Letters - July 20, 2017

I am a big supporter of the museum project for Blackpool and faith should not be lost because it will not be presented inside the former Pavilion Theatre, Winter Gardens. The collective work done by the dedicated museum team and volunteers has been impressive with innovative ideas and digital formats.

The financial shortfall required by Blackpool Council for the museum simply cannot be met due to austerity budget cuts from central Government. Secondly The Winter Gardens is effectively owned by Blackpool Council. The building is operated as a separate arms length commercial business. Operating the Winter gardens as a multi-complex venue to prove viable in this day and age is not an easy task. It requires room hire space availability to accommodate a wide range of events. Blackpool is progressively developing its year round economy. The Winter Gardens is a ‘jewel in the crown’ year-round venue that can accommodate, dance festivals, conventions, music events, corporate presentations and conferences.

I very much hope The Blackpool Museum project is not dead in the water. Blackpool is fortunate to still have a grand central library and art gallery. Subject to space availability, it would be beneficial to present a dedicated Blackpool Museum within the Grundy Art Gallery. Alternatively, the central library juvenile entrance on Abingdon Street has been closed since the mid 1980s. Perhaps this storage space could accommodate a scaled-down museum project?

Merging the library, arts and heritage together will increase footfall and raise the cultural profile of Blackpool. The museum project could invite schools from around Lancashire to learn about Blackpool heritage.

A tour of the historic Winter Gardens or Blackpool Tower buildings could also be incorporated as part of educational day trips.

If the council has no reserves for arts funding and are under financial pressure to secure front-line services over the next few years, co-operative joined-up creative initiatives are required to move the town forward. Promoting Blackpool’s rich past will help create a prosperous future.

Stephen Pierre

Via email

BBC PAY

Why splash out on newsreaders?

I am spectacularly under-concerned at the level of the BBC’s remuneration of popular entertainers whose programmes are no doubt marketed by the Corporation at a profit.

What is hard to stomach is the proportion of my licence fee being spent on mere newsreaders when surely such “talent” can be sourced cheaply from regional programmes. Even better, with Brexit in prospect, the BBC should look to recruit more broadcasters from our former colonies in the West Indies where wages may be low but the standards of literacy and spoken language seem infinitely superior to those currently obtaining in this benighted land.

John Eoin Douglas

Via email

HEALTH

NHS top - Tory model comes last

The NHS has been ranked the number one healthcare system in a comparison of 11 countries. It was praised for its safety, affordability and efficiency, but fared less well on outcomes such as preventing early deaths.

The research by the Commonwealth Fund and a US think tank looked at countries including the US, Canada, France and Germany. The US system, the one the Tory Government wants to adopt, came bottom.

SPG

Via email

COMMUNICATIONS

Fast broadband better than HS2

All we need to do is to stop the huge white elephant that is (or will be) HS2 and divert that money into providing truly super fast broadband for everyone.

This would enable video conferencing of such high quality (maybe even holographic conferencing) that travelling to business meetings would be a thing of the past and there will be no need for this vanity project that will end up costing us billions more than it should!

John Hewitt

Via email

POLITICS

The real history behind austerity

The history of austerity can be traced back to the 2008 financial crash.

Mild austerity would have followed had PM Gordon Brown dealt with financial matters prudently, but he chose to attempt to buy the next General Election for himself and the Labour Party.

Unluckily for the UK, Gordon Brown had 21 months to borrow on a massive scale, splashing funds on over generous welfare plus huge increases in many wasteful public sector jobs, 1.2 million extra staff under Labour.

The UK deficit, annual borrowing, rose to £157bn.

His great error was to spend the money on welfare and wages, and at 12 months, repeated funding was being required. Waste chasing waste. Brown got potential voters, the country the bill.

The socialists always moan ‘why do the poor and public sector have to bear the brunt of cuts?’

It’s because Labour spent it recklessly on them until removed from power in 2010.

Labour increased UK borrowing for their supporters’ benefit, expecting the taxpayers to pay it off.

Spending the money of others can be summed up in two words – fundamental socialism!

Alan 
Chapman

via email

WARSHIPS

Plan to scrap our steel industry?

The decision to source steel to build our warships from abroad beggars belief.

We can make the right steel in Scotland and yet, for some reason, our Tory Government has decided not to do so.

One has to wonder why.

It smells wrong and without a doubt is wrong.

It seems that our leaders are determined to ruin the steel industry of the UK.

Peter Hyde

Via email