‘Hugely impressed’
LIKE many I was hugely impressed by our new MP’s promise to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.
Given that this involves not only eliminating inflation but introducing deflation this is revolutionary stuff.
My goldfish Kier was so impressed he swam around his bowl 78 times at high speed. He is now lying on his back on the surface of the water resting.
I was very surprised, then, to see the winter fuel allowance removed for any pensioner effectively earning more than £12,500 a year – and to notice that if the increase in pensions rises (as it almost certainly will) by average earnings in 2015, then it will drag almost every pensioner above the long frozen tax thresholds meaning every pound increases a pensioner gets in future will automatically be reduced by a fifth.
Now I’m far too stupid to work out how this tackles the cost-of-living crisis and Kier the Goldfish is less than useless – although to be fair he studied PE at Loughborough and not economics.
Obviously our new MP has a very big plan which he’ll share with us soon.
Howard Bellaby
‘Right royal treat’
I AM writing to express my sincere admiration for the excellent performance of ‘We will Rock You’ by the Palace Youth Theatre Group on Saturday afternoon.
The young cast delivered superb performances, full of enthusiasm, spirit and memories of Queen.
In 20 years’ time some of the cast may well tell their children of how they performed in this musical and as to who Queen were.
The cast, with ages ranging from approximately eight to 20, were well-placed and the creative choices made by the director enhanced the story and contributed to the positive impact of the production.
I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to the entire cast, crew, and creative team for their performance.
Derek Dixon
‘Strange welcome’
I WAS intrigued by the last sentence Rachel Maclean’s letter (Standard letters, August 16) – ‘I welcomed opposition when I was the MP’.
Really? When did that happen?
I can only speak for myself, when I wrote to Rachel, all I got was a copy and paste of the party line.
Even that changed dependent upon who was the PM. There was a definite lack of consistency but not caused by any opposition view.
I wrote to her several times about Proportional Representation (PR), and she trooped out the same nonsense and not listening to any reasoned argument.
If there had been PR, I’d hazard a guess that she’d still be our MP.
Due to the First Past The Post (FPTP) system Chris Bloore only required one vote more than Rachel to secure his position.
I’ve met Chris and he comes over as a nice chap and even he believes in PR.
Yet, it probably wouldn’t have got him elected.
She bemoaned in an e-mail that Andy Street failed due the Reform UK vote.
Not true. Her government change the system from the Single Transferable Vote to FPTP – that’s why Andy Street failed to get re-elected.
We’ve all seen the terrible outcome of the last general election, where a party can get less votes than another and secure more MPs.
So, where is this ‘welcomed opposition’?
The only other country in Europe that has FPTP is Belarus – now that’s a fine example.
Peter Merricks
‘It’s what we voted for’
I READ last week’s letter from ex MP Rachel Maclean who talks about long-awaited public sector pay increases, framed by the suggestion of GP strikes, and asks ‘did Labour voters vote for this?’
As a proud Labour representative and voter I can honestly say yes. I voted for better public sector pay and better workers rights. (I also support fair pay for employees in the private sector).
We have seen years and years of strikes which have disrupted lives and cost the taxpayer – all because the Conservative government failed to listen to a workforce who had been refused a rise for years.
Was it enough to give a round of applause every so often during the pandemic?
Rachel says ‘work is work… and people deserve to be paid and treated well’.
Can someone let her know that this is exactly what the Labour Party stands for?
Sharon Harvey
‘Pay more for what?’
I WAS, along with many others, displeased to find out that Diamond Buses were increasing their fare prices again.
The Redditch adult day ticket will increase from £4 to £4.80 per day as of September 1.
When many people are still struggling with cost-of-living.
As a bus user myself, who has encountered countless delayed or absent buses, this is very irritating.
I have repeatedly been late to my destination due to this, and discover that it would have been quicker to walk.
Why should we be left with the same flawed service and still pay more for daily, weekly or monthly bus fares?
Jack Fardoe
Redditch
