Letters - July 26, 2018

Should NHS appointments be distributed by email?

As we celebrate the 70th birthday of Britain’s most popular institution, the NHS, it is important that we focus on its achievements, and learn from them.

What our health service has given us over those many decades is security – freedom from fear that we might not be able to afford the treatment we need. That deep and pressing anxiety is at the heart of the American system, a system that far too many MPs from all the larger parties have wanted to copy.

We should learn from and copy the security the NHS has given us, and extend it to housing and income.

Houses should be regarded not primarily as financial assets but stable, affordable places for people to make their homes.

And we need to bring in a universal basic income, to take away that fear that zero-hours contracts, insecure employment, low wages and swingeing benefit sanctions have inflicted on many households in this country.

Natalie Bennett

Former Green Party leader

HOUSING

Marton is being concreted over

In reply to the letter from Jane Adams (Your Say, July 10) re building sites covering green land.

I completely agree with this reader, Marton is being completely concreted over at the moment, with very ‘ironic’ names such as Marton Meadows!

There was a lovely meadow there before greedy builders dug it up and concreted it over. All they see is money - not the green land that will never be seen again.

This council give them permission when they appeal. It’s pathetic!

Mrs K Tilsley

Blackpool

ENERGY

No smart move with this meter

Smart meters!

Great for the giant German (and other) electronic conglomerates, rubbish for UK householders and no more than entry level snooping. Everyone has a right to refuse one in their home.

I think smart meters are dodgy territory and, according to the latest figures, they are destined to save no more than a microscopic £11 per year/per household and far less than the claimed saving of £35 per annum secured apparently by quenching a TV’s standby red LED.

Smart meters?

To me, they are no more than ‘a confidence trick’.

Joseph G Dawson

Address supplied

CONSPIRACIES

What else have we been lied to about?

I’ve started to question the official 9/11 story and it begs the question what else have we been lied to about?

And yet I am told by those stuck in their mainstream-manufactured perceptual prison cell that I am crazy for asking legitimate questions about those who push us into war. We live in sad times

Francis Bean

via email

HEALTH

Do a school walk  - not a school run

Shocking obesity figures confirm the need for government and schools to encourage more active lifestyles.

The number of children leaving primary school severely obese has hit record levels with one in 25 pupils aged 10 and 11 in the most obese category. Childhood obesity is one of the biggest health threats facing the UK and it’s getting worse. It’s not just about eating better but about keeping active - and swapping the school run for a school walk is an excellent way to start.

All schools should be using their recently doubled PE and Sport Premium budget – funded by the ‘sugar tax’ - on active travel initiatives which help enable and encourage more families to walk to school, reducing inactivity, congestion and air pollution.

Joe Irvin

CEO at Living Streets

POLITICS

It’s those pesky Russians again...

I burnt my toast this morning - it must be the Russians disrupting my breakfast through covert means.

julie moss

Via email