Letters: August 3, 2016

Anonymity is granted only at the discretion of the editor, who also reserves the right to edit letters.

Ugly face of capitalism

I REMEMBER when British Home Stores was a well-loved and popular retailer, with its strip wood flooring and wooden island counters, in a Bridge Street store then adjacent to SB Cole, the school children’s outfitters.

I was just six and, remarkably, these memories coincide with the year Phillip Green was born.

Fast forward to 2000, and Green buys the now renamed BHS for £200m, ostensibly for his wife Tina (yeah!).

In a very short time they had squeezed out £300m, virtually tax free, to Monaco, in part it could be argued, at the expense of the pension fund in which they seemingly consistently refused to address the ongoing substantial deficit.

Two Commons Committees put it better than me accusing him, and I quote, of “systematic plunder” of the High Street chain whilst he “accrued incredible wealth” for his family.

So, when years of under-investment coupled with a failure to stay relevant and poor direction by Sir Phillip (knighted for outstanding service to retailing … yeah incredible) built up inevitably, gargantuan losses, he looked for any way to dump the redundancy costs of his thousands of loyal employees as well as obligations to their pension promises.

Having rejected potential buyer Paul Sutton, he unbelievably selected his junior associate Dominic Chappell to gift the company to (well Chappell paid £1).

And then Chappell set about extracting his wedge, paying himself reportedly lavish rewards (£2-3m in just a few months) as the company continued to decline.

But before Chappell got his hands on BHS there were more snouts in the trough.

Move over for Olswang Solicitor, Goldman Sachs Bankers, Grant Thornton Auditors and Linklaters – and the bill for this little lot was £10m we are told.

Do any of these lawyers, bankers, auditors and consultants come out of this sordid tale with a vestige of integrity intact? No.

They sold their reputations to provide a veneer to the deal every single one of them must have known was flawed to the point of hopelessness.

Still another £10 million extracted from the cash cow now barely on life support must have merited a few whiskeys in the boardroom?

But that is not the end. Now along comes Duff and Phelps (old mates of Phillip Green it appears) to pick over the corpse and ensure any bits of stock and assets left is used to fund their huge fee income.

So the destruction is complete, everyone has done rather nicely and the poor 12,000 employees are cast aside without even funded pensions for their retirement, if they ever get that far.

If one of life’s unfortunates took a £5 cardigan from a BHS store without paying he/she would be rightly prosecuted, criminalised, fined, possibly jailed.

Is it just me that thinks there are double standards here?

If the Business Department, DWP, SFO and the CPS now cock a deaf ear, they should hang their heads in shame.

You might say, how do these people sleep at night?

I’ll tell you how, I’ve met people like them over the years.

They think tax is only for people who work in factories, lawyered up they laugh at the legal processes and laugh just as loudly at us …. then just carry on regardless.

Forbes puts the Green’s family wealth at $4.9bn. Will Green need to sell one of his three multi-million pound yachts loafing currently in the Med to settle up with the pensioners? Probably not.

This is called capitalism.

JOHN STOOKE

Haydon End, Swindon

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Exchanges of views

I AM very appreciative of the kind comments from a fellow correspondent Bill Williams (SA 2Aug) but may ï assure him that I am not in the least discombobulated by respondents’ comments made in respect to my letters. I positively welcome the lively exchange of views which they generate.

It was 50 years ago (in 1967) when I wrote my very first letter to the Adver and with more than 1,500 printed it would be strange if everyone of them met with universal approbation.

I have always held to the ideal that open debate is a hallmark of our democratic way of life and that everyone has the inalienable right to express their view, no matter how repugnant that might be to another.

Censorship is a blunt tool in dealing with contentious viewpoints, far better to debate than dissemble.

And, while my views are expressed in a trenchant manner I hope they don’t breach the bounds of courtesy and correct demeanour which should be the hallmark of all civilised debate.

One of the penalties for publicly expressing a personal viewpoint is that others who might vehemently disagree may wish to respond in like manner.

