Letters - December 13, 2019

Extinction Rebellion are a bunch of hypocrites
What do you think of Extinction Rebellion?What do you think of Extinction Rebellion?
What do you think of Extinction Rebellion?

I appreciate that there is a climate issue, but Extinction Rebellion are just a huge irritation to all of us who just need to get to work and earn a living to support our families.

I wonder if any of the people in that picture work, if so, how do they travel to work? Do they and their families have a holiday abroad once a year, do they and their families have mobile phones, iPads, computers, big televisions? Almost certainly they do.

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They say: “We call on our councils to act now to cut air pollution for the health of all of us.”

Please can they tell us how the councils are supposed to do that?

Most people drive to work through need; tradesmen, council employees, delivery drivers, lorry drivers, taxi drivers, teachers, social workers, emergency services staff, market traders, retail and restaurant workers, hotel staff, and the list goes on.

Very few people have the luxury of being a short walk or a public transport journey from their employment.

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As for holidays abroad, I know a lot of people who work hard all year for their two weeks in the sun, and they will not give that up, and why should they? I don’t drive, but I do have to use taxis to go to work at 5.30am.

I recycle everything I can, and I never drop litter, I never fly tip, so Extinction Rebellion, stop telling us all what you think we have to do, we are not interested.

What we have to do is get to work, and we need to use cars.

Extinction Rebellion don’t like being called hypocrites, but in so many cases I feel they deserve it, because that’s what they are in my opinion.

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I’m sure members drink from plastic bottles, eat pasta/salad/shop bought sandwiches from plastic containers, use their mobile phones - and yes, some of them getting into cars!

Blackpool resident

via email

Environment

Would UK go it alone for planet?

As a poorly educated 80-year-old, I am in need of a little assistance understanding the general state of the country today. On all sides I am beset by people urging save the planet, an opinion I heartily agree with.

But having watched the expansion of the mobile phone, motor cars ,and foreign holidays I am forced to ask, do all these people who want to save the planet go without cars, phones and Spanish holidays?

Further, when the UK is carbon neural, will the rest of the world also be neutral?

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I suggest that America, Russia, India and China may be dragging their feet and providing all the essentials no longer made in the UK.

If we were we carbon neutral and the rest of the world not so, would it save the planet?

John Brady

address supplied

Environment

Think ahead before we build turbines

It is critical that we think ahead to the needs of future generations, to ensure there is resource to provide for their education and welfare. Building a land of wind turbines and solar panels will mean that in the name of saving the planet, places of natural beauty will no longer be available for ourselves and those that follow.

Simon Gill

via email

Health

Where do our priorities lie?

The NHS would not be in the mess it is in if not for all governments.

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The monies we send abroad in aid is ridiculous. Most of the countries we send aid to do not need it.

But I have always thought charity begins at home: England is like a third world country owing to food banks. People and ex-servicemen sleeping on the streets.

We as a rich country are a disgrace - we need to look at where our priorities lie. Which ever party is elected to power needs to look at what is going on in England.

Priority must be given to NHS, police, fire, and ambulance service personnel. Taxpayers’ monies must be used to sort these services out.

Roger Watkinson

via email

Health

Please protect your health service

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Many people may have heard about the recent social crisis in Chile.

One of the many issues affecting us relates to health provision. As a Chilean who lived here for years, I would like to share some issues:

Prescriptions: In England, elderly people and children receive free prescriptions, and adults access to a fixed price. In Chile, no health insurance includes prescriptions. The public service can provide some, normally the simplest ones. Medicines can be incredibly expensive.

Cancer: In England, treatment is covered by the NHS. In Chile, coverage in the public system is insufficient and you may get attention when it is too late. In the private sector it depends on your insurance, determined by your income. Families struggle to afford treatments and need to organise crowdfunding and acquire life-long debts.

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Ambulances: Just remember the Manchester attack: 56 ambulances available in no time, for free, for everyone. In Chile, ambulances in the public system are very scarce and private insurances do not include them.

If you want to secure access to an ambulance, you need an additional, specific ambulance insurance.

Insurances: The NHS covers everything. In Chile, not even the most expensive insurance covers every illness or all the treatment. You sign very long contracts and pay a lot of money, and still need to pay a percentage of your treatment. If your illness was not in your contract, you don’t have protection.

Living in a country where your life does not depend on your income or the luck to have an illness included in your insurance, where you don’t need to worry about how you will afford a serious illness, is something you cannot value enough.

Please, protect your NHS.

Paulette D. Quintana

address supplied

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