Letters - Saturday November 28, 2020

Great to hear from the founder of the Unity Music Arts Team (UMAT) a small grass roots music group based in London, (Your Say, November 24).

Mr Pierre makes some good points over potential savings regarding reduced maintenance costs, electricity and being eco friendly in respect of the illuminations.

We are now in tier three. I presume Mr Pierre, (like most of us in the UK) is restricted in his travel which leads me to my point over the illuminations.

They cost in the region of £2.4m to stage, employ around 45 staff, with around 65,000 staff hours spent on preparation maintenance etc.

If people are now not allowed to travel to Blackpool, not allowed to stay overnight, not allowed to go to the pub, just what is the point of switching them back on. We may as well set up electric fires pointed at the sea!

Why not utilise the illuminations budget on less fortunate people who actually live in Blackpool and are currently struggling.

Mike Marlow

via email

Death

Why all the fuss about Maradona?

Stanley Matthews was known as the gentleman of football, no fouls just good clean entertaining football. No need to cheat.

George Best when on the football field was known as an exceptional talent who could run rings around the opposition and leave them standing. No need to cheat.

Pele is known as an outstanding footballer, possibly one of the world’s best. No need to cheat.

Maradona for most of his life has been known as a cheat.

He cannot cheat death. It will be hot where he is going.

Terry Bennett

Blackpool

Politics

Overseas aid and tax idea

The cut in our overseas aid budget is of some concern, though not as much as if the money were well spent with greater focus on the issue of population growth.

I can see the argument against us borrowing to give. Far better if those who can afford to lend gave the money directly.

May I suggest, as a way to make good the shortfall, that we introduce a tax of say £1 an hour on the employment of foreign workers.

We need such a tax anyway to penalise employers who source their labour abroad, serving their own profitability at the expense of Britain’s resources, environment and cohesion.

John Riseley

via email

Vrus

We don’t need all the negativity now

I, and many others, have turned away from watching the news, particularly the BBC, because of the way journalists question. In these unusual and fearful times we do not need to have negativity in headlines and ‘opinions’ from journalism.

Early on, when I did watch the news, I found the journalists to be inquisitors – more in keeping with the Spanish Inquisition.

I still turn off when they start with all the negativity and views that are not necessarily representative of the majority of people who are reasonable and happy to follow Government guidelines. We should all bear in mind this is worldwide and not solely in the UK. If we all took care and thought about others instead of ‘me, me, me’, perhaps we would be in a better place.

Bad news is not what we want to hear!

Marilyn S Shaw

address supplied

Virus

M55 driver was very negligent

Would the person driving a truck I repeatedly flashed at around 3.30pm last Friday while driving on the M55 to Preston make sure all the things in his/her truck are properly safe and secure in future as two black buckets flew off the back of his/her truck and nearly damaged my car.

As he/she did not stop in time they would have been a hazard on the road for other drivers and could have caused an accident.

Maybe he/she could stop more promptly if there is a next time and clear up after him/herself. As I was not driving fast at the time it seems he has been very negligent.

Name and address supplied