Letters - Monday, July 12, 2021

Re: Calls for our Government to join 86 other countries in signing the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

This became international law in January and aims to make the world a safer place.

Yet nuclear weapon states such as the UK continue to defy the global nuclear ban.

The British Government has even announced an increase to its nuclear warhead stockpile by 40 per cent.

What a complete and utter waste of money and valuable resources.

The balance of power between enemy nuclear states used to be called MAD – mutually assured destruction.

These weapons are so powerful that they cannot be used without bringing about a level of death and destruction many times greater than that suffered by Japan at the end of the Second World War in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In a year which has seen unprecedented climatic events such as the recent high temperatures in North America, we must stop wasting the Earth’s resources on useless vanity projects.

Resources need to be conserved if we are to pass on a world fit to live in to future generations.

Instead of manufacturing instruments of death, let’s insulate our housing stock, improve our health and education provision and build public transport.

All of which would create far more jobs than the arms industry.

Frances Jones

Via email

Five days after it came into force on January 22, 2021, councillors in Lancashire showed their immense good judgement in declaring support for the United Nation’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. In doing so, they joined with local authorities throughout the world and with the more than 80 countries who have already signed the Treaty.

Those countries include Ireland whose sovereign wealth fund has now dumped more than €6m of shares after tightening its investment rules to exclude companies that make or test nuclear weapons.

Those campaigning locally for a world free from the threat of nuclear annihilation now hope that they can trust their councillors to show a similar determination to give their declared support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons a real and practical impact. They ask that councillors immediately take steps to ensure that funds administered publicly are not invested in companies that produce nuclear weapons.

Philip Gilligan

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

VIRUS

Uncaring face of the Tories

We have seen in the past and are continuing to see the uncaring face of the Tories.

This Cabinet of millionaires have lost contact with reality. They do not care about the poor who are struggling to exist on benefits and very low pensions (not all pensioners are well-off).

It does not affect them, they don’t care.

Boris promised to tackle and solve the social care crisis once and for all. Promise broken, he does not care.

Boris promised no changes to the triple lock on pensions. Promise broken, they are alright, they don’t care.

The Government made money out of the Miners’ Pension funds. He said they would return. Now Rishi Sunak has grabbed that. It does not affect him, he does not care.

Knowing where their own next meal is coming from, subsidised by the taxpayer, they have no qualms about taking back the £20 rise in Universal Credit from those who need it most.

They do not care.

They claim the NHS is safe in our hands! No, it is not.

They are introducing back door privatisation to the NHS with their chums getting places on NHS Boards. They don’t care!

What a different world it would be if we had an honest Government and one that cared about the people and not just their own personal fortunes.

Terry Bennett

Blackpool

VIRUS

Covid will still be with us

I only hope that Sajid Javid the new health supremo, knows what he is doing by ending restrictions on the wearing of face masks after July 19.

The more responsible people have gone out of their way to have their Covid jabs and wear masks when required, only to find that, because the irresponsible people that refuse to have their jabs start to fill up the hospitals with Covid ailments, it stops them from getting non Covid-related treatments because all the hospital beds are full.

Surely it must be common sense that, if people start mingling in numbers without masks – whether it’s on transport, at sporting events, or in shops and workplaces – the infection rates could go through the roof .

The Government’s mantra is that they have always been guided by the scientific advice but even the scientists are questioning the wisdom of not wearing masks in public. Just remember one thing, that even after July 19, the Covid virus will still be amongst us.

M TIPPER

Address supplied

POLITICS

The PM can’t win...

The poor old Prime Minister can’t win, can he?

For months all the usual suspects have been berating him for not lifting restrictions to get life back to normal. Then what happens?

As soon as he announces that he is doing what they want, they are up on their hind legs saying it’s irresponsible. What a thankless job it is. For twice what he earns, the Prime Minister could have a doodle of a job sitting on the board of some charity, with no stress or grief.

I know what I’d choose.

Paul Morley

via email

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