Letters: January 4, 2017

BARACK Obama leaves office on 20th January but he seems determined to cause as much trouble as he can for Donald Trump during his last three weeks in office.

Barack Obama has deliberately started a diplomatic row with Russia and is expelling a large number of Russian Embassy staff. Of course Russia is expected to respond with similar expulsions of USA diplomats and that is how a row might escalate.

A diplomatic row has also blown up with Israel in the United Nations. The USA has always been very supportive of Israel in the past but in a sudden change of policy they have started criticising the Prime Minister of Israel about where Jews can settle.

He was also quite rude to Britain and said for trade talks Britain would be sent to the back of the queue. It seems that Barack Obama has childishly set his mind towards starting arguments all around the world with friends and enemies alike.

Barack Obama is doing his best to sabotage the USA’s standing in the world in order to make life difficult for Donald Trump.

TERRY HAYWARD

Burnham Road

Swindon

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Memories of Fisher

CARRIE Fisher died on 27th December. Her most famous role was playing the part of Princess Leia in Star Wars films.

The very next day her mother Debbie Reynolds died. She was best known for her leading role in the musical Singing in the Rain.

Carrie Fisher’s father was the singer Eddie Fisher who rose to fame in 1948. The high point of his career was in 1953 when he had a number one hit with Oh My Pa-Pa.

As a young boy the song Oh My Pa-Pa was one of my favourite songs and there was also a very beautiful trumpet version by Eddie Culvert. It is a very moving and emotional tune and I still enjoy it very much today.

Debbie Reynold’s marriage to Eddie Fisher only lasted four years. Eddie Fisher abandoned Debbie Reynolds in order to marry his second wife the famous actress Elizabeth Taylor.

STEVE HALDEN

Beaufort Green

Swindon

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Don’t mess it up

THAMESDOWN Transport is revising some bus services from January 8th. No doubt some of these changes will benefit existing users and also those for whom a local bus service is a complete novelty.

However, the changes to the 1/1A (Middleleaze - Fleming Way), combining it with the 16 (Fleming Way - GWH), make no sense to me.

The 1/1A was very reliable until TT extended it to Nythe and Covingham to replace an existing service. Reliability evaporated straight away as the longer route length from one end of the borough to the other, via the town centre, make time-keeping a forlorn hope. TT restored the 1/1A and the Nyhe/Covingham service as they were but has not learned from the experience. The same failed policy is being tried again and I can see the same drop in service levels.

Thamesdown Transport - the 1/1A service is brilliant, please don’t ruin it again.

Planning to improve services is laudable, planning to fail is inexcusable.

IAN MILLER

Lineacre Close

Grange park

Swindon

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Just having a laugh

MAY I thank the readers who have remarked upon my sense of humour? That is really appreciated, although as many people know, I do have a very serious side, as my wife will acknowledge. I also appreciate other people’s humour on our Adver pages!

I keep records of transactions and loads of data on my computer and flash drives. I also keep paper copies, ie wills, important documents etc.

I looked for the ‘expiry date’ on my marriage licence but it is not there so I have failed on that one. Would I renew it? “Yes Dear!” “Definitely Dear!”

A good marriage is a workshop - I work, she shops. Seriously, when I met my wife, I knew she was ‘Miss Right’, but I didn’t know her first name was ‘Always’.

During a rough time in our marriage we did have counselling and the counsellor said, “What your wife needs is this, a couple of times a week”, whereby he grabbed her and kissed her on the cheek and gave her a great big hug. I said, “Wonderful, I can bring her in on a Monday and a Wednesday.”

The watch that my wife bought me for Christmas has me beat though. It is accurate to ‘within 1 second every 20,000 years’ as long as it is serviced every five years!

The records/warranties are in my office, bottom drawer in the filing cabinet but I bet no one bothers to check after I have gone. I must be too particular by a long way!

Keep smiling!

CHRIS GLEED

Proud Close

Purton

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Brace yourselves

WHO was it that said Brexit is like jumping off the roof of a 100 storey building with no parachute?

Well we are now passing the 60th floor, inflation forecast at 3.4% next year with food and essentials worst hit, farmers beginning to understand their £2.4 billion in subsidies won’t be replaced, foreign holidays and travel +20%, sadly NO Brexit dividend for health service as widely promised, banks, financial institutions and airlines beginning plans for the move into the single market zone, manufacturing output actually falling despite a 20 per cent reduction in the value of the pound, trade deficit now £8.5 billion a quarter, imports up to £7.4 billion, exports down by £1.1 billion in quarter 3, business investment revised down by 0.5 per cent in quarter 3, cost of exit now forecast at £60 billion and increasing and could take 15 years to resolve.

Do you know what boys and girls? This is nothing near as bad as we thought it was going to be!

Floor 59, 58, 57.

JOHN STOOKE

Haydon End