'Why aren’t we using driving skills to get young people into work?' - Your Letters and Civic panto stars dressed to impress in a 1982 picture from the archive

​Train our young people to drive

Over 40,000 people passed their driving test across the West Midlands in 2023/24 – approximately 45.1 per cent. 

HGV test passes reached 60 per cent, which is not nearly enough to increase skills and boost our stagnating economy.

When I passed my test my car said ''Morris on the door". Nowadays learners and driving schools 'kangaroo jump' along our roads in BMWs and Mercedes or push button automatics! Remember gears?

Media recently announced another government review into youth unemployment. You can't make this stuff up. Add more to taxes and business costs then ask for young unskilled to be taken on.

Here’s an idea keep 16/17 year olds at school. Give them compulsory driving lessons paid for out of welfare budget. Get them to pass tests, a life skill and improve their chances of a real job in our economy.

Then the talented and interested can go on to LGV/HGV 50 per cent paid by welfare budget.

Yes, skill up the West Midlands where logistics, van drivers, fork lift truck driving are needed to develop our threadbare skills and, train trainers to become driving instructors and examiners.

Why are young people waiting 8+ months or a year to take theory and driving tests? It’s a national scandal. Then the 'clever' people criticise todays youth!?

Waiting on AI to systematically destroy local jobs and replace people with robots is not adding to the quality of life in the West Midlands.

Our heritage is heavy metal, motors and back street mechanics making things last. Use welfare budget to the skill up and literally drive people into work.

Or is this too sensible, reasonable and cost effective for a government review to support. They love writing 'cack' those older ones. Leave the young ones alone. Give them driving skills instead of patronising useless reviews.

Dough James, Walsall

Bring back the Nightingales

Can anyone remember when there wasn't a NHS winter hospital crisis? It seems to me every winter the the NHS comes under excessive pressure from a winter epidemic of some sort.

To free up beds and personal why don't the NHS cancel all none essential operation/appointments for December and January every year. During the Covid crisis a number of Nightingale hospitals were built and kitted out to meet the demand of overloaded hospitals, so what happened to them? Could they not be used for some recovering patients with the use of supervised trainee personnel? Anything has to be better than having to be treated in hospital corridors! But perhaps next winter will be better!

Keith Day, Gornal Wood

Trump is just a businessman

Replying to Dean Scott (13 Dec) - it is indeed strange that we now see a US president supporting Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. Problem is that Trump sees everything as a business opportunity.

Hidden inside his 28 point peace (Ukraine surrender) plan (originally written in Russian) was a plan to use the US $300 billion frozen Russian money from EU. He would take US $100 million of it, plus US $100 billion from EU taxpayers for his Trump family plan to rebuild Ukraine, he was then giving Putin 200 billion of the money back (the money he stole from Russian population and gave them cheap petrol and vodka in return).

When President Trump talks about corruption in Ukraine he needs to look nearer home first.

Chris Smith, Midlands

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