Letters - Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Soon anyone wanting to be a police officer will have to be a graduate.

If ever a scheme was flawed from the outset, it is this one.

Speaking as a retired officer with experience in both practical policing and instructing, I have witnessed just what the outcome will be. Many had no real grasp of what being a police officer entailed and I found ex-service personnel the better recruits – also ex-police cadets.

Two of the students who passed through the training school in two of my classes were never seen again as one could not deal with trouble and ran away leaving his colleague to manage on his own.

The second was put off for good by having to attend a blood-soaked messy accident.

I could have forecast their exit.

Another chap struggled with exams, but seemed to know instinctively how to deal with practical jobs that required a common sense approach.

I also served under a couple of high flyers and was not impressed with them by any means. I hope the Government and our newly-elected crime commissioners look again at this issue.

Peter Hyde

via email

BREXIT

Mounting failures point to big mistake

The ongoing farce of ‘Brexit’ has understandably been pushed off the front pages by the pandemic, But the failings keep piling-up to show what a huge mistake it has all been.

Our fishing communities are worse off than before facing masses of paperwork to get their produce over to the markets that buy it.

All they have to show for ‘Brexit’ are promises of some meagre gains in what they can catch years from now. The hospitality industry, already struggling because of the pandemic, is being hit by labour shortages as many EU citizens have left the country.

British migrants living in the EU face uncertainty due to changed residency rules which may wreck plans to work, or retire, abroad, whilst EU citizens here live ‘in limbo’ with an uncertain future. Shamefully some EU citizens arriving here have even been locked-up then deported!

Meanwhile the Government is making the UK the ‘desperate man’ of the world stage begging the EU to reopen the trade deal.

No wonder – imports from the UK to the EU in the first quarter of 2021 are down by over a third whilst EU exports to the UK fell by only 14 per cent meaning the EU’s trade surplus with the UK increased to €35.8bn. Other countries see this and have the UK over a barrel when negotiating.

Take the Australia trade deal which even some former ‘Brexiteers’ are now against and farmers warn could damage our agriculture and countryside.

Taken all together it is little wonder that Lord Frost, the Government’s Brexit negotiator, says they are looking to recruit an “external adviser to identify post-Brexit opportunities”. Yes you heard that right. An unelected government official looking to appoint yet another unelected bureaucrat paid for out of our taxes to tell us why Brexit is so great. You really couldn’t make it up.

Oliver Sykes

address supplied

APPEAL

Be one in a million for a good cause

We’re asking people from across Lancashire to join us for the Diabetes UK One Million Step Challenge, to raise funds and help make a huge difference to the lives of people with diabetes across the UK.

It’s simple – take one million steps over three months, between July and September, and get sponsored for every stride.

You do not have to limit yourself to walking to complete the challenge. You could choose to jog, or even dance the steps away. But whichever way you choose to move, you will need to take around 10,000 steps a day from 1 July to reach your million-step goal.

This year’s challenge features two other options. There is the half-a-million step challenge, perfect for those short on time or for anyone who may find taking 10,000 steps a day difficult. And there’s the longer 1.7 million step challenge, for those who really want to push themselves this summer.

As well as raising money to help end the harm caused by diabetes, regular walking has many personal benefits, including increased fitness, reduced stress, and better heart health. So please, give it a try and step it up for a healthier you.

The Diabetes UK One Million Step challenge is free to register and there is no minimum sponsorship target. The event runs from 1 July – 30 September. Find out more and sign up at www.diabetes.org.uk/step.

Clare Howart

Diabetes UK

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