarnished by cost-cutting, IT fiascos, mass redundancies and strikes, BA was then pushed to the brink by Covid.Hopes of a smooth recovery disappeared like lost luggage on a carousel, as cancellations and delays plagued an airline seen as pricier than short-haul competitors and dowdier than the Gulf carriers. With burgeoning complaints about customer service, pledges by bosses to turn things round were met with some scepticism.And yet, something strange has happened
You need more than Nobbies and Stobbies for a motorway grand slam | Letters
I added Preston’s of Potto to the game when Eddie Stobarts and Norbert Dentressangles became commonplace, and it was unusual to see all three on one journey (Letters, 22 December). A grand slam, spotting an Eddie, a Norbert and a Potto between two consecutive motorway junctions, was rare indeed. Peter LowthianMarlow, Buckinghamshire As well as Stobbies and Nobbies to count, there were also Willies (Willi Betz).Terry CarbroSleights, North Yorkshire A great way to keep occupied on long journeys was to keep a look out for the friesian paint scheme of Richard Wiseman Dairy lorries, and be the first to shout “moo”.John IlesHolne, Devon Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it
There’s no reason for older people to fear smartphones | Letters
In wishing to ban smartphones, Tim Watson (nearly 94) throws the baby out with the bathwater (Letters, 20 December). Being of a certain age myself, I remember when nobody in my close family even had a landline.Smartphone use can become misuse but, used intelligently, the smartphone is one of the greatest modern inventions. With mine, I can call people on the other side of the world cheaply or even at no cost; I can use it as a satnav; I do not have to speak to everyone because I can simply send them a text; I can store important information and use any number of apps.I agree with banning smartphone use during school hours – and appropriate use and misuse should be part of education today because, of course, there are dangers
Older music has been getting a second life on TikTok, data shows
This was the year that gen Z had their “Brat summer”, or so we were led to believe.Inspired by the hit album by pop sensation Charli xcx, the trend was seen to embody all the messiness of modern youth: trashy, chaotic and bright green.But on the teenager’s social media platform of choice, TikTok, a more sepia music trend has been taking root.Despite having an endless amount of music to pair with their short, scrollable videos, TikTok users have been raiding the back catalogues of artists from yesteryear including Bronski Beat and Sade to soundtrack their posts.This year set a new high for use of old tracks on British TikTok posts, with tunes more than five years old accounting for 19 out of its 50 top tracks this year
Galopin Des Champs ready for Gold Cup hat-trick after Leopardstown cruise
The mood music around the Willie Mullins stable was unusually downbeat on Saturday morning, with three winners from 47 starters over the first two days of the Christmas programme. It was significantly more up-tempo by the end of the afternoon after a Grade One double that included a deeply impressive return to winning form by the stable’s star steeplechaser, Galopin Des Champs.Galopin Des Champs lined up for the Savills Chase at Leopardstown, the feature event of the track’s four-day Christmas meeting, as the 5-2 joint-favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March, a race he has won for the past two seasons. Alongside him in the ante-post market and Saturday’s race was Fact To File, a stable companion at the Mullins yard and the apparent leader of the second-season chasers.The two-time Gold Cup winner had also failed to add to his Cheltenham victory in two subsequent starts – a near-facsimile of his record before the Savills Chase last season and had finished behind Fact To File over two and a half miles at Punchestown in November
Kabaddi fever hits Melbourne as part of two nations’ sporting symbiosis
The blue swarm knew not of contested possessions as it closed in on the former AFL midfielder Josh Kennedy. His crew of recently retired colleagues, dubbed the Aussie Raiders, were struggling to stay in touch with the Pro Kabaddi All Stars. So when the opposing mass grabbed, gripped and grappled the greying former Swan late in the match on Saturday night in Melbourne, the crowd knew the contest was over.But this exhibition at John Cain Arena, of a discipline behind only cricket among India’s most popular sports, was an occasion at which the scoreboard didn’t matter. The few thousand fans who showed up had no attachment to the Raiders or All Stars, nor the Mavericks and Masters who played the curtain-raiser
Black cancer patients in England less likely to feel supported in hospital, says charity
One in five Britons would use weight-loss drug if free on NHS, poll reveals
‘Bullets can make a real mess of bones’: the hospital where the war wounded have their lives put together again
Assaults in prisons in England and Wales rise to average of 74 a day
Almost one in five children live in conflict zones, says Unicef
US saw dramatic rise in homelessness at start of 2024, housing agency says