LAST week I was listening to Radio 4’s Crossing Continents which was about Chile’s education system (An Education For All) which has helped perpetuate the huge inequalities that exist in that country. The education system in Chile is deliberately designed to maintain the status quo and keep the poor in their slums. The children of the rich and well connected go to the best schools and the poor go to schools which are falling down. And when some of these poor students work so hard and manage against all the odds to get to university and graduate with huge debts, they go for job interviews that would lift them and their families out of poverty. Their chances of getting any of these jobs are highly unlikely. These jobs go to the children of the rich who have all the right connections. There is no meritocracy in Chile.
Move across to the UK where two- thirds of Boris Johnson’s cabinet went to private schools and look at what a job they have made of handling the biggest crisis we have faced in the last hundred years. Even their supporters would admit it hasn’t engendered a great deal of public confidence Paddy Heaney (April 17) summed up the view of many when he said: ‘Because let’s be clear about this, Boris Johnson and his cabinet have failed the British people on an epic scale.’
Here in Northern Ireland we have the most socially segregated education system in western Europe which also produces the worst educational outcomes of any region in the UK. We have more people here with only basic or no qualifications and to add insult to injury fewer graduates than any other UK region. The DUP is the biggest barrier to real change but change is coming. We had a chance after the financial crash of 2008 to do things differently and make the world a better more equal place but the Conservative Lib Dem Coalition with its policy of austerity implemented a Sherriff of Nottingham-type redistribution of wealth where they took from the poor to give to the rich. After this nightmare is over we must not waste the opportunity to begin to create a better and more equal society.
JIM CURRAN
Downpatrick, Co Down
Improvement in air quality an unintended consequence of coronavirus
This pandemic has radically altered our day-to-day lives. It has ended business as usual and forced us to re-evaluate our lives.
The commute to work is gone for many. Lots of people have hung up the car keys and almost all of us have stopped flying altogether.
A notable improvement in air quality has come as an unintended consequence. The Green Party has worked hard across the past few years to raise awareness of the pollution problem and bring forward policies aimed at improving the picture.
Across Belfast, harmful nitrogen dioxide levels are down by 30 per cent according to analysis by experts at the University of York. Importantly, many of us can feel that the air is cleaner and we are breathing easier since lockdown. We’re hearing the birdsong usually drowned out by diesel engines.
Inner city areas suffer some of the worst air quality in the city. Studies have shown the devastating potential effects of air pollution. Emerging data is also showing that rates of death from Covid-19 are higher for people living in the most polluted areas.
So why would we want to rush back to business as usual when that normal was leading us into climate breakdown and making us sick?
This crisis has been unprecedented, painful and horrible but our citizens have shown remarkable resilience. We’ve worked from home and many of us have walked and cycled like never before. We’ve made changes that many told us were not possible.
American economist Milton Friedman once said that: “Only a crisis, real or perceived - produces real change.” Let’s take the opportunity to
re-imagine our society and make the change for a happier, healthier future for all citizens.
Cllr MALACHAI O’HARA
Green Party, North Belfast
Death rate claims can’t be substantiated
THE article about Professor Michael Tomlinson’s claim that “the Republic’s death rate is two-thirds that in the North” (April 22) quotes him saying that “there is now strong evidence of two Covid-19 death rates on the island of Ireland”.
FactCheckNI looked into this and concluded that the “two thirds” claim cannot be substantiated from the data available.
The article includes a graph, created by Tomlinson, charting hospital deaths in the two regions. Statistics published daily by the Irish Department of Health count deaths of people in hospital within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test.
The statistics for Northern Ireland from the daily Public Health Agency surveillance reports (now produced by the Department of Health) include deaths of anyone who had tested positive whether they died in hospital or elsewhere.
FactCheckNI’s analysis concludes that there are no common measurements that can be combined to build a fully accurate all-Ireland picture of deaths in hospital (or total deaths). Tomlinson may be correct in saying that the different approaches to tackling the Covid-19 outbreak are resulting in different outcomes on either side of the border. However, the existing public statistics do not provide clear evidence of the size of the gap between death rates north and south given their lack of comparability.
ALAN MEBAN
FactCheckNI, Co Antrim
Let’s consider a fairer society
Retail workers along with their supply line and delivery drivers have been on the frontline during this pandemic. The job they are doing, given the risks associated with a lack of PPE, is remarkable. It doesn’t take an understanding of Marxist theory to work out that for too long they have been completely under-represented at local and government level. The well-known supermarket retailers have long had their workforces in precarious contracts and poor conditions, while those above managerial positions sit beyond cosy. Let’s hope that when the dust settles, we seriously consider a fairer society.
JUDE Ó FALLAMHAIN
Belfast BT11
Expert advice is way forward
Please allow me to say well done The Irish News for giving Dr Gabriel Scally an opportunity to inform us how Ireland should cope with Covid-19.
I trust Stormont has a copy of the paper.
No more orange and green, take your lead from an expert Dr Scally.
We missed a week of Irish News copies but thanks to a very reliable delivery service our copy is always with us.
Please continue with the great articles and we will all support you.
MARY McDONALD
Belfast BT8
