Western Daily Press. . News

Deaths linked to a severe form of infectious diarrhoea have risen by almost 43 per cent in the South West, according to official figures.

The number of deaths involving clostridium difficile (c.dif) rose by 72 per cent nationally in 2006.

The number of death certificates in the South West which mentioned c.dif rose from 535 in 2005 to 762 in 2006 while deaths where the underlying cause was c.dif rose from 292 to 417.

While deaths involving MRSA have fallen in the region, from 217 in 2005 to 187 in 2006, rates for c.dif increased for both men and women.

The disease has been on the increase in the UK for several years with 72 deaths recorded in the region in 1999.

But some of the increase in deaths involving the bacteria may be due to more complete reporting on death certificates.

C.dif ranges from a mild diarrhoea to a very severe illness which can be fatal.

People most at risk are those who have taken strong antibiotics, which reduce their resources of good bacteria, and the elderly; more than 80 per cent of cases are reported in the over-65s.

The Department of Health said steps had been taken to tackle infections since 2006 and said non-fatal cases of both MRSA and c.dif had been falling.

It insisted figures were now on a par with those in other developed countries.

Liz Redfern, director of nursing and patient Care at NHS South West, welcomed greater awareness and more accurate reporting of c.dif.

She said: “We are making good progress to reduce the number of cases of c.dif through good antibiotic prescribing, better cleanliness and infection control.

There is little comfort to be gained from the small reductions in MRSA that have been claimed even by these numbers, but as we all know; apart from a few highly publicised ‘deep cleaning hot spots’; the reality is very much worse. . . “We are making good progress to reduce the number of cases of c.dif through good antibiotic prescribing, better cleanliness and infection control.” we are being told; but after all these years of telling; why have we still got any dirty wards or facilities anywhere? . People work in them all every day! . . . Would they eat in a dirty Restaurant?

Charles Henry

Western Daily Press. . Features/Letters

28th. February

I sympathise with distraught mother Niki McVicker who is calling on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to pull his finger out to clamp down on Britain’s yob culture after her 16-year- old son Alvin was attacked by a gang of youths with a metal bar, yards from his girlfriend’s home in Tewkesbury.
(Western Daily Press, February 22nd).

It was sad enough to hear how Mrs McVicker fled Gloucester in 2005 after a knife attack, without enduring more misery by thugs who are taking over our streets across Britain.

What particularly horrifies me is not just the increase in crime, but the gratuitous violence in much of it, particularly by young offenders.

It’s time our Government started to listen to our victims, like mother Niki and her son Alvin.

Too often, criminals get off lightly while those they harm receive no help. It’s time for change and, as justice stands at the moment, it’s a sick joke.

What the majority of people want in this country is more police on the beat. It’s the best method of reducing the level of crime that blights our towns and cities.

So come on Gordon Brown, wake up and get a firm grip on Britain’s yob culture.

D F Courtney
Weston-super-Mare
North Somerset

I’m with D F Courtney on this. . It’s time to restore discipline and bring back corporal punishment to all senior schools; and to also put policemen into many of them to protect the pupils and the teachers from the real assault and bullying they are suffering. . The idea that corporal punishment bred violence was just another of the ‘Looney Liberals’ wacky ideas that have turned this country in the ‘disaster zone’ it now is. . There are generations of us out here from all backgrounds that prove it is those PC ideas of the ‘liberals’ that have caused the present social chaos. . Many millions will tell you; ‘it didn’t do them any harm’ and it certainly didn’t turn us all into thugs and criminals; . in fact quite the opposite.

Charles Henry

Western Daily Press. . Features/Letters

With regard to Chris Rundle’s article on badgers and the cull, this decision should not be up to the public.

If Chris would take time to read the 10-year scientific survey and digest thoroughly, he would find 88 per cent of bovine TB transmission is caused by cattle-to-cattle spread.

This long-term scientific survey is denounced by farmers because they don’t like scientific facts that oppose their folklore.

With regard to a decision being not up to the public, this is nonsense as it is the public who pay and support the livestock industry by the taxes they pay to keep the industry surviving.

If they really want to take the decision to kill badgers independently, then they should refuse all subsidies from the Government and general public, and then take the flak from the public on their own backs.

Bovine TB is not a wildlife problem of its own making, it all stems from human interference and bad husbandry. If badgers and other wildlife are to blame, how does this justify bovine TB on the Isle of Man, where there are no badgers?

By over-producing on the same ground for decades, the farmers have drained all the natural protective minerals from the soil, which has upset the balance on disease control.

I attended the Devizes public debate on this issue which was resoundly for no cull on a public show of hands. I say to the farmers: if you want our subsidies and support for British farming then do what you are paid by us to do, look after your livestock, our countryside and wildlife correctly.

M Haines
Cirencester

This letter from M.Haines just personifies his ignorance. He clearly has no knowledge of the subject Editor. . I am surprised you have printed it.. . A vaccine; the only possible future solution is at least 10 years away and may yet prove to be too complex, too costly, and not even viable to administer. . . . The science demands a cull, and a show of hands demonstrating public ignorance of the subject also, changes nothing.

