Falklands was last honourable resignation by Cabinet minister – Yorkshire Post Letters

From: Edward Grainger, Botany Way, Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough.
Lord Carrington - pictured with Margaret Thatcher - resigned as Foreign Secretary after Argentinai nvaed the Falklands in 1982.Lord Carrington - pictured with Margaret Thatcher - resigned as Foreign Secretary after Argentinai nvaed the Falklands in 1982.
Lord Carrington - pictured with Margaret Thatcher - resigned as Foreign Secretary after Argentinai nvaed the Falklands in 1982.

HOW much longer can failing individuals and institutions hide from their grave mistakes, often resulting in the deaths of innocent, under the umbrella of “lessons have been learnt”?

I didn’t hear those words from Lord Carrington over the invasion of the Falklands in 1982. He took full responsibility and saw this as a resigning issue.

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Where has all the accountability gone in public life? Now the negligent offer few apologies and all too often put the blame on others down the chain of command to save their own skins.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock.Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock.
Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock.

From: Mrs S Williams, Haydn Court, Morley.

SO the pathetic Dominic Cummings is accusing Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock of unnecessary deaths of tens of thousands over the pandemic. Are they then responsible for the worldwide millions of deaths? This country seems to be a world beater at doing its utmost to come to grips with this pandemic. Cummings has taken his bat and ball home and is not playing anymore. Good!

From: Andrew Mercer, Guiseley.

THE fact that Matt Hancock ignored prescient warnings from North Yorkshire care home boss Mike Padgham should be a resigning issue – never mind the evidence from Dominic Cummings which had a distinct ring of truth to it.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson.Education secretary Gavin Williamson.
Education secretary Gavin Williamson.

Ignoring ideas to help pupils

From: Henry Cobden, Ilkley.

WHAT was the point of appointing Sir Kevan Collins as Education Recovery Commissioner (The Yorkshire Post June 2) and the Government ignoring his ideas to help pupils catch up on lost learning?

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There can only be two reasons. Either Education Secretary Gavin Williamson failed to make a sufficiently convincing case for funding – or Chancellor Rishi Sunak does not regard schools as a priority, in spite of saying to your newspaper last summer that this was the issue which inspired his career in politics.

From: James Buick, Northallerton.

I LISTENED with dismay to the Today programme interview with Gavin Williamson about the school catch-up plan.

The Education Secretary was unable to answer a single question because he had an insufficient grasp of his brief.

Why is he still in the job? I place far more trust in the contributions that the likes of Justine Greening, Robert Halfon and Anne Longfield regularly make in The Yorkshire Post on the subjects of education, skills and levelling up.

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From: Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of the NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union.

THE Government has managed once again to raise the expectations of the nation’s children, only to let them down with a lukewarm announcement.

The Government needs to recognise that schools alone cannot solve the problems caused by the pandemic and that substantial additional investment will also be needed for a raft of essential services to support children and families, including investment in mental health and counselling services.

It is not in the interests of children to ask teachers simply to soldier on.

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