Letters to the Canary: a note to the BBC, thoughts on new political party Transform, and deaths of UK construction workers

The Canary is excited to share the latest edition of our letters page. This is where we publish people’s responses to the news and politics, or anything else they want to get off their chest. We’ve now opened the letters page up so anyone can submit a contribution. As always, if you’d like to subscribe to the Canary – starting from just £1 a month – to support truly radical and independent media, then you can do that here:

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This week’s letters

This week we have people’s thoughts on how the BBC is covering Israel’s atrocities in Gaza, some musings on Transform, and news of the death of a construction worker in London.

Dear BBC News…

Dear BBC,

Why do you still not do your job without bias? The whole world see the inhumanities and war crimes in Gaza, but nowhere do you tell it thus and warn our leaders of their complicity.

And whilst we watch the inhumanity and illegality in Gaza, Israel is allowed, unreported, to continue its persecution and flouting of the Geneva Conventions against the occupied people of the West Bank.

Why do your reporters in Jerusalem keep their lips closed, allowing as ever that persecution to escalate, as we learn from this article on Jenin and its benighted refugee camp?

The US continues to export death and destruction across the world – the catalogue of misery grows longer – Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Palestine.

Ted, Liverpool, via email

Transform: a new political party, but…

The problem with the new party “Transform” isn’t that it is needed – because it most certainly is – the problem is the First Past The Post (FPTP) voting system.

The big danger being that the left vote will be split which could open the door to the Tories again. FPTP will only support a two party system with any others on the fringe. The right vote will pretty well all vote for the Tories in that the membership now has a large percentage of UKIP voters – whereas the left vote has been thrown into chaos by Starmer’s desperation.

I do hope I am wrong – I just remember Thatcher promising 50p a week and getting a landslide when Kinnock was ahead in the polls.

Anthony, via email

End people being killed at work in the UK

A construction worker was killed and another injured when a roof collapsed on a house conversion in Pevensey Rd, Leytonstone on Tuesday 12 December. Read more here.

Kevin Parslow, Secretary, Waltham Forest Trades Council (WFTC) said:

“Sadly the tragedy of someone being killed at work returns to Waltham Forest. The victim’s death comes just after our health and safety police, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), reported a massive rise in construction worker deaths up to 45 in 2022/23 from 29 in 2012/22″.

“In our de-regulated, anti-health and safety society where our safety police are shackled to virtual inaction by the government we call for an urgent change of policy from government and HSE that will see preventative, pro-active actions that will lead to an end to all deaths at work”.

“Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the deceased. No one should go to work and never return and no family should ever have to experience this”.

Every year on 28 April WFTC marks Workers Memorial Day remembering those historically killed working in the borough and all those millions killed every year around the world.

Kevin adds: “Sadly we now have another person to add to the list of those we remember every 28 April”.

Waltham Forest Trades Council, via email

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