Letter: Chris Kerry Sept 8, 2017

Here we go again. Let’s start by thanking Jo Rust for the not so subtle remark of calling me an “elderly gentleman”. Yep. Well researched.

I’m in my 75th year and hence have experienced the likes of Jack Dash, “Red” Robinson,Scargill, Scanlon, and other so-called socialist union leaders of the 1960/70s.Like the Corbynistas of today, they stopped at nothing to achieve their ends. They wanted a nice, large red flag flying over parliament.

I believe Jo Rust is/was employed by a trade union. She does call herself an union activist. She says I’ve led a very different life to her – boy, oh boy, have I! I lived the first 12 years of my life in a very tiny flat around Long Pond in North Lynn, passed my 11 plus at ten, (shock, horror, he went grammar school). My dad was a stoker/boilerman on the railway and done any other work he could lay his hands on. Mum just worked, full stop. Woollies,landwork, skivying. Like my dad, 60 or 70 hours a week was the norm.They believed, as I do, if you work hard you deserve the rewards. Not to have people “carping” how “lucky” they were to achieve their dream of their own home and business. Yes, Jo, I live in Castle Rising, how strange you mention that, in a house all paid for with hard graft. I never had more than two weeks’ holiday a year until I retired at 60. I estimate in the 18 years I was selling spuds I carried 30,000 tons all in 25kg bags. Yep, I’m very lucky, if I’d worked another five years I could have had a home on Gayton Road!

With regard to tuition fees, according to the Labour manifesto, “we will abolish tuition fees” has now become, in Jo speak, “we want/aspire to abolish tuition fees”. Imagine the furore from Labour had the Tories made those false promises to young gullible students to gain votes.