Letters - Thursday, February 20, 2020

Such weather extremes can be expected to become more frequent, due to the extra energy imparted into the atmosphere by global heating.

We know that this can only be mitigated by reducing our CO2 emissions, and politicians from around the world will discuss how to achieve this at the United Nations climate conference (COP26) in Glasgow in November.

This will be presided over by Alok Sharma, who was recently appointed as Minister in charge of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Unfortunately, during his time in Government, he has mostly voted against measures to tackle climate change, so it’s not clear that his heart is in this vital job.

Similarly many MPs have voted not to reduce the permitted carbon dioxide emission rate of new homes.

Consequently, none of these thousands of new houses that have sprung up around the county are fit for purpose in the fight against climate change.

If you are concerned about the future of floods, droughts, sea level rise, and consequent crop failure and mass migration which we are leaving for our children and grandchildren, please make your feelings known by writing to your MP.

Maybe then the Government will treat its self-proclaimed climate emergency with the seriousness it deserves.

Keith MacDonald

via email

CRIME

Why is pervert Rolf Harris still in UK?

Given that the policy of deportation of immigrant criminals, even to the point of targeting citizens with young families who long ago served a sentence for drug-related crimes, is perceived as laudable by so many in Parliament, one struggles to understand why the Australian immigrant Rolf Harris, the convicted serial paedophile, is not being banished from our country as a real and present danger to the public.

I have asked the Prime Minister to assure me that such step is in fact being examined, and would encourage others to do likewise.

Beryl Williams

via email

POLITICS

One can almost hear death rattle

The longer the election of a leader for the Labour Party goes on the more it becomes apparent that the contenders are of an extremely poor quality.

Their recent performance on television was unbelievably dire. Each demonstrated their inability to display leadership qualities, or mouth anything save platitudes and banalities.

All were obviously scared of saying anything critical of Corbyn despite the fact that he and his close colleagues are the root of Labour’s decline into obscurity. The paucity of talent on display was simply staggering.

If they were to compete in the Grand National they would all fall at the first fence.

Senior Labour figures of the past such as : Attlee, Wilson, Callaghan, and Healey must be turning in their graves.

What was once a proud and moderate Party has returned under the direction and influence of Corbyn, Momentum and the Unite Union leader to a fractious, disunited cabal of ultra left-wing nonentities. They are clones of a Labour leader who is a disaster.

Whoever is elected as Labour leader in April will not solve Labour’s ills. The Party is in very deep trouble. One can almost hear the death rattle.

Dr Barry Clayton

Thornton Cleveleys

POOLS

Bonds not a level playing field

So, the government has decided to reduce the numbers of premium bond winners.

I have owned a premium bond since about 1964. This was purchased for me from the residue of my grandfather’s estate. I bet you that cannot guess how much it has won... absolutely NOTHING.

When I asked NS&I how this could happen when so many new ones walk off with all the top prizes I was curtly informed it was because there are more new ones.

It would seem to me that this is not a level playing field. NS&I say that all bonds have as much chance of winning. This is obviously rubbish, if there was a tub with 200 yellow balls and one blue one have a guess which colour would come out.

Disgruntled P/B owner

via email