Charles Henry

I strongly agree with Mr Haines. The long-term solution to the problem of TB is a vaccine, and until then the farming community should concentrate their efforts on improved cattle husbandry and diet (particularly with regard to mineral deficiencies). The science shows that a small-scale badger cull will not work, whilst a large-scale badger cull is completely unacceptable and should be strongly resisted by all decent people.

Terry, Somerset

I think it is time to start collecting a list of the names of those responsible for this government prevarication, so we know just who is to be sued when Mycobacterium bovis really begins to take hold in the human population. The Government’s Chief Scientist has already made it quite clear where he stands on the issue, so in legal terms the argument is over.

Charles Henry

Western Daily Press. . Features/letters

Having spent many years watching and reading information about politicians of all parties, I am surprised at the apparent shock of the public at the MPs’ use of their expenses allowances.

I thought most people knew what I have known for many years, namely, that two of the MPs’ more obvious perks, the first was the paying of relatives, or friends, as assistants, secretaries or researchers.

Perk number two was the second home allowance, even if they lived within striking distance of Westminster. With so many sources of information available, I cannot understand how these perks were missed by constituents.

It would be easy to prevent abuse of the system (but, of course, they won’t). MPs’ staff should be recruited from an employment agency.

A cap should be imposed on accommodation allowance and would apply only to MPs wholived more than 20 miles from Westminster.

Perhaps I should not be surprised by some peoples’ ignorance, when it has just been revealed that a quarter of persons asked thought that Winston Churchill along with Florence Nightingale were fictional characters.

W Robinson, Westbury, Wiltshire

Editor, . I don’t have a problem with MPs employing family members; and I don’t believe many would. Nor do I with the properly regulated genuine expenses of ‘Honourable Members’. . It’s the ‘noses in the trough’ mentality that now inflicts so many that really offends; particularly those who cut their teeth as ‘Socialists against the Greedy Capitalists’. . And since the biggest ‘trough’ of all was created; ‘EUROPE’; they have virtually banned the teaching of Modern History or anything that ‘enlightens’. . Everyone seems to believe it is only the Communist ‘ONE PARTY’ States that brainwash the young. . Don’t ever believe it!!! The new European Soviet are now ‘Past Masters’.

Charles Henry

Western Daily Press. . . Features/Letters

I’m sure that Bob Lee is writing largely with tongue in cheek when he expresses such excitement at the prospect of the new over-60s free bus pass.

It is important to remember that nothing really comes free. The bus operator requires to be paid for every journey made with the pass, and that money comes from Government funding, ie, the taxpayer.

His vision of a new golden age of the bus may be disappointed. Even with the current passes, restricted to local areas, the operators are complaining that they can carry more passengers for less income.

The company receives 40 per cent of the normal single fare for every free journey made. EU legislation affecting bus services and drivers’ hours have already resulted in through services such as Bristol/Yeovil and Bath/Salisbury being truncated.

Informed sources are concerned that the financial implications of the new bus pass will lead to the deregistration of many commercial services, leaving their continued availability at the mercy of local authority funding.

The possibility of competition between bus and rail hardly exists in our region, though the advantage of serving Bristol city centre may benefit services on the Bath and Weston-super-Mare roads. There are no direct buses from Bristol towards Swindon, Gloucester or West Wiltshire to compete, while the service route across the Severn Bridge is not likely to be available as the pass is valid only in England.

We must remember that, on weekdays, the pass is not generally available before 9.30am, though in Wiltshire, it is presently valid from 9am. This somewhat restricts the potential for day trips.

I feel that Mr Lee’s campaign for an equivalent free rail pass does not bear comparison. The bus pass doesn’t even allow travel on National Express coaches. It is one thing for the taxpayer to pay 40 per cent of a £5 bus fare, quite another to meet the cost of a £100 train fare. No doubt the train companies would be able to demand 100 per cent under the terms of their franchise.

I’m sure many people will enjoy the greater flexibility of the new pass, while others will be watching closely the financial implications on the bus services.

A J Angell
Chippenham

If ever they were going to try and ‘dream up’ something to win votes that had more ‘built in’ unfairness at the offset; bus passes must take some beating. . Even if it could be funded without seriously impacting on all other services; which is most unlikely; it is a bit like giving everyone a free pass to the Swimming Pool or the Cinema. . What swimming pool!? . . What cinema!? . . AND WHAT BUSES!? . . . Of course we could all have Free Taxis I suppose; like the Speaker’s wife enjoys at our expense, on top of his £137,000 a year plus expenses and a limousine salary!

Charles Henry

JOHN’S DEPARTURE NO GOOD THING

Reading the many letters regarding the late Radio Bristol, which we can no longer hear, started me thinking back.

I always enjoyed John Turner, and an added pleasure was Pat Dallimore. We were told of her outings with Jim. For many years we laughed at the things her sisters got up to. Her mum and dad, children, work, her love of dogs, told in such a warm way.

John and Pat had a lovely way with them.

Then it all stopped and, I have to say, so did my interest in Radio Bristol. Not a change for the better.

Pamela Dean, Stroud, Gloucestershire

Well Well Pamela! . . We agree about something! . . I must remember to send John your regards with his next pack of tablets. . We are both needing a few more these days; we are getting to that ‘funny’ age now. . Though I am sure he casts his eye over these pages. . . I used to tell him that there must have been at least 26 of us who listened to him regularly; and your letter confirms that.

