Thanks to all support staff

Chris Bown, chief executive, LNWH (London North West University Healthcare) NHS Trust, writes:
It has been quite an extraordinary year and our hospitals are to be applauded for their “keep calm and carry on” attitude during the pandemic.
Clinical teams have been praised for their work, but I would also like to thank the small army of non-clinical staff who work tirelessly in the background but are rarely acknowledged.
The value of ‘support’ workers like cleaners and porters has come to the fore during this crisis and their worth is equal to that of any higher paid profession that society seems to value so much.
These people get on with their jobs day in, day out, so let’s not forget that quiet stoicism that keeps the NHS going.
The pandemic has made us examine our own lives and I hope one of the lessons we take away from it is that everyone is important, irrespective of status or wealth.


‘Orderly’ meeting
Nineteen members of Hampstead and Kilburn Labour Party, full names and addresses supplied, write:
As members of Hampstead and Kilburn Constituency Labour Party (CLP), we are writing to correct the reports that have been circulating of a meeting held on Thursday, November 26 of the General Committee (GC) of our CLP, when we passed a motion calling for the whip to be restored to our former leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
We were present at the meeting and can vouch for the fact that far from being “chaotic”, as has been reported, it was an orderly, well run meeting.
Present was a regional officer, who told us not to discuss the motion.
After listening respectfully to the regional officer, members were kindly allowed by the chair to decide for themselves what to do and voted to discuss the issue.
Members then voted by a large majority for the whip to be restored to Jeremy Corbyn and that all those CLP officers and members elsewhere who had been suspended for passing similar motions should be reinstated.
This is democracy. Members should not be gagged.
Sir Keir Starmer and David Evans, the Labour Party general secretary, should restore the whip and get on with the real business of opposing the Tories and creating a better future for the many.

Clean, quiet roads
Caroline Russell AM, Green Party, writes:
Transport for London (TfL) has sent me new data showing that nearly half of all journeys in London were taken by walking or cycling during the first lockdown - 46 per cent of journeys between April and June.
Londoners got a real taste of clean air and quieter streets, and these figures show they got on and made the most of it. Given half a chance, many Londoners will walk and cycle as their main way of getting around.
Now the mayor must do all he can to avoid a car-jammed city, and help boroughs provide safe conditions for walking and cycling throughout London for good. This means bringing forward more money for low traffic neighbourhoods, smooth accessible pavements and new cycle lanes to link up a city-wide network.
Traffic clogged and polluted roads are not inevitable, so long as the mayor takes this important action.