‘Extra council tax on empty flats should be a requirement not just encouraged, Keir’

Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments. I read Sir Keir Starmer’s replies to readers’ housing questions (Metro, Fri). In reply to one about empty flats in London, Sir Keir said the government was ‘encouraging councils to use the tools available to them… they can charge additional council tax on vacant properties’.

I would suggest they should be ‘requiring’, rather than ‘encouraging’. The fact is that additional council tax is a drop in the ocean to many property investors. With certain limitations, such properties should be commandeered by the council. Ian Douglas, London.

‘They will become the overcrowded slums of the 22nd century’. The ‘little boxes’ of the 21st century – small houses crammed in cheek by jowl with little to no garden – provide little in the way of quality of life. High-density housing areas have also often been associated with much higher crime rates.

They make no long-term sense in
an era of ever-increasing population, falling disposable income and a failing health service and will become the overcrowded slums of the 22nd century, ripe for demolition just as so many Victorian tenements were in the 20th century.
Brian, Dartford.

‘As somebody who has had bouts of depression my advice is – walk.’. Further to comedy being prescribed on the NHS to combat depression (Metro, Thu)…. Shoulders slumped, head down, the stranger shuffles across the doctor’s office and slumps down in the chair.

‘You must help me I feel terrible.’. ‘Obviously you are depressed.
I could give you a prescription but the circus is in town this week. Twenty minutes watching Grimaldi the Clown will do you more good than my pills.’ 
‘But doctor, I am Grimaldi the Clown…’.

As somebody who has had bouts of depression my advice is – walk. Ideally, walk in the country or in a park but just pounding the mean streets of a town or city will dissipate the energy of your frustration, give you an appetite and a sense of achievement. Frank Wallis, via email.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video. Up Next. ‘Will Sir Keir also ask for minerals or will Rachel Reeves just put up taxes?’. The US wants valuable minerals from Ukraine to pay for military hardware it has provided (Metro, Mon). The UK has also sent huge military aid, running our own stocks down to dangerous lows. Will Sir Keir also ask for minerals or will Rachel Reeves just put up taxes again? Giles, London.

‘the Russian president can claim history is on his side.’. Crimea has already been annexed by Vladimir Putin, the rest of Ukraine is in his sights. How will Donald Trump react when Putin demands the immediate and unconditional return of Alaska to Russia? As usual, the Russian president can claim history is on his side.

The territory was first colonised
by Russian settlers in the 18th
century and sold to the US in 1867
to raise funds to re-equip Tsar Alexander II’s armed forces after defeat in the 1853-56 Crimean war. John, Manchester. ‘a US anti-abortion group is planning a protest outside Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow.’.

I was alarmed to hear that a US anti-abortion group is planning a protest outside Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow. Perhaps it’s time to consider tariffs on this latest import from the US – culture wars. Tony Howarth, London. Arrow MORE: The Metro daily cartoon by Guy Venables.

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