Readers respond to Polly Toynbee’s article praising Louise Casey’s speech on social care funding

Louise Casey may have the power of words behind her ( The blistering speech that tells me Britain’s social care deadlock can finally be broken, 10 March ), but what she’s uncovered is a truth that local authorities have been voicing for years: the national care service will fail unless ministers stabilise the local systems that underpin it.

Key Cities (a cross-party network of UK local authorities) has long been calling for an urgent funding reset for the social care system. And while the Casey commission’s reforms are welcome, what’s still missing is the transition plan to enable councils to make this happen. A key part of the government’s NHS 10‑year plan must be a significant expansion of joint commissioning, across regional and national scales. This collaboration will finally end the costly push‑pull between those who fund and those who deliver care and, vitally, lay the foundations for effective transformation from local to national provision.

Readers respond to Polly Toynbee’s article praising Louise Casey’s speech on social care funding

Louise Casey may have the power of words behind her ( The blistering speech that tells me Britain’s social care deadlock can finally be broken, 10 March ), but what she’s uncovered is a truth that local authorities have been voicing for years: the national care service will fail unless ministers stabilise the local systems that underpin it.

Key Cities (a cross-party network of UK local authorities) has long been calling for an urgent funding reset for the social care system. And while the Casey commission’s reforms are welcome, what’s still missing is the transition plan to enable councils to make this happen. A key part of the government’s NHS 10‑year plan must be a significant expansion of joint commissioning, across regional and national scales. This collaboration will finally end the costly push‑pull between those who fund and those who deliver care and, vitally, lay the foundations for effective transformation from local to national provision.

Readers respond to Polly Toynbee’s article praising Louise Casey’s speech on social care funding

Louise Casey may have the power of words behind her ( The blistering speech that tells me Britain’s social care deadlock can finally be broken, 10 March ), but what she’s uncovered is a truth that local authorities have been voicing for years: the national care service will fail unless ministers stabilise the local systems that underpin it.

Key Cities (a cross-party network of UK local authorities) has long been calling for an urgent funding reset for the social care system. And while the Casey commission’s reforms are welcome, what’s still missing is the transition plan to enable councils to make this happen. A key part of the government’s NHS 10‑year plan must be a significant expansion of joint commissioning, across regional and national scales. This collaboration will finally end the costly push‑pull between those who fund and those who deliver care and, vitally, lay the foundations for effective transformation from local to national provision.

Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff
Joan Tower’s concerto for alto saxophone was brilliantly delivered by Steven Banks, part of a lively concert

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales is marking the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence in a series of concerts, and the UK premiere of Love Returns, by the 87-year-old American composer Joan Tower , was at the centre of this programme with Finnish conductor Tomas Djupsjöbacka .

Tower is best known for her Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman and, in this work, a concerto for alto saxophone, she has realised an uncommonly appealing piece. Its title relates to Tower’s use of a melody from her piano piece, Love Letter, written in memory of her late husband, as the basis for a theme and variations structure, as different from conventional concerto form as can be, evolving and gradually accelerating in tempo over its whole span of six sections. The only departure from this is in the fifth of the six: a solo saxophone cadenza, brilliantly delivered by soloist Steven Banks . His sometimes edgy, sometimes honeyed tone was wonderfully expressive throughout, whirling virtuoso passagework countered by aching lyricism, with Djupsjöbacka ensuring that Tower’s orchestral textures offered the optimal balance to the solo lines.

Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff
Joan Tower’s concerto for alto saxophone was brilliantly delivered by Steven Banks, part of a lively concert

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales is marking the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence in a series of concerts, and the UK premiere of Love Returns, by the 87-year-old American composer Joan Tower , was at the centre of this programme with Finnish conductor Tomas Djupsjöbacka .

Tower is best known for her Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman and, in this work, a concerto for alto saxophone, she has realised an uncommonly appealing piece. Its title relates to Tower’s use of a melody from her piano piece, Love Letter, written in memory of her late husband, as the basis for a theme and variations structure, as different from conventional concerto form as can be, evolving and gradually accelerating in tempo over its whole span of six sections. The only departure from this is in the fifth of the six: a solo saxophone cadenza, brilliantly delivered by soloist Steven Banks . His sometimes edgy, sometimes honeyed tone was wonderfully expressive throughout, whirling virtuoso passagework countered by aching lyricism, with Djupsjöbacka ensuring that Tower’s orchestral textures offered the optimal balance to the solo lines.

Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff
Joan Tower’s concerto for alto saxophone was brilliantly delivered by Steven Banks, part of a lively concert

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales is marking the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence in a series of concerts, and the UK premiere of Love Returns, by the 87-year-old American composer Joan Tower , was at the centre of this programme with Finnish conductor Tomas Djupsjöbacka .

Tower is best known for her Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman and, in this work, a concerto for alto saxophone, she has realised an uncommonly appealing piece. Its title relates to Tower’s use of a melody from her piano piece, Love Letter, written in memory of her late husband, as the basis for a theme and variations structure, as different from conventional concerto form as can be, evolving and gradually accelerating in tempo over its whole span of six sections. The only departure from this is in the fifth of the six: a solo saxophone cadenza, brilliantly delivered by soloist Steven Banks . His sometimes edgy, sometimes honeyed tone was wonderfully expressive throughout, whirling virtuoso passagework countered by aching lyricism, with Djupsjöbacka ensuring that Tower’s orchestral textures offered the optimal balance to the solo lines.

Readers respond to Sam Dumitriu’s article on protecting Britain’s environment

In his article on nature protections ( How can we really protect Britain’s environment?, 8 March ), Sam Dumitriu of Britain Remade celebrates habitat recovery and calls for more focus on such efforts and less on legal protections for nature. But legal protections are the only thing protecting the habitats we have left.

Over the past 100 years, the amount of healthy natural habitat in England has shrunk : 99.7% of fens, 97% of species‑rich grasslands, 80% of lowland heathlands, up to 70% of ancient woodlands and up to 85% of saltmarshes have been lost.

Readers respond to Sam Dumitriu’s article on protecting Britain’s environment

In his article on nature protections ( How can we really protect Britain’s environment?, 8 March ), Sam Dumitriu of Britain Remade celebrates habitat recovery and calls for more focus on such efforts and less on legal protections for nature. But legal protections are the only thing protecting the habitats we have left.

Over the past 100 years, the amount of healthy natural habitat in England has shrunk : 99.7% of fens, 97% of species‑rich grasslands, 80% of lowland heathlands, up to 70% of ancient woodlands and up to 85% of saltmarshes have been lost.

Readers respond to Sam Dumitriu’s article on protecting Britain’s environment

In his article on nature protections ( How can we really protect Britain’s environment?, 8 March ), Sam Dumitriu of Britain Remade celebrates habitat recovery and calls for more focus on such efforts and less on legal protections for nature. But legal protections are the only thing protecting the habitats we have left.

Over the past 100 years, the amount of healthy natural habitat in England has shrunk : 99.7% of fens, 97% of species‑rich grasslands, 80% of lowland heathlands, up to 70% of ancient woodlands and up to 85% of saltmarshes have been lost.