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Austerity is biting

I write in response to your report. We are left worse off after austerity.

In October 2012 the SA printed a letter of mine in which I wrote that the austerity policies introduced by the Tories and their coalition partners would destroy public services and create misery in society.

Six years on, one only has to look at the destruction of our public services to see what austerity has done to the country and society in general.

Pete Smith, who you quote in the report, is 100 per cent correct when he says “for the majority of the population it [austerity] has been a disaster.”

The report ended with Justin Tomlinson MP peddling the worn out myth that austerity was needed because the last Labour government spent all the money in good times. Is Mr Tomlinson unaware that the financial crisis in 2008 was the result of the collapse of Lehman brothers in America and not, as he implies, the profligacy of Labour spending?

I finish my letter by congratulating Kate Linnegar, who has won the accolade of “human rights defender.” In recent years I have been in Swindon town centre on numerous occasions with Kate and others from the Swindon Peoples Assembly, handing out leaflets on various issues.

Kate’s determination and passion fighting injustice and seeking a better and fairer society for the most vulnerable, regardless of skin colour, religion, gender or sexuality is both tireless and selfless. Well done Kate, Swindon can be and should be proud.

Martin Webb, Swindon Road, Old Town

Nothing to boast of

IN the televised interview given with Piers Morgan, Jim Davidson boasted that he was a personal friend of Prince Charles and had been a house guest of HRH The Prince of Wales at Highgrove House, the royal residence.

He also stated that he was a personal friend to many high-profile Conservatives including cabinet members and a former Conservative leader.

In the interview he acknowledged, even bragged, at his reputation of being a wife batterer and drug and alcohol abuser, of being racist and also homophobic.

Just imagine the almighty furore that would have been created by the media, in particular the right-wing press, if Jeremy Corbyn had entertained someone with such outrageous views. Funny old world isn’t it?

Derrick Bye, Thresher Drive, Swindon

Sit down on the bus

CAN someone please explain why the students from college always stand at the front of the bus usually with large backpacks on? If you’re not a limbo dancer you have to push through and get sarcastic comments made, as if you should not get on a bus that they are on.

Sit down, or try moving one foot in front of the other. I think it’s called walking.

Dave Maisey, Queens Drive, Swindon