WE really are going backwards.

More and more homeless people sleeping rough. Fewer and fewer social homes, the problem exacerbated by this farce of a government forcing housing associations to sell to tenants who want to buy at knock-down prices.

We have a dire shortage of skilled people — doctors, nurses, engineers, etc, and we just aren't training enough people for these jobs. As a consequence, we have to rely on foreign workers.

Business owners in Greater Manchester tell us that schools and colleges are not doing enough to equip leavers with the necessary skills needed for the workplace.

Add to this the fact that we are being invaded for the first time since 1066, and we seem even less able to stop them than King Harald.

But there is a glimmer of hope in the form of Jeremy Corbyn. Maybe he can get Labour back on track, fighting for real Labour principals, and ridding the party of what is left of New Labour and the Blairites.

I remember Thatcher saying just before she died, that New Labour and Tony Blair were her greatest achievements. Enough said.

Brian Derbyshire

Ribchester Grove

Bolton