Letters - September 18, 2017

Under Conservative governments in the past our NHS has consistently been neglected.

The situation under this present Conservative administration remains the same.

The service is short of nurses, and when that fact became apparent, the government’s response was to continue their plan to abolish student nurse bursaries; instead preferring to encourage nurses from developing countries, that can ill afford to lose their nursing staff.

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I have often written to the Blackpool North & Cleveleys MP, Paul Maynard, on various subjects, as I know many people have.

The reply from his office remains the same; always bland and assuring that things are in hand etc. However nothing seems to change.

This government seem to be set on a course of self destruction.

They do not seem to understand: ‘One can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all the people all of the time.’

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The one per cent cap on civil servants, nurses and fire officers has been imposed for far too long.

Now the country has rising inflation, the situation is affecting workers very hard - many are now worse off financially than they were in 2010.

I believe MPs should speak up for their constituents and refrain from slavishly following this failing government.

And residents on the Fylde coast have an added concern as Cuadrilla will soon start fracking for shale gas.

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The issue remains a worrying problem for residents. There were earth tremors, which residents felt in 2015 when testing took place. I have been informed that any prperty damage caused by fracking will not be covered by house property insurance, as that would be ‘an identified ongoing peril’.

I believe that phrase could also apply to this government!

Jack Croysdill

Blackpool North & Cleveleys Labour Party

TRANSPORT

How about proper bus shelters first?

I write in reference to the story in The Gazette (Thursday, September 7) about 126 new greener buses - at a £16m cost!

How about a proper bus station or at least bus shelters with roofs intact.

Transport chiefs hope this investment will encourage more people to use public transport. Tell that to passengers huddled in shop doorways on Abingdon Street.

Kevin Gooder

Clinton Avenue
Blackpool

CHARITY

You really pulled 
the boat out!

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On behalf of Blackpool Lifeboat Station we would like to say a big thank you to residents and visitors who donated at our boat pull on Saturday.

The amount raised was £1,064.72.

Christine Parry

Secretary
RNLI

BREXIT

Greece should act as a warning

On September 1, 1939, we declared war to ensure our great country would defend its freedom from domination by Germany.

We were successful because the people of this country had the strength and resolve to fight to ensure our freedom and democracy would be decided by our elected politicians –not unelected politicians of another country across the channel.

On June 23, 2016, the people of this country once more decided to defend their freedom by voting to leave the EU.

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Also the people of this great democracy sent a message to the rest of the EU that we will not be economically dominated by the German state.

It must de understood that slowly, over the years, Germany has dominated the EU by economic progress, using currency manipulation, ie. the one-size-fits-all euro.

We must never ever forget the past acts of domination by Germany.

This thought may be considered fanciful but I say, look at Greece where the EU and German banks have turned a great country into an economic wasteland.

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I say: “what Hitler failed to achieve in Greece with the bullet, Merkel has achieved with the euro.”

By the UK leaving the EU, we will escape German economic domination.

Hopefully, this will be a wake-up call to the rest of the members of the EU that, if they stay, they may face the same fate as Greece.

Bernard Darbyshire

via email

SOCIETY

Rise in UK homelessness

We need to be disturbed by the continuing rise in UK homelessness, and of forcible bailiff evictions which, in England and Wales, reached 42,758 in 2015 – up 53 per cent over 2010 following the displacement of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister.

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The homelessness charity Crisis predicts a rise of over 25 per cent over the next 10 years. It predicts that the number of rough sleepers, now 9,100, will go up by 76 per cent to 16,000 this decade.

These figures do not include today’s 68,300 ‘sofa-surfers’ or 61,500 people in hostels or unsuitable temporary accommodation.

It is shameful that our nation, the world’s “fifth richest”, suffers this growing deprivation, with Crisis identifying welfare cuts as prime cause. The Child Poverty Action Group highlights “general and specific cuts in benefits, tax credits and universal credit” in real terms as a result of the four-year freeze imposed in April 2016, whilst any subsidies are “not well targeted on low-income families”. It behoves us to support the call by Bishop Rachel Treweek of Gloucester for the freeze to be abandoned.

Frank McManus

via email