Charles Henry

ROAD TO RUIN?

Is it me or are our local roads getting worse?

Somerset County Council has repaired one of our roads four times in the past year. And, by common consent, it is worse now than before they started.

Council tax goes up and services come down. How does that work?

Ken Maddock
Conservative group leader
Mendip South

The ‘Dab it and Patch it’ tarmac team for Somerset do not seem to realise that rain seriously interferes with the adhesion qualities of tarmacadum. That combined with the greater number of frosts we are now having since global warming, means that by 2020 there will no longer be any tarmac roads in Somerset; just a great series of potholes inter-dispersed with Waterboard and Cable Laying road works, and littered with ‘by-then-obsolete’ motor vehicles, all with broken axils. . As Europe will be expecting us all to be riding BMX Mountain bikes by then also, and licences will only be issued to the chauffeurs of Government Ministers, it won’t really matter Ken. . . Of course they will all have American Hummers.

Charles Henry

Western Daily Press. . . Features/Letters

“GIVE LSD TO MENTALLY ILL”

Banned psychedelic drugs LSD and Ecstasy should be used to cure people with chronic mental health illnesses, a leading Bristol psychiatrist claims. . cond.

The 35-year-old consultant psychiatrist at the University of Bristol puts forward his case for LSD and Ecstasy to be prescribed to patients with conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder on BBC Two’s Horizon next Tuesday. . cond.

“LSD, or “acid", was used on psychiatric patients in clinical trials in the UK in the 1950s and 60s until it became the recreational drug of choice for the Flower Power generation and was made illegal.” . cond.

This is ‘Cool Britannia’ gone completely mad! . The Blair years have got so much to answer for! . . First they gave us ADHD! . But now this!. . Someone please just ’slap’ him before he gets any older! . The ‘Flower Power’ generation did NOT all take drugs. . Just a very small ‘mixed up’ minority. . . The majority all had more than enough distractions down at the house of “The Rising Sun!". .

Charles Henry

BRISTOL FLIGHTS BETTER VALUE THAN EXPENSIVE TRAIN TRAVEL

Hardly a week goes by without letters appearing in the Western Daily Press from people wishing to stop the expansion of Bristol International Airport.

Invited to attend a meeting in Scotland in June this year, I searched for a convenient method of travel without my car. Soon, I discovered that the rail system could not accept a booking more than three months in advance.

Even so, an indicative price of the fare would be four times the price of a flight which I would be able to book instantly from Bristol Airport.

There are now very few direct trains from Taunton to Glasgow, thanks to interference from civil servants, and some journeys require two changes.

Spurious statistics are quoted by Stop Bristol Airport campaigners about aircraft flights, but what are the emissions from nine-hour train journeys versus a one-hour flight?

One wonders if this anti-Bristol Airport campaign is being waged by people, not in productive work, who are looking for a cause to champion.

My experience of Bristol Airport is that many of the travellers are businessmen and workers of all nationalities, showing that Bristol Airport is vital to the economy of the whole region.

Let us hope that the politicians and planners will support the businesses and workers who pay their taxes to support our economy and will back developments at Bristol Airport.

Alexander Ferguson
Taunton

Alexander Ferguson’s experiences of Bristol’s ‘International’ Airport (Lulsgate) may well be accurate; but his conclusions are pure conjecture and prove nothing except just how unregulated and out of control immigration has now become. . His suggestion that the opponents of this what was once just a ‘Municipal Scar’, that has now been turned into a ‘Banking Conglomerate’s Carbuncle’, all lack gravitas, is insulting. . The only thing his exercise showed us all is that there are now many hundreds of people flying many thousands of miles to do things that could be achieved just as easily with a telephone call or a computer. . . Mind you; he has confirmed something many of us have believed for some considerable years. . . Railways are now obsolete, and the motor car is and always will be the most cost effective way to travel overland; the greatest cost of course being the tax element.

And of course Editor; what people like Alexander really want to do, is to stop the majority who are just going about the daily stuggle of surviving in this new ‘PC’ environment, so that they can continue to fly around the world polluting without any constraint.

Charles Henry

Western Daily Press. . . Features/Letters

Why do the hunting fraternity go on about people against their barbaric (and now, thankfully, illegal) activities as obsessed by class?

One of the most outspoken opponents of hunting with dogs was the late Conservative MP Alan Clark who was anything but a “class warrior"! The Conservative MPs Ann Widdecombe and Roger Gale, along with the distinguished astronomer Sir Patrick Moore, are all strongly opposed to chasing and killing wild animals with dogs for so-called “sport".

Those who wish to re-legalise archaic barbarisms say all kinds of nonsense to describe the majority of decent-minded people across all social and political backgrounds who support the ban on hunting.

Any politician who thinks bringing back cruelty is a vote- winner will have a shock at the polls.

