Letter: Owen Polley is right - Stormont needs to realise that there is no such thing as a free meal

Owen Polley's opinion column in last Monday’s News Letter is a breath of fresh air (‘In any council election post-mortem, unionism should focus on the basics rather than obsess about party affiliation,’ May 28, see link below).

I especially refer to his paragraphs regarding 'populist policies' at Stormont and the free elements provided, that society appears take for granted nowadays in Northern Ireland.

Everyone who wants to know, knows that there is no thing as a free meal, someone somewhere has to pay. One element he does not mention is university fees, which are a fraction in NI compared to the rest of the United Kingdom. Why should this be the case? We all know that student loans will only have to be paid back over many years when a job with an adequate income is obtained.

Ian Buchanan, Dungiven

Owen Polley: Unionism should focus on basics rather than party affiliation