Letters - December 11, 2018

The four months of war from June to September saw an estimated 164 per cent increase in civilian deaths in Yemen, with 500 people killed in just one nine-day period in August.

Most casualties are a result of coalition air strikes. More than 18,000 strikes have been carried out since the war began in March 2015, a third estimated to have hit non-military targets.

In August these included a school bus, killing dozens of children as they returned from a picnic.

Yemen now faces further horror. The conflict was already fuelling what had been called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Now the UN is warning that 13 million people in Yemen are facing starvation, and if the war does not end soon, it could be the worst famine in 100 years.

The UK government should certainly be ashamed. Its complicity is undeniable. UK-made combat aircraft, missiles and bombs are being used in the bombing and the government continues to support the attacks by licencing almost £5bn of arms to Saudi forces since the conflict started.

Our government continues to prioritise arms sales over lives of Yemenis and the human rights of the Saudi Arabian people.

We must renew our commitment to act,and to hold our MPs to account.

We all have a part to play.

Royston Jones

Anchorsholme

RESORT

Great plans... but 
we need an airport

This £300m investment is great news for Blackpool, what a shame there is no investment in the airport then we could fly visitors in from all over the UK and abroad.

We need Blackpool Airport back as an international airport ASAP.

Wilf Greaves

Bispham

CHRISTMAS

Thank you for your help with lights

May I thank all those involved in the recent Layton Christmas switch-on event?

Layton traders, all council staff, our very own town crier, many volunteers and our switch-on celebrity Charlotte Lily showed real dedication.

Once again the rain didn’t dampen our spirits.

oun Martin Mitchell

Blackpool 


COUNCIL

Politics

A prayer for these days of austerity

As MPs leave the House of Commons for a long festive break on 20 December with a return on January 7, I sincerely hope they all remember what has and has not been achieved in the last 12 months and bow their heads for those who have died or suffering with a benefit sanction.

A prayer in a time of austerity:

We remember all who have died while their income was sanctioned, who were overcome by any feelings of humiliation or shame, by fear or distrust, insecurity or loneliness; or by a sense of being trapped and powerless, under the abuses of power by the state in a time of austerity.

In a time of austerity we pray, in solidarity with the thousands of UK citizens currently suffering sanctions, which are imposed with the maximum use of the media to blame decent people for their own unemployment and poverty; for the millions of UK citizens who are suffering under unmanageable debts due to high rents, the council tax, the caps and cuts in social security imposed by Parliament, made worse by sanctions.

We pray too for those in power, and seeking power, that they may find the courage to work for and implement social and economic justice.

We pray for the will to build a well-being state on the ashes of the welfare state in which rich and poor and Parliament are in solidarity with each other.

And for the policies to ensure that no one will have choose between heating or eating, the rent or the streets, life or death, due to the unjust enforcement of debts against inadequate incomes, or no incomes at all, due to a sanction.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Garry Richardson

Catterall Close
Blackpool