‘Listening’ Tories have simply ignored views’
IN THE wake of comments in my last letter someone showed me a leaflet from Matchborough Conservatives devoted entirely to the creation of the huge municipal cemetery where there is currently Ipsley meadow.
This sheet was not delivered to my address so I was not aware of it before.
The contents of this second missive, make the “In Touch” leaflet look almost realistic.
One side contains all the usual assurances about how lovely it will be with no fences, intrusive grave markers etc and has an “artist’s impression” which resembles a surrealist painting.
Think enormous crop circle with a giant snake slithering across it (yes really!).
Overleaf we are told residents will have a say in the matter of exactly how the municipal cemetery will look.
Even if true, it’s analogous to rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic, but, considering the total disregard of residents’ opinions about the cemetery being built, we are entitled to suspect they will ignore people once more.
We are told, yet again, we can “walk or play” by the newly-dug graves.
Such activities by freshly-interred corpses may, for all I know, be a hobby of Conservative councillors and candidates, but how extensive the appeal is beyond that demographic seems questionable.
There then follows a reprise of the “there’s nowhere else” myth and a final assurance “Conservatives have listened to the concerns of residents” but they omit to add “and ignored them completely”.
People who can put their name to such a leaflet do not deserve the vote of even the most loyal Conservative. One cannot defend the indefensible.
K Wass
‘Labour Party focuses only on the negative’
IN the 40 years I have been involved with the borough council I cannot think of anything positive that a Labour council has achieved.
They sold the outdoor market, failed to get a major sports and entertainment complex agreed by a Labour government and almost turned the town hall into flats.
It has been suggested that they sold off Threadneedle House for less than its market value to a private company who then turned it into flats.
They failed in their negotiations with the Development Corporation to achieve an asset package that was supposed to cover the running cost of the new town for many years.
As a result the council were left with liabilities which the Development
Corporation were unable to sell. It has taken many years to settle this matter and has cost the council money.
As usual, in the run-up to an election, Labour’s documents contain little positive information only ‘eye-catching’ negative headlines and inaccurate information.
Michael Chalk
Former Councillor, Mayor and current candidate
‘MP’s approach seems to be ‘us versus them’
I SEE that Rachel Maclean has once again doubled-down on her much-vaunted “free speech” (front page of the Standard).
Whereas most people, on having it declared that the language she used “did not meet the definition of an incident” (which is fair enough), would quickly apologise for any – unintended, obviously – offence caused, and simply move on, Mrs Maclean once again chooses to have a pop at the transgender community, as well as a political opponent that isn’t even in her constituency.
The LGBTQ community doesn’t need Mrs Maclean’s help to be ostracised and harmed by lazy insults – and worse, besides – that are pretty much an everyday occurrence in the mainstream media, particularly where the Tories are concerned.
There are consequences to such words – members of the LGBTQ community frequently lose their lives because of that sort of thing – there have been a number of high profile cases in the last year alone.
We are also approaching LGBTQ Pride month in June, and I feel it important to point out that our local MP appears not to be our biggest fan.
No doubt, Mrs Maclean is championing her strange brand of so-called ‘common sense’, under the guise of freedom of speech.
However, her interpretation of that appears to be ‘freedom to insult’, and rather than bringing communities together, she seems insistent on driving them apart in an ‘us’ versus ‘them’ mentality.
It’s the only real power the Tories have left, I think, and it is a horrible and dangerous one. I hope people realise that this should not be allowed to continue, come voting season.
If Mrs Maclean really wanted to help, she should invest her energies in going after the criminal types who actually do harm in our communities, rather than a subset of folk whose only ‘crime, it appears, is simply wishing to exist.
She has no right to deny them that.
And on that tired old line she trotted out about ‘biological reality and scientific truth’ where gender is concerned, I can say quite comfortably, Mrs Maclean; as a holder of a doctorate in science, I can assure you wholeheartedly, that many areas of science, including biology, are rarely as simple as you would like to make out.
M Taylor,
Southcrest
EDITORS COMMENT
CONGRATULATIONS to brothers Jordan and Cian Adams on winning the Prime Minister’s Points of Light Award.
With the pair raising £54,000 for Alzheimer’s Research UK through marathons and other events, it is well-deserved.
As well as the cash ‘making the difference’ and ‘hopefully getting researchers closer to finding a cure’, this accolade should also help raise more awareness of the plight endured by those living with this rare inherited form of frontotemporal dementia and help them feel less isolated.
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