Letters - Tuesday January 26 2021

Once upon a time, as all fairy tales go, police were generally trusted and supported by the general public. Unfortunately, over the last few decades, public perception of police activities has plunged to its nadir.

Although we are in a life-threatening, highly contagious pandemic and the police have the task of trying to limit unnecessary travel, they keep making disastrous miscalculations, as evidenced recently in Derbyshire with two ladies taking exercise, for which the police later had to apologise.

Similar ridiculous decisions have been taken throughout the country since last March by various police forces.

We have the Government telling us to exercise but to do it “locally”.

However, the law in England does not define “local” and we are told to use our common sense in our personal interpretation.

Senior management in the police have failed to address this issue and to tell constables to use their common sense as there is no law to enforce. The threshold in criminal law for conviction is “beyond reasonable doubt”, not for a constable to think you have done wrong.

What is local? Who knows? If you live in a city, your local shops, banks, vets, doctors etc may be within half a mile.

Villages no longer have shops and the smaller market towns no longer have banks, lawyers, doctors, dentists or specialist shops, so you travel 10 or 15 miles each way for your local needs.

Local is relative.

My opinion, based on common sense, is that I am much more isolated – and therefore less of a hazard to myself or others – if I drive six miles to a more rural location for a walk and not see another soul all day, rather than be on crowded, nose-to-tail paths.

Tomorrow I have to travel a 16-mile return trip for a Covid injection. Is that a local journey? I hope an over-zealous constable decides to ask!

Paul A Sherwood

via email

Safety

Get Out. Stay Out. Call us Out

Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service is once again campaigning to get Lancashire cooking safely! Whether it’s turning on the wrong dial or accidentally leaving the hob or oven switched on after you’ve finished cooking, simple mistakes can have devastating effects.

Around half of all accidental house fires are cooking related fires. Research by Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service shows most casualties relating to cooking fires were caused by the person trying to tackle the fire themselves, with 28 casualties in 2019. This is why we are campaigning to raise awareness of the dangers of cooking fires, with the message “Get out. Stay out. Call us out.”

Another major cause of accidental house fires is the risk of distraction. It’s so easy to become distracted, so stay in the room and pay attention.

From January to December 2019, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service was called to 386 cooking related accidental house fires. We hope that if people follow the “Get out. Stay out. Call us out” message and remember distractions could be disastrous, this figure will reduce for 2020/21.

Our data shows that cooking fires can happen to anyone, with at least one kitchen fire occurring every day in Lancashire. We want to see this significantly reduced. The causes of cooking fires are well understood and we hope people turn our simple messages into lifelong habits…. ensure your household has working smoke alarms, keep your hob clear and clean, and if you do have a fire close the kitchen door, get out, stay out and call us out. For further advice, visit: www.lansfirerescue.org.uk/cooking.

Mark Hutton

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service

Politics

MP should be voice for reconciliation

I email in regard to the recent remarks made by our MP for Blackpool South, Scott Benton (Your Say, January 21).

Firstly, his recent indignation in regard to the Opposition Day Debate concerning the meagre increase in Universal Credit. Surely, the entire point of an opposition debate (a crucial part of UK democracy) is to put pressure on the government to force a change? The Conservative Party used this incredibly regularly between 1997 and 2010. Clearly the publicity this generated shows that such pressure is effective.

Secondly, and more concerning, are Mr Benton’s simplistic remarks in regard to the debate about statues in the public sphere. From 5th century BC Athens to Augustine to the 20th and 21st centuries this is a far more nuanced debate, as recently discussed by esteemed historians, David Olusoga and Mary Beard. What concerns me is that this has been blamed on the “Woke Left” (quid est Woke?!) and Mr Benton has completely neglected to portray this issue accurately by referring to the vile urination on the memorial for PC Keith Palmer by right-wing hooligans last year. Furthermore, I would ask Mr Benton to identify a single statue in our area that is “at risk”. Of course, there is none.

Unfortunately, this seems to be yet another issue being whipped up by self-serving politicians to further polarize communities and boost their own profile. An MP who genuinely cared for their community (including those who did not vote for them) should be a voice of reconciliation after a period of division. I fear that our present incumbent is too immature to realise this. I hope I am proven incorrect.

Peter Wright

Blackpool