Letters - Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Violent crime such as stabbings and robberies have become so prevalent that they barely warrant more than a few lines in the press, and clearly much of it concerns males as young as 14 or even younger in some parts of Lancashire and Britain.

The police are helpless to make any kind of headway as regards prevention.

To my mind there are three main reasons for this situation.

* Lack of home discipline because any kind of physical discipline is frowned on by the ‘wokes’.

* Lack of effective penalty when the offender is apprehended.

* Complete lack of police presence on our streets.

When I served in both city and country areas, there were always police officers on our streets, talking to young and old alike, and being there to help and to listen to residents.

A clip round the ear was far more effective than being dragged to court and put on probation, but woe betide any officer of today being caught with that idea even in his/her mind. To even think that way could well result in disciplinary proceedings.

Peter Hyde

via email

VIRUS

System needs to be simplified

Our illustrious Government’s Home Secretary, Priti Patel, has stated 10,000 self-isolating visits will take place per day for those returning from amber designated countries under the Government traffic light travel system.

That statement in itself generates many questions, for example: What powers will the investigator have?

What will the cost be to the public purse?

How often will the address be visited?

What will occur if a supposed self-isolating traveller is not at the given address?

What will the punishment be if the above applies?

Will there be a power of entry available to the investigator if there is no answer to the door knocking but clearly someone is in residence?

Furthermore, the cost for such an undertaking will be extremely significant.

If the cost per visit is £5 (likely to be much more), 10,000 visits per seven days will equate to £350,000 or £1,400,000 over a four-week period and those are basic figures without allowing for any unforeseen costs.

Whilst considering the above, let’s not forget Ms Patel, in 2020, was to introduce a “bridge” system at airports for travellers entering the UK but that

was flawed from the outset and was subsequently shelved.

Her latest idea, without wishing the pessimistic, appears doomed before the commencement.

She appears full of bright ideas which are, in reality, simply unworkable and statements made to impress but which also fail.

It would perhaps be better to not have the amber system, in fact not have a three light traffic light system but, at best, red/green lighting system generally used at roadworks.

That way it would simplify it for everyone.

Shaun Kavanagh

via email

SOCIETY

Complete shambles

It does not matter what your politics are – social care at present is a complete shambles.

John Hughes

via email

VIRUS

What about how we’re feeling!

GP leaders are complaining of “being let down” by the NHS. No mention is made of how patients are feeling, when constantly hitting a brick wall when trying to arrange face-to-face contact with their practitioner.

As lockdown restrictions are eased in every other environment, doctors’ surgeries still remain out of bounds. This can’t be allowed to continue.

Peter Rickaby

address supplied

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