Letters - August 15, 2019

Television stations went ‘into orbit’ recently to mark 50 years since America squandered billions - ‘for mankind’ - by propelling three men in a tin can to the Moon, while many fellow earthlings suffer crippling poverty, hunger and a lack of clean water and sanitation.

Despite being hailed by the world’s leaders and media in 1969 as an epoch-making event that would “bring the world together in peace”, in reality, it was just one small step for man; one giant leap for hypocrisy.

US President Richard Nixon’s ‘historic’ live telephone message to Apollo 11’s crew, as to how their achievement “inspires us to redouble our efforts to bring peace and tranquillity to Earth” could have easily been mistaken for an unexpected belch of hot rocket gas.

His phone was barely back on the hook before he extended the senseless slaughter in Vietnam and ordered the invasion of Cambodia.

‘Moon-mania’ wasn’t to last.

By the early 1990s, the public’s interest in space had fizzled out and the novel idea of man bringing lasting -

real - peace to the world

by ‘lunar love’ had also

been jettisoned.

Howard H Smith

Address supplied

POLITICS

Shocking two-week wait to see a GP

The recent Pulse annual survey has shown that average GP waiting times have breached two weeks for the first time ever.

After years of Tory cuts and falling GP numbers it’s shocking, but unsurprising, that patients are now waiting longer than two weeks on average to see a GP.

Whether it’s for surgery, in bursting A&Es, for cancer treatment or now in general practice, patients are facing unacceptably long waits.

The truth is, as Boris Johnson’s senior adviser confirmed, the Tories simply don’t care about the NHS and can’t be trusted with it.

Chris Webb

Labour’s Candidate for

Blackpool North & Cleveleys

BREXIT

National disaster if we don’t get Brexit

If we remain in the European Union (EU) because of the result of the Brecon by-election in South Wales, that the Lib Dems narrowly won, mark my words, it will get much worse in Britain.

It has made our predominately Brexiteer Conservative-led Government more vulnerable to a vote of no confidence by reducing its majority to one in parliament.

The only alternative to sacking Remainer MPs in the Conservative Party is for the whips to ‘bully’ them to vote for Brexit, threaten them with deselection and warn them of what a disaster a Corbyn-led Labour government or a Remain Liberal Democrat (they should have changed their party name to Un-Liberal Autocratic) alliance with them would be.

That would be a disaster for Britain!

The danger I fear most, if we don’t get Brexit, is actual totalitarian dictatorship.

It would be a national disgrace, possibly driving me to emigrate back to the USA, where I lived from the age of three after being born here.

I predict that stopping Brexit will be a long-term national disaster for Britain.

Voting for the so-called Liberals is actually supporting dictatorship!

R N Coupe

Address supplied

BREXIT

Nation doesn’t back hard-left agenda

As a Conservative who strongly supports Brexit I welcome our new Prime Minister Boris Johnson. I was rather amused and equally annoyed by some of the false claims made by Denis Lee in a recent letter to Your Say.

Boris is not leading an extreme right wing government by any stretch. The Conservatives are firmly in the centre right while Labour lurches further and further left with Corbyn and his cabinet. Corbyn is not being demonised at all. The country doesn’t support his hard left agenda and his claims of a “fully costed manifesto” are laughable not to mention his flip flopping over Brexit. Brexit is what the people voted for. The Prime Minister has a democratic duty to deliver and I am confident Boris will do that while keeping Labour out of power where they belong.

Coun Christian Cox

Blackpool