I welcome every challenge, especially when correspondents apply those wonderful elements of logical argument and unbridled passion.

I am ever mindful that ‘opinions’ are often presented as ‘facts’ and it is always a joy when a reader feels moved to write in with a correction.

I have made many friends and developed great relationships through the letters page and long may that continue.

Of course letter writers will never agree on every subject.

On occasions we have failed to agree on the placement or use of a particular word.

The Adver letters column has always been a barometer of public opinion (sadly ignored by the chattering political class) and over the years I suspect it has been a source of entertainment for many readers.

It is a privilege to have a letter printed in the Adver and I commend the editor and publisher for providing such a glorious opportunity for the free exchange of views to be made.

DES MORGAN

Caraway Drive, Swindon

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Teenage self-respect

I HAVE lived in my house since 2000 and outside the One Stop Shop, the convenience store across from me, there is a seating area, frequented by teenagers.

They sit there until late at night, maybe trying to make sense of today’s world.

The seating was put there by the council a few years back as apparently the teenagers had nowhere to congregate.

There is a waste bin provided and another two outside the One Stop, just a few yards away.

But every Monday morning the area is strewn with plastic litter, tops, bottles and empty crisps and sweet bags.

Why, when there are littler bins right beside them, do they not use them?

The council has given them somewhere to sit and chat but they abuse the area.

Are we in such a disposable society or is there a generation growing up who appear to lack any respect or self-respect?

It appears to be all about image, or maybe they spend so much time looking at their smartphones they are not aware of the mess they are leaving in their wake.

Is it laziness, or just an ‘I could not give a damn’ attitude?

Sadly, they seem to be a generation with no ideals or self-worth. At times I think a kick up the backside would be a blessing in disguise.

Where has the teens’ pride gone?

DONALD MACLEAN

Address supplied

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Sporting endeavour

QUINTANA (Colombia) third, Bardet (France) second, but first with his third Tour de France win is Great Britain’s Chris Froome!

Heroes Tom Simpson and Bradley Wiggins are well and truly usurped!

It is argued that cyclists are the fittest athletes so it’s even more special given that Froome is not drugged up with stimulants.

Thys, Bobet and Le Mond are also three-time winners of the Tur.

Only the four legendary five-time winners – Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault and Indurain – have won more Tours than Froome but Frooome the Zoom is in his prime and could win more.

The seven-time loser whose name we no longer mention besmirched the name of the most famous man off the planet.

From the Stade de France, Paris, to the County Ground, Swindon, in 17 days! From seeing Portugal beating France to win the prestigious Euros to seeing our Swansea City Swans beat Swindon Town 3 - 0 in a friendly.

A gulf in class from the international scene but no shortage of endeavour from my favourite clubs.

What ordinary club players lack in kudos they more than make up with in purity and desire. Bring on Burnley and Coventry City respectively for our opening matches of what will be a glorious 2016-17 season.

England’s greatest day was undoubtedly July 30, 1966, when we won the World Cup.

The inscrutable manager Sir Alf Ramsey and his heroic players are immortalised. Alf famously referred to his players as dogs with a stick.

He said: “Get the stick and give it to Bobby Charlton.”

Fifty years on we will remember them. I toast them all with Bollinger champagne!

A REEVE

Okus Road, Swindon

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Cause of change

LIKE Steve Halden I have also wondered about the world’s population contribution to the so-called climate change.

From my long-ago school days I learned that all living creatures, including humans, breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide, so the query is how much carbon dioxide does one individual breathe out in each 24-hour period?

If this is multiplied by the billions of individuals worldwide, especially those countries with high population levels, I would imagine that it must be pretty high.

Personally, I don’t know what that figure is, so maybe someone does.

I hope my teaching was correct.

VICTOR COOK

Lawns, Swindon

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Railway worth a visit

MANY congratulations to all concerned with Coate Water Miniature Railway. We went on Sunday, the day of the opening of the extended track.

It was very enjoyable and well worth a visit – they even accommodate people in wheelchairs.

S PICKETT

Stratton, Swindon