Letters: Let's see health and housing services working together in 2026

Broken system

My son is a homeless, gay man who suffers poor mental health, including anxiety and depression which is sometimes brought on and compounded by derogatory comments. This can make it a mental challenge to leave the house. 

He recently fell victim to the poor condition of his mental health when it prevented him attending a meeting with Falkirk Council at which he was due to collect keys for social housing. In keeping with its housing procedures, Falkirk Council bluntly took his non-appearance as a refusal for housing which resulted in a notice to quit his temporary accommodation. Despite GP evidence of my son’s condition, an appeal was rejected. In this instance, the system has proven to be flippant and simply placed a homeless person back on the street. 

I’d like to see health and housing services working together in a way which overcomes such detrimental and rigid decisions, despite all the pressures we know these organisations are under to follow due process and help their residents.

Many thanks for publishing one of the most meaningful and worthwhile magazines I have the pleasure of reading.

Steve

Movie magic

I watched A Day to Remember after reading John Bird’s column. Please say thank you to him. The movie had a depth and poignancy that I would have missed if he hadn’t written about it. Perfect to watch on a winter’s evening.

James Marshall, Devon

Let’s be honest

The percentage of cabinet ministers who have had to resign over financial ‘mistakes’ or errors in the last year is 10% (of the number of cabinet ministers at any time). Rather higher than the 0.4% PIP ‘fraud’ level. And note: when it’s PIP it’s ‘fraud’ but when it’s a minister it’s an ‘honest mistake’.

Stuart Runham, Facebook

Bundle of energy 

In his editor’s letter, Paul McNamee, following a walk in the park, muses on some aspects of the UK’s energy crisis. However, in my opinion, some of his points require a little massaging to fit the reality of the situation and in order to make viable predictions.

He says: “The previous administration blamed the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine for pushing up energy costs.”

Yes. But this was dishonest. In fact, it was the EU’s reaction to the Russian move that raised energy prices. By turning off the cheap Russian gas the EU merely cut off their nose to spite their face. The European nations (including the UK) then had no option but to buy much more expensive and environmentally unfriendly American gas. The situation was sealed when Nordstream II – the Russo-German gas pipeline – was destroyed. 

The Russians, unsurprisingly, then found another customer for their gas – they built a new pipeline to China. Meanwhile, the infrastructure necessary for serving the American LNG carriers has been constructed in Europe. So, energy prices will not fall. In fact, they will continue to rise. Indeed, I expect we have seen nothing yet.

Nuclear power is probably the most sensible/achievable option for the future energy needs of the UK.

 Once the geopolitical situation settles we may well look anew to Russia and China for energy partnerships that can take us towards a fossil-free, abundant energy future.

Neil Madden, Devon

Nonsense

The article about Celebrity Traitors says that it “united the nation”. 15 million people watched it. That’s about one third of the UK adult population. United the nation…? It’s just nonsense. 

Shouldn’t you be aiming at a higher standard of journalism?

Stephen Banks

Good work

Picked up the Xmas special – haven’t bought one for a while. Design is excellent and articles interesting and readable – plus the seldom-heard voices that make Big Issue special. Keep it up! 

Anthony Smith 

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