Letters - Thursday January 28, 2021

In December 2020, the House of Lords voted to amend the Trade Bill to allow MPs to scrutinise this and other Bills and to protect the NHS from inclusion in future trade deals, particularly with America.

However, last week Conservative MPs voted against both the protection and scrutiny amendments.

The scrutiny amendment would have enabled MPs to have a greater ‘say’, both in trade deals and any other legislation.

The NHS protection amendment would have prohibited the sale of NHS data to private companies, protected the terms and conditions of NHS workers – those people who are getting us through the pandemic, prevented pharmaceutical companies from increasing the price of drugs sold to the NHS, and guaranteed that any decisions that affect the NHS are not made by foreign courts by the process of Investor-State Dispute Settlement.

Undoubtedly, the refusal of many MPs to vote for these amendments is a set-back for the NHS and it seems ironic that, having voted for Brexit, arguably to protect our sovereignty, we will be handing over the future of the NHS to foreign countries, such as America.

Ann Dorey

via email

Education

Negative effects of home learning

In 2020 the forced introduction of home learning proved to be a steep learning curve for many parents.

For some it was a minefield. Google was swamped with requests to, for example, explain grammatical terms, quadratic equations, how to analyse a poem, and how to balance a chemical equation. Nationally, many weaknesses were revealed in the system.

Once the immediate health dangers of the pandemic have been resolved, partially or completely, its disastrous effects on our educational system at every level will rival the calamitous effects on our economy. The educational impact is likely to be far longer lasting.

The major issues that arose once schools closed, apart from certain student categories that continued to attend, were these.

Firstly, many, students received either little or no remote education, certainly far less than the recommended five hours per day.

The reasons were:

. Firstly, very poor facilities at home, lack of space, no laptop, and parents trying to work from home.

. Secondly, the inability of many parents to help their children resolve problems in, for example, Maths, Science and English.

. Thirdly, the majority of teachers had not been trained in remote learning techniques.

. Fourthly, parents failed to set a regular routine for the week.

. Fifthly, young children require a break after 15 minutes learning as their attention span is limited. This was often forgotten.

This time round it is hoped these and other issues will no longer apply. Schools have had many weeks to improve and prepare online lessons. BBC programmes are also an excellent aid to learning, and there are many excellent teaching aids in book form. The internet also is awash with learning aids for all age groups.

It is crucial that students this time receive regular and first class home learning packages. Disadvantaged students in particular need all the help possible. In 2020 I heard of numerous examples where home learning for these students was, frankly, a joke.

Home learning is proving to be a major challenge for teachers, students and parents. It is a challenge that for the sake of students and the nation must be faced and overcome.

Dr Barry Clayton

Thornton Cleveleys

Transport

Smart motorways are anything but

From their inception, I concluded that smart motorways were the brainchild of someone without a driving licence.

My sympathies go out to families who have lost loved ones on these motorways.

Last year, I sent a letter to Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, suggesting the if hard shoulders were to double up as live lanes, then hard shoulders should be embossed with yellow chevrons to constantly warn drivers to keep two chevrons apart for safety reasons.

I received the courtesy of a reply but, due to Covid restrictions, I have not driven on a motorway for many months. However, to the best of my knowledge, nothing has changed.

Dennis Whitaker

via email