Why generation who survived Nazi bombs and war rationing are baffled by ‘austerity’ complaints: Yorkshire Post Letters

Austerity should be set in the context of the Blitz, says Dr Sheila Hopkinson.

I AM puzzled at the talk of ‘austerity’ during this election campaign – I ask myself, ‘What austerity?’ I was a child in London throughout the Second World War and I think I remember true austerity.

We had the blackout, the Blitz, Doodlebug raids, V2 rockets raining down. I slept in an Anderson shelter in the garden; almost everything was rationed. My clothes were handed down from an older cousin and then passed on to a younger one.

The end of the war brought little relief – rationing was worse, fuel scarce and we had to endure the terrible winter of 1947. Heating in our three-bed house consisted of a coal fire in the sitting room. A bath once a week and the water saved to soak the clothes for the next day’s wash. That was austerity.

Some of the damage inflicted on Hull in the Second World War.

From: Hilary Andrews, Nursery Lane, Leeds.

Another plea for the Government to do something (The Yorkshire Post, December 4) in order to improve the nation’s health. When are these do-gooders going to realise that what is needed is a dose of common sense and self-control by those who over indulge? Or are we going to have to reintroduce ration books to get the health outcomes we want to achieve?