Letters: January 7, 2017

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

We can still dine well

I AM a fan of the writing skills of Adver journalist Marion Sauvebois and was looking forward to her review of the Casa Paolo restaurant (SA 3 Jan).

However, I fear that in straying from the culinary into the political arena she may have bitten off more than she could chew.

Her review left undisguised her contempt for those who voted to leave the EU, not only does Marion describe Brexiteers as “lynch mobs” - according to her “they failed to vote with their heads, let alone their stomachs” and an imagined exodus of trattoria owners could, she says, be laid at the door of “a witch hunt” sparked by Brexit voters.

Not content with making known her dislike of anyone anti EU, Marion attempts an age old trick of saying something outrageous despite having no evidence to back up her statement, such as “Until recently a European restaurant run by an honest-to-goodness ex-pat was trumpeted as a sign of authenticity.”

Now apparently “It’s only another way for migrants to steal British jobs”. Who has made such a comment or is it just supposition on Marion’s part?

Her reference to “more tolerant times” and the use of the term leper and foreigner are so wide of the mark as to make her appear embittered with life in the UK: something made even clearer with her comment that “gorging on legit Italian fare” was going to be denied her by the “blighted Brexit” - on what planet is she living and by what measure does she expound the nonsense that a decision to leave the political construct of the EU will so affect her gastronomic opportunities?

At the end of her meal she felt inclined to recall imagined happier days, which she describes as “the good old days of multiculturalism” and once more reverted to a sour reading of a joyous occasion for over half the population by suggesting “the bigotry of a few (that would be the majority who voted leave) could trample not only people’s fundamental rights but hinder life’s simple pleasures, down to what and where we choose to eat.”

Wow - what a leap - Britain leaves the EU and the culinary world leaves Britain, oh please, let’s be real.

This may come as a surprise to Marion but Britain had a cosmopolitan attitude towards food long before we joined what was called the Common Market. Italian, Indian and Chinese cuisine have been a constant in the British diet for many years and I suspect leaving the EU will not ‘compel’ any successful restaurateur to defect back to the Continent from whence she supposes they first came.

Many will be second and third generation Brits (possibly like the owners of Casa Paolo) who delight in calling this country ‘home.’

DES MORGAN

Caraway Drive, Swindon

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Better bus service

I’D LIKE to respond to Ian Miller’s concerns about our decision to link Services 1/1A and 16 as from Sunday January 8 (Letters, 4/1/17).

We have given careful thought to the changes to our network and one of the key aims has been to improve the reliability of our bus services, which have been badly affected by increasing levels of traffic congestion in the town over the last year or so.

We know passengers’ priority is for a reliable service, and our reliability has not been as good as it should be.

Services 1/1A have been delayed at Mannington Roundabout and so we needed a way of increasing the resilience of the timetable.

One option would have been to increase the number of buses used on Services 1/1A from 5 to 6, and give each bus an hour to make a round trip to Middleleaze and back. However, that would have increased our route operating costs by up to 20 per cent, which was unaffordable.

By extending the route to the Great Western Hospital in place of Service 16 we see no net increase in our costs, and each bus gets 90 minutes for a round trip, with improved recovery time for unforeseen delays.

We appreciate Service 16 experiences delays at the GWH but these have reduced of late and the resilience built into the Service 16 timetable will now be shared with Services 1/1A.

Linking Services 1/1A and 16 also brings new travel choices, with direct buses from West Swindon to New College and the GWH, hopefully making, as Mr Miller described, this “brilliant” service even better.

PAUL JENKINS

Managing director

Thamesdown Transport

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We want control

IN REPLY to Mr Poole, can I first ask him to look at the loose change in his pocket, and see if I am right in thinking all his coins will be one sided?

He can express views on the percentage of this vote or that vote, but more than 17 million people voted to leave the EU - the biggest recorded vote on any issue for decades.

The people of this country have had enough and want to take back control of our lives and destiny.

He tells us of the lies the leave camp told; perhaps they did, but didn’t we have more than our fair share of such lies from the remain camp? Remember the stories of World War Three or the emergency budget that would be in place within days of the vote, etc etc?

Quotes are given daily about the bus and its signs and the NHS etc, but I have looked at pictures many times and I saw a sign to say how much we give and how it could be given to the NHS, now commitment on that, as an actual figure.

Of course now, despite the lies coming from the bank of England and that lady from the IMF, who herself has now been convicted of corruption, so anything she told us is not worth reading,

The country is still going strong and recent figures would suggest we have done even better since the vote.

Today, Mr Poole can read of the man from Denmark, who has just been released from prison, after he beheaded a woman. He came to this country, as he is entitled to do, under EU free movement rules and then attacked police and staff at Gatwick airport.

When we take control back of our borders and stop this free movement, that shouldn’t happen.

Perhaps Mr Poole will even give that man refuge in his house.

T REYNOLDS

Wheeler Avenue, Swindon

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Roundabout danger

I THINK the Greenbridge Roundabout improvement has been very well managed but the approach from all directions needs looking at before accidents happen.

When you drive down Oxford Road or come over Greenbridge there are now no give way lines and it’s hard to judge where it’s safe to stop.

On several occasions I have stopped, only to see oncoming cars having to edge out in order to miss the front of my car.

The points of giving way must be defined clearly as this new layout is dangerous

STEVEN BLANCHARD

Woodstock Road, Coleview, Swindon