Letters - January 22, 2018
The Tory party general election manifesto of 2017 contained nothing about plastic and now, in an attempt to capture the young voter, Theresa May has pledged to deliver a plastic-free coastline.
Her timescale of 25 years is not good enough. In that time a further 300 million tonnes of plastic pollution will enter the oceans.
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Hide AdLabour, however, did have a commitment to plastics in its election manifesto which included safeguarding habitats and species in the ‘blue belts’ of the seas and oceans surrounding our island, setting guiding targets for plastic bottle schemes and working with food manufacturers and retailers to reduce waste.
Yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur, pictured, who sailed solo around the world, said she realised on her journey how small our planet is and how heavily polluted our oceans are.
We should heed her concerns.
John Appleyard
Address supplied
POLITICS
Let’s have equal rights for England
Only when England has equal democratic rights with the rest of Britain will we be able to solve the problem which is NHS England.
The British Government diverts funds readily to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, yet starves England of resources from health to highways.
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Hide AdUltimately, it is English taxpayers who fund the British Isles, but who are then the last in the queue for health and social care benefits, and whose infrastructure is the worst in Britain.
J Patrick
Address supplied
MEMORIAL
Events to mark genocides
This year’s theme for Holocaust Memorial Day on Saturday January 27 is ‘The power of words’.
This January, at around 8,000 events across the country, hundreds of thousands of people will gather to reflect on the power of words, and how they were used in the Holocaust and subsequent genocides, in propaganda to incite hatred, in slogans written in resistance, and in memoirs to record survivors’ experiences.
Holocaust Memorial Day is about remembering the atrocities of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur, but also about finding ways to make sure they can never happen again. Recognising the power our words have is an important first step. On Holocaust Memorial Day I ask you to choose to use your words for good.
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Hide AdFor more information on how you can get involved with this year’s events, go to www.hmd.org.uk
Olivia Marks-Woldman
Chief Executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust
CARILLION
It’s our money not the Government’s
Carillion will go down as another government-inspired scandal along with the banks and dealt with in the same manner – privatise the profits and nationalise the debts. It is a scandal.
Thousands of families will lose their livelihoods while others will walk away with more £50 notes than they can carry.
At the end of the day, it’s not the government’s money, it’s our money.
Allen Jenkinson
via email
BREXIT
Is Farage wise to be so optimistic?
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Hide AdNigel Farage’s new optimism about the potential result of a possible second Brexit referendum is the same as Theresa May’s optimism about the result of the General Election last June.
I write as a fervent supporter of Brexit.
Elisabeth Baker
Address supplied