Chris Gale
Chippenham

This is the typical ‘neonic’ rhetoric of this particular ‘Class War’ warrior. It’s just about what we’ve all come to expect from the modern New-Labour Party employee. Completely ignore the many thousands of ‘Real’ Labour people, including those like Kate Hoey and Labour Peer Lord Rooker, and just concentrate on the bigotry. . . In truth the bigotry I can tolerate. I’ve come to expect it now but, the blind ignorance of these people; from whatever party; I find quite staggering. . Have they never bred anything at all and needed to protect it?! . . Oh but come to think of it perhaps not. . I wonder what they’ll all say when the wild boar start attacking people. . You can never trust any boar if there’s a sow in season, let alone a wild one. . . . A comment from the country enterprise handbook. . . A mature boar is often a fierce creature. . . . Even hybrids can have mediaeval faces with curling tusks and spiky hair. The problem with keeping a few sows is that you do not justify owning a boar and may find it difficult when you want your sows served.

Charles Henry

Western Daily Press. . Features/Letters

Never mind our usual mild winter, Europe is experiencing an amazingly mild one. Published in the media are midday temperature (Celsius) tables for 60 or so European towns and cities from Moscow westwards. There has been barely a single minus sign therein for three or four weeks.

This must be some sort of a record for at least Eastern Europe.

The cause: our Atlantic westerlies are more powerful than ever.

W Philpott, Bridgwater, Somerset

Global Warming?. . . .

If all you do is keep looking West; you’ll only ever see the Setting Sun. . . . .

Charles Henry 1945-(diuturnity)

More powerful than ever??? . . Is that so Mr Philpott?

Western Daily Press. . . Features/Letters

If the public is to be questioned regarding how best to contain bovine TB, it is essential they be asked the right question.

Perhaps they should be asked whether cattle should be slaughtered to protect badgers.

Upwards of six million animals were destroyed, on government orders, to contain a disease that has minimal effect on human health, and from which most animals ultimately recover anyway.

Animal welfare has always been subservient to economics. Rabbits were a vital food source during the war, but myxomatosis was welcomed by many when arable crops were seriously threatened.

Rachael Carson, not a Government minister, found that pesticides were killing wildlife.

Fishing quotas exist solely to maintain stocks, not out of welfare considerations. Cormorants are protected until they become a threat to anglers.

Songbirds are welcome here, but are shot as sport elsewhere in the European Union, often as they migrate to or from Britain.

To put it in simple terms, every animal has its price.

Anthony G Phillips
Salisbury
Wiltshire

Editor, Anthony Philips’ understanding of mycobacterium bovis is incomplete, but I understand why he wants that question asked. . . . The numbers of animals he quotes as being destroyed by government dictate is probably correct, but his belief that most would ultimately recover; in terms of sustainable agriculture; is naive I believe. . But much more worrying is his belief that bovine tuberculosis, in the herd, or in the wild; has or will have, a minimum effect on humans. . . That is a really dangerous assumption. . Who can we really blame for this? . . It is the growing curse we’ve all been bequeathed by those protesting for animal rights. They have never been able to handle the basis of all life on this planet, ‘Survival of the fittest’. . Much of civilised humanity has learned to temper this, though a quick look around the world will show there is still a long way to go. . Mycobacterium bovis, already a worldwide killer, will only ‘go away’ if we, with the help of the scientists, do something about it. . The alternative is to just all sit around like dinosaurs, and just wait and see who; what and how many; if any survive. All hoping our immune systems will eventually learn how to cope. . It will be a bit like being a rabbit since the myxoma virus was introduced here I suppose. . As we are losing the ability to even deal with M.R.S.A. now, I am not very confident. . . The question I want answering is: ‘Why is it OK to slaughter cattle but not badgers?’. . . Not cuddly enough?

Charles Henry

Western Daily Press. . . Features/Letters

First, we were promised a referendum on the EU Constitution, but they changed the name to “treaty” in order to avoid one.

Then, we were promised a “full and frank” debate in the House of Commons which was to last “20 days". This has now been reduced to just 12 days.

Watching BBC2’s Daily Politics programme we saw this “full and frank” debate in action. There were, at most, 30 MPs in total in the chamber.

Meanwhile, the bulk of our media seems more interested in who will get the key to the White House than the loss of what little remains of our nearly 1,100 years of democratic independence.

This once glorious nation is sleepwalking into a disaster and it seems no-one cares; not our politicians, our media nor our people, and the very few who do are called “scaremongers” and worse.

The papers are full of letters about the “awful EU", but ask the people to vote against it and the reply always runs: “Oh no, we must have an EU-loving main party in charge.”

Only they are not. The EU is, and the 75 per cent of rules they make will soon be 100 per cent.

If this is what you want, then so be it, put your X anywhere on the ballot paper; if you don’t, then your choice is very limited. We are the only moderate British party to oppose the EU.

Greg Heathcliffe
UKIP Swindon South

“Bad laws are the worst sort of Tyranny.” . . . . . Edmund Burke 1729-1797 . . And they call this ‘Democracy’. . Roll on the Revolution. .

Charles Henry

NFU HITS BACK OVER CRITICISM

I think I’ve seen it all now: being attacked by Derek Mead (Western Daily Press, Farming Green, February 5) for writing a newspaper column criticising a National Farmers Union colleague!

It’s like being lectured by a Defra Minister on the virtues of competence!

