Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments.
A reader shares his experience working in a psychiatric hospital in the 70s
Early in the 1970s, I worked as nursing assistant in a large psychiatric hospital in Glasgow, with many patients suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.
The patients were very well cared for and if they needed medication, it was carefully administered by nursing staff.
There was a hospital shop, a tea room, a sports field and accommodation for nurses. The patients were mostly happy and felt secure in the knowledge that all their needs were being met.
Many of those hospitals were to be closed down less than two decades later, in the name of a new ideology: ‘care in the community’.
However positive a concept it sounds, it has never been properly resourced.
What happened to the money obtained from the private developers who bought those huge hospitals and their grounds and built luxury flats?
Was the money ploughed back into mental health care, so people could be properly cared for in their local communities? I very much doubt it.
If paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane – who killed Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates in Nottingham last year – had been cared for and treated in one if those large hospitals instead of being given a grossly inadequate level of care and supervision in the community, the tragic victims who lost their lives at his hands would still be alive today. Alan Jensen, West Hampstead
Arrested violent demonstrators just got more disenfranchised, for what?
I’ve looked at the profiles of some of the people arrested for the recent violent demonstrations that also encouraged looting.
They are generally ‘of no fixed abode’ or the economically and socially challenged in our community.
They undoubtedly feel downtrodden and forgotten. The only way they can express their dissatisfaction is by joining extreme groups and reacting to what their overlords suggest.
What have they gained? Nothing. Even worse, most are in jail or about to go there. Their difficult lives just got harder.
And those who cajoled them – what have they benefited from this? Maybe a few more likes on social media. They’ve lost nothing, though.
Here’s the rub – the disenfranchised become even more extreme and will be regarded with contempt and vilified, and yet the real perpetrators receive no punishment for the damage they caused to the downtrodden and the immigrants trying to get on with their lives. Tony Howarth, London
‘The anti-racism demonstrations gave me better hope to continue living here’
Brian (MetroTalk, Mon) spoke of the solidarity and range of backgrounds at an anti-far-right demonstration.
I am a Chinese woman in her 60s who came from Hong Kong to settle in Manchester seven years ago.
During these seven years, I have never been a victim of racism, except for one minor incident, despite issues such as Covid bringing up racial concerns against the Chinese in some areas of the world.
My family and I have been well received here. We made friends with neighbours of a diverse ethnicity. And people on the road would greet us with ‘ni hao ma’ (how are you?) or ‘xie xie’ (thank you) in Chinese as a goodwill gesture.
The solidarity shown by the anti-racism groups recently gave me even better hope to continue living here. Thank you, UK, for providing a great place for our new life. Cammy Liu, via email
How things change…
Because of globalisation, the world is shrinking fast. I recently travelled to a West African country, 50 years after my last visit, and was taken aback by the dramatic increase in European/American and Chinese immigrants.
Some worked for NGOs and many have bought properties there.
Those 50 years ago, the locals would have sneaked a curious look at a white person passing by because most had never seen one up close in the flesh.
But today, not one local bats an eyelid at seeing a white person.
I see the steady rise in Europeans as a positive for the country. And this is the same for British-bound immigration.
No doubt we can all point to negatives here and there, but in general it has been for the betterment of Britain.
That being said, all countries should have equitable immigration laws in place so as to preserve the historic heritage, population balance and peace of their respective nations.
Controlled immigration is the best form of immigration! Sarm, First Generation Descendant Of Immigrants To Britain, London
X the cesspit and how about a ban on litter not bad language
Like Pam (MetroTalk, Wed) I’ve left X/Twitter.
It became a cesspit, promoting the most awful content. Owner Elon Musk’s promotion of Donald Trump was the last straw. I’m sticking to MetroTalk.
Neil Dance, Birmingham
Robert (MetroTalk, Tue) says it is never just called X without clarifying that it used to be Twitter. I have never heard of anyone re-Xing, either. We all still retweet. C Nicholls, Epsom
Re Thanet’s ban on swearing in public (Metro, Fri). I’d rather a focus on litter louts. Nick, London
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