Pension point
Sir: I have just read Kate Andrews’s article on junior doctors’ pay (‘Sick pay’, 15 April). While not wishing to get drawn into the rights or wrongs of their strike action, may I point out that in respect of the NHS pension scheme, for the sake of balance, the employee’s pension contribution also needs to be taken into account? The employer may well pay a 20 per cent contribution, but a junior doctor on a salary of either £29,000 or £37,000 (both figures quoted in the article) will pay 9.8 per cent of salary with a consequent reduction in take-home pay.
John Etherington
Wilsden, West Yorkshire
Coach trip
Sir: It was good to see mention of the Speaker’s state coach in your leading article (‘Reign or shine’, 15 April). The coach, which was retired in 2006, has been restored but languishes at Arlington Court in north Devon, where it is part of a national collection of vintage coaches. It would be excellent if it could be used at the coronation, as it was in 1953, as well as at Charles’s wedding in 1981. Even if there are technical reasons why it should not perform its traditional function, surely it is time it was returned to its proper place, the Palace of Westminster, where it could be seen by a wider public?
Simon Gordon
Harbertonford, Totnes, Devon
Word on the streets
Sir: Your leading article did not point out that street party applications for the coronation had to be in by a far earlier date than was required for the late Queen’s Jubilee. This would account for some of the numeric disparity. Local political bias is pertinent perhaps.
Terence P. O’Halloran
Stainton by Langworth, Lincolnshire
Love over law
Sir: I suppose that Dan Hitchens would label me ‘progressive’ or ‘liberal’, although I am uncomfortable with such easy labels.
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