In this instance, though, I haven’t a clue what Derek is referring to.

However, for the record, one of the drums that I have been banging loudest and longest is, for farming to have a sustainable future it must, above all, be profitable.

Anthony Gibson
NFU director of communications
Warwickshire

One thing is for sure Editor! . . If the National Union of Mineworkers had been run like the NFU; Arthur Scargill would have got Knighthood!. . Love him or hate him there was never any doubt whose side he was on. . BUT THE NFU??????????!!!! . With their ‘Good European’ Agenda!. . How much longer before the farm cat has to be tagged Anthony?

Charles Henry

Western Daily Press. . Features/Letters

VILLAGE LIFE HAS CHANGED TOTALLY

I was interested to read Roland White on the Comment page (Western Daily Press, February 11).

I wrote a similar article in a local paper in West Somerset a week before. The days of the idyllic village are over.

Once upon a time, the towns of West Somerset were safe. The police and some councillors tell us they still are. However, it’s sad to say that the perception of many residents is very different.

He picked up a number of stories that have shocked local people over the last few years. He is right to say that many shrug their shoulders and do little.

We have a drugs problem in the area, yet little is discussed about it. I know the rank and file want to get on the street and fight crime.

Bring back the village bobby, I say. He knew everyone, and they knew him. Today in Minehead, I know a couple of officers. When I came here 30 years ago I knew every one of them.

Dudley Seale
Minehead
Somerset

Individual Community Policing(ICP) is the sort of proposition, rather like the Inheritance Tax issue that will sweep a party into power with a massive majority. . Forget about ‘Speeding Motorists’, the Big Brother CCTV State and ‘Global Warming’! . Let’s first make Britain a decent and safe place for everyone to live like it once was. If we have Policeman for every community again; and in every school if needs be; all the rest will follow. The vast majority are Good People if the circumstances allow them to be.. . I’m with Dudley Seale on this one.

Charles Henry

MOST HUNTERS ARE NOT RURAL

Fred Worth is right about hunting, “A compromise will be reached, as hunting will not go away", (Western Daily Press, January 25). but not for the reasons he thinks.

Yes, there will always be humans who derive pleasure from chasing and killing our abundant wildlife.

But it is wrong to imply that there are good honest country people - most are not full-time rural dwellers.

Because they live and work in cities and towns, the most vocal and fanatical are armchair country people. So it is not a country versus town issue, but a pro-cruel pastime versus anti-cruelty.

Then there is the sentimental ploy about corn waving in the breeze and growing food for all ofthe townies.

Many of us prefer to try to respect other species, rather than treat them as something to abuse for so-called sport.

It was not Tony Blair who brought the ban in, but the majority of people, both rural and town, and their MPs.

David Thomas, Near Westbury

Editor, you at the newspaper clearly have an ‘agenda’ yourselves. Oh well it must sell newspapers! . Why else would you keep printing this rubbish when you censor so much? . . I suggest a visit to the Boxing Day meet at Priddy and talking to the hundreds of supporters. It will prove yet again what absolute twaddle people like David Thomas continually write. (Editor’s note: We have a policy of impartiality but we print both points of view. Staff regularly attend hunt meets and write about them.)

Charles Henry

February 2008

Copyright by Charles Henry 2008

It’s turnin’ out ta be a rite funny yer. . . Av we got global warmin’ er ain’t we? . . . Is da ‘owsin’ market up da creek er ain’t it?. . An’ wot abowt Norvern Rock!?. . Is intrest rates goin’ down er ain’t dey?. . . No bugger seems ta know. . an’ if dey do dey ain’t tellin’. . . . Archbishop a Canterbry finks dere should be wun law fer dey wiv six wives an’ anuvver fer da rest uv us wot makes do wiv wun. . . Japan is ‘untin wales agen. . . An’ as usual Yorup finks evryfing is da Yanks fawt. . . espeshly Yeltsin . . No I meens Putin . . . You no! . Vlad da Lad! . . . Da Africans is killin’ each uvver. . An’ da Chinese and da Indians is aw drivin’ cars now an buyin aw da oil. . so gawd ‘elp da rest uv us. . . . I fink i’ll take up yoga. . . I likes meditating. . . An’ it don’t produce too much gas unless I’ve bin eatin’ peenuts. . . . Oh ye! . . I nerly fergot! . . Sum feevin gits is steelin’ aw da led off Church roofs an’ aw da man ‘ole covers. . . . ‘Appy days ! . .

Yer iss a bit cawd smornin. . I’n off ‘ome. .

Western Daily Press. . Features/Letters

JOIN ME IN MOURNING THE DEMISE OF TRADITIONAL VALUES

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. . . cond.

But Editor! . . As long as we continue to have ‘appointments’ as Archbishop of Canterbury of people like Rowan Williams; Deputy Prime Minister: John Prescott; European commissioners: failed politicians like Peter Mandelson, Neil Kinnock and Chris Patten; Commissioners of Police: Megalomaniacs like Sir Ian Blair; and ‘God forbid’ Tony Blair as President of Europe; (He married Cherie for goodness sake!!) WHAT HOPE IS THERE !!?

