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Fall in pound an excuse

DON Reeve stated in the SA I was naïve with regard to the pricing of petrol, I don’t think so.

Then he went on to write something about housing. Whatever was that about? It had nothing to do with what I was complaining about.

He obviously did not understand the points I was trying to make. So I will clarify it for him again.

Since the referendum there have been those who have used the result for their own benefit.

First Lloyds Bank announced they were going to shed jobs and close branches because of the Brexit result.

But, it was soon discovered that they took this decision three months before the referendum.

Then Unilever wanted to increase its prices on Marmite, among other things, due to the fall in pound.

Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for us, the CEO of Tesco was previously the CEO of Unilever and knew its pricing policy and what the company was saying was in fact incorrect.

As for Marmite, it’s actually made in Stoke-on-Trent.

Now we come back to the oil companies. Remember 2012 when crude oil rocketed to $98 a barrel and prices soared to £1.40 a litre?

In some places in London it was over £1.50 and there was talk of it reaching £2 a litre; it was going up on a daily basis.

Then by 2016 there was a massive fall in price to $39 a barrel.

However, the price of fuel didn’t come down as fast as it went up.

When challenged on TV a spokesman for the oil companies said oil was bought six months in advance and it takes time for prices to filter through.

Yet within a few days of the pound falling the price went up – amazing. What happened to the six months’ supply of oil bought when the pound was high and the price of crude oil was low?

It seems to me that when the cost of crude goes up, the price at the pumps goes up. When the pound falls the price at the pump goes up, but when crude oil falls, or the pound rises, then motorists have to wait ages for any decrease in the price of fuel.

Mr Reeve might think I’m naïve in pricing but I do know when someone is trying it on, especially the oil companies and the excuse of the fall in the pound is one of them.

ALLAN WOODHAM

Nythe, Swindon

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GPs became too greedy

MAY I please, as a newly retired GP after 38 years before the mast, remind people some history – 30 years ago General Practice was thriving with lots of applicants for every vacancy.

GPs then, in return for money, accepted to go through hoops set by various governments to record details of their work.

This had nothing whatever to do with the care of patients but everything to do with controlling GPs.

I repeat, this was done with the consent of GPs in exchange for money.

Then GPs opted to abandon their patients at night when dying or seriously ill, again in exchange for more money.

What we have now is a frantic workload with no night work and very little whole patient care.

There are umpteen clinics run by nurses, so if a patient gets anything serious then off to the nurse you go. All, of course, for more money.

Young, clever (they are all very clever) doctors know a load of rubbish when they see it and are voting with their feet. General Practice today is about money, money, money.

Nurses are doing surgeries and prescribing medicines, just the same as the doctor in the next room.

GPs, through their greed and failure to protect what made them important to patients, are in the sorry mess they are in today.

When I became a GP some 40

years ago I was a senior registrar in hospital medicine and was proud to join my father in the same General Practice.

Now I would do what all young doctors are doing.

Stick to hospital medicine.

DR DAVID HOGG

The Locks

Devizes

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Making society fairer

“OUR society should work for everyone…”, “putting fairness at the heart of the agenda...” Great words from Theresa May, but should we believe them?

The Conservatives do not have a good track record.

David Cameron’s claim that his government would be the “greenest ever” resulted in killing off the budding solar industry.

If society is really going to work for everyone, with fairness at the heart of the agenda, these are the things we should expect:

n More funding for HMRC so tax evasion is tackled more seriously. At the moment we spend more going after benefit cheats (who have almost no money) rather than large corporations and tycoons evading taxes.

n Ensuring any international trade deals will not cause a “race to the bottom” with workers’ rights or environmental protection. “Free trade” must involve pushing up standards abroad, not reducing them at home.

n Enabling local councils to build affordable housing by allowing them to borrow money.

n Bringing in regulations to make private renting fairer for the tenant, whose home it is.

n Making a fair, level playing field for energy providers and applying the “polluter pays” principle to companies whose activities cause climate change or other pollution.

(At the moment local people can reject planning for renewable energy, but when it comes to fracking, central government can overrule local people’s wishes and force it on them.)

n Funding local councils enough to provide good care for the elderly and those with disabilities (this will actually save money, as the NHS will consequently see fewer elderly people blocking hospital beds).

n Accepting that most people who are on benefits are not scroungers, but people who have genuinely fallen on hard times.

n Treat all people on benefits with dignity and respect, always erring on the side of the claimant in the first instance, and genuinely help people into meaningful employment rather than pushing them into the first unsuitable zero-hours-contract that comes along.

(This will benefit the economy by increasing productivity.)

n Reversing cuts to inheritance tax.

n Making sure universal credit will increase, not reduce, the benefits for the most vulnerable in society.

n Stopping quantitative easing (QE) and starting “QE for the people”: Don’t print money to support financial markets (which just keeps rich people rich), but print money and give it to citizens or spend it on infrastructure projects (to benefit the whole economy).

n Stopping absolutely any policies which contribute to xenophobia. For example, the policy of naming and shaming companies who employ foreigners.

Any psychologist will agree it is natural for humans to look for a scapegoat if things aren’t going well.

But this is not the path a fair

society should take – and something the government should take an extremely strong lead on by

explaining that the true cause of

much hardship over the past ten years has been nothing to do with immigration, but was due to the world financial crisis.

Good British values mean standing up for the truth, and not descending to populist hokum.

I hope that Mrs May’s government will act to support her fine aspirations, but I fear the opposite.

I’ll stay on the case.

EMMA DAWNAY

Chair/co-ordinator

Devizes Green Party

Wexcombe, Marlborough

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Good work of Scouts

THIS is Scout Community Week and I’m super proud of the difference Blunsdon Scouts are making in their local community.

This year Blunsdon Scouts have chosen to focus on mental wellbeing.

This means, thanks to Scouting’s award-winning campaign, A Million Hands, they have spent time learning about the issue, finding out about the people it affects and taking meaningful action to improve and support their quality of life in Blunsdon.

I would also like to recognise the volunteers at Blunsdon Scouts for their dedication each week to giving Scouts the chance to have fun, adventure and take part in life changing opportunities through the A Million Hands project.

A Million Hands celebrated its one-year anniversary in October and it’s down to the 200,000 members who have signed up to take part, such as the Blunsdon Scouts that the past year has been such a success.

During this special week, I would just like to say ‘A Million Thanks’ to these incredible Scouts.

They really are shining lights in their community

BEAR GRYLLS

Chief Scout

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Not so honourable?

NOW we are going after those who were given State Honours, perhaps it’s time to have a proper public inquiry to investigate all those given awards to ascertain if any have been found to be scurrilous in any way since?

Many a former politician has turned out to be sleazy, so come on all you newspaper editors, start to unmask the blighters.

COUN PHILIP WINTER (UKIP),

Southmead Road, Filton Park

Filton

South Gloucestershire