An open letter to the Prime Minister

Dear Mr Brown

This letter is intended for the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Mr Brown, if this letter has been received by you as intended, please skip to paragraph 3.

If you are not the PM, consider yourself very fortunate to have a job in these difficult times and please do the honourable thing and hand this letter to the PM for whom it is intended, assuming he is not too busy saving the world, leaving you to get through what must be fast becoming a heavy post bag

Prime Minister, I’ would like to say at the outset that I am an extremely angry man but I have had to compose myself when writing this letter. Do you ever get angry? I hope you will excuse occasions in this letter when my tone may sound harsh. Rest assured it couldn’t go far enough to express my real feelings at the state of our once proud nation.

I feel a little embarrassed for us both, having to bring up the issues below for I, like many others, expected to see meaningful change after 12 years of your leadership. I suspect deep down, you too are a little disappointed by the way things have turned out. No? But you must be? Not even the tiniest bit?

Anyway, yesterday was Monday, a day widely reported by the weatherman as potentially hazardous. As it turned out, it was a great deal more than that. I came home early from work for fear of not being able to get back at all. It was far from easy though. A combination of train, taxi and a brisk walk in shoes that were meant to be waterproof but weren’t. I guess you can’t have it all your own way! Now how many times have you said that in the past couples of years?

Allow me to tell you a little about my journey to work on Monday and you will get an idea of the state of my mind and possibly a snapshot of the lives of millions of others in our nation today.

Times are hard so I figured getting to work early and getting an extra few hours in would help, after all, the forecast for the week ahead wasn’t good. Snow, arctic conditions and widespread disruptions were predicted. So why were we so ill-equipped? How do the Scandinavians cope Prime Minister? A bit of snow and the country comes to a standstill. Mind you, most of us are almost at a standstill anyway so yesterday was just compounding the problem further.

I work in Birmingham and regularly travel from Northampton. I used the car in the past but a combination of high maintenance costs, over zealous speed camera’s not to mention the never ending roadwork’s that regularly brought rush hour traffic to a standstill, forced me to seek alternative ways to travel. I opted for the trains. Not the best service in the world, far from it, but I have a better chance of making it to work-in theory. Apart from paying extortionate prices for a season ticket, we have to endure the journey on an old train with low seats and resembling a can of sardines in rush hour – very crammed indeed. I can’t work out why London Midland (the train operator) continues to use old trains they inherited from Silver Link trains in the rush hour and use the newer trains off-peak. Can you? How many of you travel in your Jag?

At least once every week, I am forced to make alternative arrangements to get to work. Monday was no different. Now you would have thought that the weather was to blame for the trains not running wouldn’t you? Well you would be wrong. Like all previous occasions, the reason for our delay, which inevitably turns into cancellation, is not the snow or leaves on track, no; it is the lack of available train crews. How on earth do we get to a situation where the company schedules in trains yet fails to find a crew to man them? Feels a little like the country at the moment-we know someone is supposed to be in charge but no one knows who. Any ideas?

This is the state of our train service today. I did finally make it work on Monday but left work at 2 in the afternoon as news was coming through that a snow storm was about to hit the Midlands. Chaos ensued as hundreds made for the trains, busses and cars to plan their escape routes. After a 3-hour wait, made worse by the dishonesty of the train companies whereby they keep you hanging on in the hope that the “delayed” train may show up when in fact there is little chance of it doing so. Why cant the just be straight Prime Minister? Why is it so difficult to tell the truth?

Having taken a Virgin service into Rugby, I was a little closer to home. Things were dire at Rugby. As the snow came down, cancellation notices were appearing everywhere but only after cruel teasing of passengers an hour at a time. Tired, hungry and wanting to get home at any cost, a few of us shared a cab back home costing us in excess of £50.00.

A friend called round an hour later to tell me that he couldn’t pay me money he took from me to plug an ever deepening hole in his business finances. That was not the sort of message I wanted after the journey I endured. Things were tight and every day wasted unproductively, means less money in the kitty for ever increasing expenses and budget pressures each month.

However, if I thought things were bad for me, he was in dire straights. He started a small restaurant two years ago. He was doing well and now he is not. Business is down and he is struggling to cope. The banks have closed the door on him and increasingly friends too. I can’t see him lasting much longer. He will go down and take my loan with him. Your big announcements to help small businesses have had little effect. Have you any other announcements to make? Things are not changing on the ground Mr Brown and we are losing faith fast. Help!