Charles Henry

CLEAN-UP IS LED BY THE LIB DEMS

Conservatives in Bath and North East Somerset really should give up the specious reasoning which holds that unless you have specifically said you are against something, you must be in favour of it.Claiming Liberal Democrats must be in favour of fortnightly rubbish collections, since it wasn’t specifically ruled out in our manifesto, is completely dishonest.

But then, constructing a sentence with “Conservative” and “truth” in it has always been a challenge. To be clear, Liberal Democrats in Bath and North East Somerset are not in favour of alternate weekly collections and never have been - there are no “Lib Dem plans for fortnightly collections” and, in fact, nationally, four times as many Conservative-run councils as Lib Dem-run councils introduced fortnightly collections.

Residents should be wary of Conservative claims to be greeny-blue.

Since taking control of B &NES Council, they have cut cardboard waste collections, resisted proposals to make the city of Bath an air quality management area and delayed the introduction of food waste collections and same day collections by a full year compared with plans put in place by the Lib Dem executive member for waste before the elections.

In fact, the Conservatives actively campaigned against edge of property collections which is an important first step in the move to same day collection.

Paul Crossley
Leader of Bath and NE Somerset Liberal Democrat Council Group

Specious Editor?! . . That’s rich coming from a Liberal-Democrat! . Since they emerged from the Home Counties onto the West Country’s political scene; with their ’subversive’ support of the Labour Party; they have turned local politics into the most illiberal and undemocratic since before the introduction of new laws by William Gladstone. . . It is because of their idea of ‘Democracy’, always with an ‘Agenda’, that this country is in such grave danger of being submerged forever in European ‘Double Speak’.

Charles Henry

Saying what you mean and meaning what you say Cllr Crossley is not the Lib Dem way. When is your party going to deliver on its 2005 manifesto; then its first decision to support the Conservatives before the indecision took hold. And the subject ? Promise of a referendum on the EU Constitution now called the EU Reform Treaty (Lisbon Treaty).

Colin McNamee
Baltonsborough, Somerset

Western Daily Press. . . Features/Letters

Under Gordon Brown, we are told what a wonderful Government we have.

However, thousands of our post offices are being closed, along with our cottage hospitals, and many others are being downgraded before they are closed altogether. Our village schools are almost gone.

We should not be spending billions of pounds on the influx of foreign immigrants from the Middle East who, in fact, present a major risk to all of us in this country.

In Bristol, foreign immigrants are being placed in council houses in front of our own local people who have been on a long waiting list for many years. This is one of the reasons why there is so much bad feeling in some parts of Bristol.

Instead of Roger Berry MP for Kingswood meeting Muslims in Fishponds, he should meet the thousands people on the streets and unable to find a place to live.

K M Wills
Hillfield
Bristol

K.M.Wills’ thoughts on the homeless should be heeded; though many will try and misconstrue the message. . If more people took the time to talk to the homeless and the dispossessed, and found out first hand what it was that put them in their predicament in the first place, it would go a long way towards putting right many of the political failings of this so-called ‘liberal society’. . The latter part of the twentieth century has created a maelstrom from which many can now no longer escape. . Without doubt the pre-war generations and those born in the first years after, were much better equipped to deal with what life might throw at them. . Government has been blinded by the march towards ‘Europe’.

Charles Henry

I don’t think that’s really true ‘Errol’. . There are many people who are very concerned about the plight of the homeless. . . Their voices have just been drowned out by this cult of ‘political correctness’ and the desire of so many to abandon all their forefathers ever learnt. . . They even seem think they invented sex! . .

. . Charles Henry 1945-(diuturnity)

Western Daily Press. . . Features/Letters

With reference to the symbol for Shepton Mallet, quite frankly I can’t think of a better one than the mallet.

After all, the Mallet family have been so well known in the area for such a very long time, added to which, they have as a family contributed in many ways to the well-being of the area.

I do know that one local Mallet family has been very involved in local charity work.

The mallet in some form seems so obvious.

As for the advert of Babycham - words fail me. There really is no historical connection at all.

I am not sure about the sheep - where does it fit in?

I say let some local artistic person go for the mallet.

Miss Pegeen F Hill
Burnham-on-Sea
Somerset

If they do choose a Mallet Editor, it should at least look like a wooden mallet and not a sledge hammer I feel. . . This excerpt from ‘A brief history of Shepton Mallet’ by Clare Gathercole may assist Miss Pegeen F Hill . . . . “Though the overlordship of the town reverted to the Crown at the Dissolution (being granted to the Duchy of Cornwall in 1536), there was little disruption to the town’s life. Shepton continued to thrive in the Post-medieval period, and its continued significance was underlined by the placing of the county prison there in the early 17th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries the town expanded eastward along the river, where were built the mills on which its prosperity rested. Shepton itself, and the outlying settlements, became populous, industrialised settlements. Collinson in 1791 describes an industry employing about four and a half thousand people in the valley (when the silk and crepe mills as well as the woollen mills are included). But the streets of Shepton, according to his account, were narrow and dirty. . . . . . . . . By 1840, things had changed somewhat. The woollen industry was already declining by the late 18th century and this trend continued in the early 19th century. However, other industries, such as silk manufacture, brewing and cheese making, were growing to take its place. Braggs’ 1840 Directory was able to describe Shepton as a neat and clean market town, and the other 19th century directories also give a picture of a town in recovery from the economic threat imposed by the failure of the cloth industry. Efforts were made to improve the urban fabric and the communications system, by, for example, the construction of the new Waterloo Bridge in the 1830s. The arrival of the railways from the 1850s onwards was a boost to the town’s attempts to keep its head above water. In fact, population has remained fairly steady since 1801 (around five to six thousand), though it has expanded physically, absorbing the surrounding settlements.”

