Letters - Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Has there been sufficient support for the arts during the pandemic?

The answer is no.

This Government has failed to understand the importance of the arts and its role in supporting the economic, social and cultural life of the nation.

The Government’s own figures put the economic contribution at £111bn in 2018.

(In the same year the motor industry contributed £18.6bn).

Freelancers, who are the backbone of the industry, have been tossed aside quite ruthlessly and left with little or no opportunity to get support.

The support has been mainly directed at building-based companies and organisations.

This is window dressing. We will have buildings but no-one to work in them.

The pandemic, together with the disastrous effect of Brexit on touring artists and production technicians, has given us a sad legacy.

Tim Appelbee

via email

TRIBUTE

HRH personified service above self

As President of the Rotary Club of Blackpool it is my privilege and honour on behalf of our members to extend our sincere sympathy on the death of His Royal Highness the Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh.

His Royal Highness was an Honorary Member of Rotary and our motto is ‘Service above Self’ which His Royal Highness personified and we send heartfelt thanks for the decades of devoted service to the life of our nation and the Commonwealth and most importantly his unswerving support to Her Majesty the Queen and her family.

It is of coincidental note that on the April 18 we celebrated our Charter Anniversary on which date we shall move into our own 99th year.

Christopher J. Beverley

President

Rotary Club of Blackpool

* Prince Philip lived a long life of immense wealth, privilege and luxury purely because of who he married.

Meghan Markle is simply trying to emulate this by marrying Harry but I doubt she would be feted in quite the same way if she was to pass on.

Phil Cray

Scorton

RESPONSE

Getting facts right over letter claims

Unfortunately for Mr Prance (Your Say, 19 April) I do know a great deal about the scientist David King.

Prance omits to tell readers that King was a special advisor to Tony Blair for seven years. He is a fervent Labour Party supporter who has attacked the present government on many occasions during the current crisis. His bias is manifest.

King likes to give the impression that only scientists have been the ones to give sound advice about lockdowns, when the truth is they have made a number of horrendous errors regarding, for example, fatalities and the R number.

The claim about privatisation of the NHS is a long-standing politically motivated attack on a conservative government. Scientific objectivity is noticeable by its absence.

Regarding sleaze and cronyism, perhaps Prance would like to be reminded of what took place under Blair and Brown.

It is not for the faint-hearted.

Dr Barry Clayton

Thornton Cleveleys

POLITICS

It’s a long road to the next election...

Re: A year of Keir Starmer. While at first sceptical of Keir’s leadership, he has shown that he can competently handle Boris Johnson inside and outside of Parliament and effectively take the Tories to task, something which the previous leader failed at.

Statesmanlike, funny and genuine, he’s a breath of fresh air for Labour and I can certainly see him as a future PM.

However, the road to the next election is long and perceptions can change rather quickly.

In order to avoid this fate, he needs to clarify key Labour policies like nationalisation and increasing public sector pay and wages overall because he’s been devoid of anything policy related so far.

Joel McKevitt

via email

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