These are desperate times and I know plenty who are desperately looking for a way out. My mother gave me a letter to read this morning. Her mortgage has just gone up by a whopping £108.00. She is nearly 60 years old and doesn’t work. I have to help her meet her costs in addition to mine. It’s not looking good! How can the interest rate be at it’s lowest yet she is paying 10%?

I have a 6-month old daughter and I rarely spend enough time with her. My wife is considering going back to work as we could really do with the extra income. We are torn because we want our daughter to spend quality time with us in her early years. Instead, we are having to find expensive child care arrangements because we have no other option but to work. Before our daughter is 1, we will have become “absent” parents. It’s not a future we are particularly looking forward to. I wish I could take work from home like you that way I could see my family at the same time.

You will have heard these comments echoed by hundreds and thousands up and down the country. I don’t blame you alone for all of these situations I and others find ourselves in. I blame your Government as a whole which has led us down a dark alley promising the light at the end of the tunnel.

I don’t just blame your Government alone. I blame the financial sector and their irresponsible ways, partly helped by your relaxing of the regulations. As a result, I worry about my meagre savings and check on them obsessively to make sure its still there. With interest rates at their lowest since records begun, I see little hope for my savings. It was meant to be my security for a rainy day. I wish you thought a little more about the rainy day the country now finds itself in.

I speak to friends and family members each and every day and I feel extremely fortunate and guilty in equal measure. All around me, people are hapless, hopeless and cannot see a way out. Families are breaking up and people are spending every God given hour slaving away in order to make ends meet. The downside is that it’s happening at the expense of the family. Even if we come through this crisis, I fear for the community and the way people relate to each other. The wildcat strikes against foreign workers could easily turn into a white British worker versus non-white British worker all too quickly. “British jobs for British workers” will come back to haunt you I suspect. I have a habit of putting my foot in it from time to time. I bet you feel like a right prat don’t you?

The postman showed up to my surprise. I didn’t expect him to brave the snow to deliver mail, I wished he kept. Bills, bills and more bills. Gas man couldn’t get in so they sent an estimated bill. It’s enormous. It hasn’t got to the “heating or eating” dilemma yet but nonetheless we are feeling the heat! The electricity bill is due next week and because I won’t pay on time, I can expect to be charged more. As far as cut backs, go, we have made our fair share but that’s not enough in times like these. Why haven’t gas/electricity bills gone down? No one is listening to you Prime Minister. The wife doesn’t listen to a lot of what I say either but I suspect your problems are a little more than the grief the wife gives me for not washing up.

The bank’s, won’t help, the utility companies couldn’t care less and mounting tax and travel costs mean, middle income families like mine are living on the brink. Too proud to go on the dole and first t be considered for redundancy we are at your mercy. I suspect any more stealth taxes will push us over the edge. I know you are fighting battles on all fronts not least your political life but these are exceptional times and the country needs very honest answers to straight forward questions. You have to rise above the politics or go to the polls. I don’t envy your position.

You will have done well to get this far. I have to be honest I don’t expect you to read it all. It’s enough to depress anyone and you have enough on your plate as it is. So what will you do?
I suspect nothing. My letter will only confirm what you know and can see each and every day. This country is going down the pan to top it all and you have to deal with Lords sleaze.

I am one of thousands who feel helpless and angry. I have spent the best part of an hour writing this and I am not quite sure why. I have tried to be polite and measured in my evaluation of where I think we are going belly-up as a nation. I am not sure whether I care what you think anymore. I have gone beyond the point when I care much about what you do say as well. I have lost faith and I take what you say with a pinch of salt. Talking of salt, I pinched some this week from the sandwich shop. I eat soup for lunch now. Most soups have no salt at all and I find it difficult to digest. How do you eat your soup?

I thought about numerous people to write to but I chose you. I feel we have a lot in common right now. I daren’t turn the fire on for fear of the bill. Sky TV is off and it’s down to the few freeview channels. I am looking at a towering in-tray and yet I am pretending all is well and tomorrow is another day. Told you we have a lot in common.

The wife is back and just asked me what I am doing. “Writing a letter to the PM”, I said. “Yes, you do that and while you are at it, tell him that his times up and talking of times-up, its time you went to bed, you have work to go to”.

And with that, I am off. You take it easy. We wouldn’t want you to give yourself a coronary. Then I will have to show my sympathy and I am the kind of person who forgives and forgets too easily and I don’t think I can do that for you right now. I feel very strongly about a lot of things and I hold you responsible.

Take care and regards to the wife.




Yousuf