Letters - November 15, 2016

In Portland Road, Blackpool, there have been bags of rubbish dumped at the edge of alley for two weeks, and over time this has spewed out onto pavement.

At the end of this road is a narrow pavement with cars continually parked there. The rubbish lies a few yards from Whitegate Drive, where cars also being parked for the shops. People have to walk gingerly through the rubbish or step on to the roadm where they are at risk from cars.

This is very risky near a corner of two busy roads.

If a cleaning supervisor could comb through streets looking for dumped rubbish (or rubbish that is not being collected could be a valid reason), it could be cleared away immediately before it becomes a hazard to residents.

Name and address supplied

POLITICS

We know who is to blame for the cuts

I think Stephen Clarke lives in a parallel universe where his party aren’t starving Lancashire of £685m in funding (Politically Correct, Gazette, November 9)

How dare he suggest that the stopping of free travel on the Blackpool trams was the fault of anyone but his Conservative Government, which has nearly brought Lancashire to it knee! Some 62 per cent of its budget is being taken away – can you imagine running your household with 62 per cent of your income being taken away? Well that’s what this Government expects Lancashire to do!

Let me tell you Stephen, these are your cuts, imposed by your conservative Government, on the people you hope to represent as a Conservative county councillor.

Let me also tell you the people of the Fylde coast aren’t gullible, they know exactly what’s happening to them.

They know who to blame for the library closures, the loss of buses, the closure of children’s centre.

They also know who has been battling to get our people back on the trams, and it wasn’t you or your Tory mates. It was Labour county councillors working with Blackpool Council that eventually got Fleetwood and Cleveleys people back on the tram.

I will continue to fight for the people of Fleetwood and the Fylde coast with the help of my fellow Labour councillors.

You can’t keep blaming Labour county councils for the cuts Conservative MP Paul Maynard voted for.

He has voted with this Government on every cut imposed on the disabled and vulnerable of this land.

If you want to help the people of the Fleetwood and the Fylde coast Stephen, have a word with Paul and tell him to stand up for the people he was elected to represent.

Lorraine Beavers

Lancashire County Councillor Fleetwood West

Wyre Councillor Rossall ward

ENVIRONMENT

We can’t push the climate to one side

For too long, extremists like Nigel Farage have been controlling the debate in society, all about silly little side issues. Peddling fear amongst us, carefully orchestrated for maximum effect, in order to keep the real issues to one side. We need to just count to 10 and breathe, then we will all see through the lies.

The debate we should be having is not about which airport gets an extra runway, but which airports we have to close now! Labour wanted to expand Gatwick and the Tories have just given the go-ahead to expand Heathrow.

The debate about human survival on this planet is being swept out of sight.

We need strong government with brains, who would re-purpose jobs after the necessary closure of 50 per cent of our airports. Unlike former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who should have re-purposed the miners into new jobs.

Because she was less than adequate in her job, she just hid the jobless numbers among the sickness and disability claimants, causing the stress we have in our social safety net of today. She was found number crunching instead of giving the damaged communities a new life and purpose.

We have lost a lot of our values because of greed, like living for today with tomorrow in mind. Leaving a healthy planet for our children and grandchildren to inherit. Weather and climate should be treated as something that really matters, and not an add-on to the end of the news.

It’s about time we had a government that stands up in this country, that takes action against the climate criminals. The dirtiest industries should not be dictating the climate talks in Morocco or their direction. They should be made to follow the rules, not be making them. The shipping industry took eight years to reduce sulphur levels in the fuel when left to its own devices. Now we have to wait until 2023 until they start talks on reducing numbers of ships.

This should be imposed by governments now, not wait for the industry to decide.

John Warnock

Co - ordinator Blackpool & Fylde Green Party

EMPLOYMENT

Unions were striking at the drop of a hat

I am in full agreement with David Neal’s comments in reaction to the unions intent to bring our country to oblivion (Your Say, Gazette, November 11) and unions run by the likes of Arthur Scargill with demands so high it caused hysteria to numerous members.

My dad was a miner at the time. Dad couldn’t afford to strike with a family of four and a mortgage (even with free fuel from the NCB) and the fact he and his work mates were confronted with other so called ‘mates’ and their vicious ‘SCAB’ chanting set social unity back in time. Even the ‘bread strike’ turned housewives vicious!

Had Maggie not dug her heels in and refused to allow unions at the time to bully their way to such high demands our country would have fallen to its knees and was almost there anyway because of them, yet Maggie Thatcher stood her ground for the sake of our country and this can’t be said for the unions the Labour government had previously turned soft with.

Factories too closed and yes, devastation to towns that were built around them but blame the unions for that when at the drop of a hat they were out on strike every five minutes!

Clifford Chambers

Ashton Road

Blackpool