As a further aside to the original letter; I can only hope that our closeted politicians who hysterically pushed through the discredited Hunting with Dogs act will soon realise just how offensive the act is to generations whose ancestors have been brought up in places like Shepton Mallet on the Mendip Hills. . Sheep farming has always had an immensely important role to play right across the country. . Each location having their sheep fairs and public houses like the Hunter’s Lodge at Priddy being the ‘rule’ not the exception. . . Fox Hunts have always been a very important part of rural life, ensuring the safety of everyone’s poultry and livestock over many hundreds of years. . The tarnishing of the reputations of generations, with the accusations of ‘cruelty’ will never be forgiven if this act is not soon repealed.

Charles Henry

DODGY DAVE’S AT SIXES AND SEVENS

Dodgy David Cameron doesn’t know where he is. His announcements are all over the place. One week, he discovers socialism and dodges to the Left to champion the NHS.

The next week, he remembers that he is supposed to be a Tory and dodges to the Right, waving the big stick at the long-term sick.

Then he dodges back to his socialist position, proposing state employed nannies for all young mothers.

A good socialist idea, but could he overcome his Old Tory dinosaurs who always oppose raising taxes for the good of society.

Robert Craig, Somerset

Dodgy Dave is one way to describe him I suppose, but ‘dodgy’ has many connotations. It is often suggested there are ‘Dodgy’ car dealers and even ‘Dodgy Vicars’; so we must be very careful! . . Either way, or should I say ‘both ways’; it’s still alot better than ‘Mr Bean’!

Charles Henry

VEGETARIAN HEALTH BENEFITS TO BOTH PEOPLE AND PLANET

We cannot live on vegetables alone, says the Western Daily Press article of January 31. Oh yes, we can!

John Osborne’s article seems to imply that vegetables are the only things vegetarians eat, and I assume he includes grain.

I, and the millions of vegans and vegetarians in the world, are mostly very healthy, not overweight, less likely to suffer from high blood pressure and our cholesterol is very often lower than that of meat eaters. . . cond.

John Smith
Salisbury

I get very tired of hearing vegetarian/vegans’ views stating that their way of life is healthier. I beg to differ. I have a digestive disorder whih makes eating vegetables and fruit very uncomfortable. Whereas, meat has no such affect, and is easily and readily digested. As for environmental benefits? How much pollution do these people cause by having exotic or out of season crops imported into the UK?

KB, Bristol

Spare us more of this obsessional nonsense again today Editor, please!. . Don’t tell me you have sympathisers of vegetarianism as well as the animal rights activists in the News Room now! . . We cannot live on ‘bread alone’ or ‘vegetables’. . . They should research a few of the stories about the people who have damaged their eyesight and had other serious deficiencies through following this compulsive and sometimes dangerous ‘doctrine’? . That might safeguard a few of our easily led school children. . John Smiths warnings of a possible food crisis because of the constant attack on British farming are valid though, and should be seriously heeded. . I just pray it is not too late.

Charles Henry

Has Helen Reid ever thought of why there appears to be fewer police on the streets (Helen On Monday, January 28)?

Ask any front-line police officer and he will tell you that it is direct interference from Government that is the problem.

They are so obsessed with targets and figures that paperwork within the police force has grown out of all proportion in recent years.

Dealing with an offender 20 years ago would take a couple of hours. Now, it can take days just to complete the paperwork and get a decision from the Crown Prosecution Service before an offender is charged to court.

I suggest Helen gets hold of a copy of Wasting Police Time by PC David Copperfield. This book was dismissed as a work of fiction by Tony McNulty in Parliament, although he was later forced to concede that some of it was true.

I can assure her it is a 100 per cent accurate picture of policing under this Government.

I am a front-line police constable with 19 years’ service, all spent in uniform. I and my colleagues would prefer to patrol the streets and do the job we signed up to do, but are prevented from doing so by red tape, mountains of paperwork and political correctness.

I would ask Helen to support the police with more positive and accurate reporting before she wakes up one day and finds Group 4 policing her streets.

Name and address supplied

Unfortunately Editor the experiences of this Police Officer is also true of ALL the other professions directly under government control; aswell as all those affected by Health and Safety legislation and all the other PC lunacy that we are all now burdened with. . . I have direct knowledge of a highly motivated nursing graduate who gave up highly paid IT work so she could train further to have a more fulfilling and satisfying career. . She is now considering quitting because she is not ‘trusted’ to perform the tasks she was trained to do without filling in a mountain of paperwork which prevents her doing her job properly. . This madness has to come to an end! . Not just ‘ONE DAY’. . but immediately! . . that is NOW!

Charles Henry

Western Daily Press. . . Features/Letters

SHEPTON MALLET

If they do choose a Mallet Editor, it should at least look like a wooden mallet and not a sledge hammer I feel. . . This excerpt from ‘A brief history of Shepton Mallet’ by Clare Gathercole may assist Miss Pegeen F Hill .

Editor, . I can only hope that our closeted politicians who hysterically pushed through the discredited Hunting with Dogs act will soon realise just how offensive the act is to generations whose ancestors have been brought up in places like Shepton Mallet on the Mendip Hills. . Sheep farming has always had an immensely important role to play right across the country. . Each location having their sheep fairs and public houses like the Hunter’s Lodge at Priddy being the ‘rule’ not the exception. . . Fox Hunts have always been a very important part of rural life, ensuring the safety of everyone’s poultry and livestock over many hundreds of years. . The tarnishing of the reputations of generations, with the accusations of ‘cruelty’ will never be forgiven if this act is not soon repealed.

Charles Henry

In response to Mr Giblin’s assertion that hunt monitors are vigilantes, “Aren’t hunt monitors self-appointed vigilantes?"(Your Say, January 30), my dictionary defines the word vigilante as someone who “takes law enforcement into his own hands".

This does not describe the work of the hunt monitors, as they do not interfere with the hunt but simply film hunting activity and then pass any evidence of suspected illegal hunting to the police.

Monitors are to the countryside what CCTV cameras are to the town; both perform a very necessary role, considering certain elements that are at large in our society today.

By the way, Mr Giblin unjustly criticises the brave work of the monitors but he doesn’t tell us if he is a hunt supporter… or does he?

Gill Purser, Cheltenham


If hunt monitors really perform the same role as CCTV cameras in towns is laughable. Hunt monitors sole aim is to catch out a single group of people not to detect crime and enforce the law across the board. What do they do about far more serious scourges effecting the countryside, such as fly tipping. Absolutely nothing! We urgently need a law against people following round others and filming them and their children carrying out law abiding activities. . It is harassment.

Giles Bradshaw, Rose Ash

I think this behaviour is more like the tactics of the Gestapo organised by Hermann Goring, the Prussion minister of the interior. . . Such nice people. . According to an official Nazi biography, it was the same day that Hitler reported to his cabinet on the(his) ruthless killing of Stormtrooper ‘conspirators’ in the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ that he first told his cabinet about the new animal protection laws that were to make hunting with hounds illegal in Germany. . . It has always amazed me why anyone would want to associate themselves with the anti-hunting cause, much less a government. . . It seems to me to only compound their ignorance.

Charles Henry

HUNTING WAS ONLY EVER CRUEL

The Pr stunt by the cruel sports lobby, “Top vets say that hunt is best way to control fox” (Western Daily Press, January 26), is akin to the Japanese claim that they hunt whales for scientific purposes.There is no scientific evidence that fox hunting is a humane efficient way of controlling fox numbers. It was devised as, and still is, a cruel pastime.

What they call a natural mechanism and interpretation of control and management, has been chasing a fox, letting hounds rip and tear at it, and baiting and tormenting it with terrier dogs.

The same fate is inflicted on any of our wildlife seen as threat to this single issues group.

Those vets should stop wasting Parliamentary and people’s time and put their skills and time into tackling the real cruelty inflicted on farm animals, pets, wildlife, factory farming, ritual slaughter, vivisection, live exports, pet trade, fireworks, diseases caused and spread by human activity, and encourage the young to understand and respect other species.

David Thomas, Near Westbury, Wiltshire

If anyone wanted more evidence of just how troubled some of the ’sick bunnies’ really are, that campaign under the flag of animal rights and this newspaper encourages; they have to look no further than this disgraceful attempt to compare fox hunting with the Japanese whaling industry. . To be able to hold a contradictory opinion could well be described as a human right but, to now start attacking veterinary science and the very people who give their lives to animal welfare is now ‘beyond the pale’.

Charles Henry

David Thomas has his head in the sand when he claims that there is no scientific evidence to show that fox hunting is not cruel. There is a wealth of such evidence. Even the Burns Report on which the Hunting Act is based did not conclude that hunting is cruel. Scientific studies have shown that up to 78% of shot foxes are wounded. Wounded animals often die over long periods of time with huge suffering. The fact is that fox hunting kills in a quicker and cleaner manner than shooting. When does it take weeks to kill a hunted fox as it does a shot fox that dies of gangrene with its leg hanging off. The science also shows that the presence of a predator benefits the prey species and fox hunting is the nearest replacement available for the role that would have been performed by wolves and lynx, which are both significant predators of foxes. David Thomas wants us to ignore the increasing body of science which shows that the Hunting Ban is bad for fox welfare. The ban should be reversed and replaced by a fair law which makes it illegal to cause undue suffering to any wild animal.

Giles Bradshaw, Rose Ash

I know ‘Celestial Marriage’ sounds an attractive idea ‘Errol’, . . but I fear any tax and childcare benefits will be completely outweighed by the aggravation. . . Though a group of us did once consider becoming Mormon fundamentalists at a party one weekend in the Summer of 1963. . I think we called it Flower Power. .

. . Charles Henry 1945-(diuturnity)