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A vote for co-operation

WELL, there we have it. We have all voted and thankfully have failed to give Theresa May a blank check for five years of unbridled Tory right wing policy.

Throughout the campaign she has studiously failed to provide any detail on almost any plans and has instead relied on a rather arrogant “Presidential Campaign” with no plan B.

This was always going to be a risky strategy and it has spectacularly backfired.

So what can we now look forward to? Well thankfully there is unlikely to be time to reintroduce hunting with dogs. No more grammar school nonsense… ending to the threats to somewhat improving secondary school provision, which would have compounded inequality, attracted the best teachers away from disadvantaged areas and diverted funds away from existing schools, whose investment in pupil per head is already in serious decline.

But most of all a brand new opportunity for Brexit. This process cannot now be conducted in the aggressive and poisoned atmosphere the May camp have created.

The most sensible approach would be to talk to other parties and take a more open and flexible position, and if she really wants “strong and stable” in front of the EU, she needs to build a political consensus around her and listen to what the electorate said.

In my opinion, they said clearly they want to see us treating our European friends with respect, parties working together on Brexit, they want a say and want to see every effort made to stay inside the Single Market when we leave and not negotiations conducted on the basis of a single political dogma.

And, finally, I believe young people have said clearly they don’t want to be part of an insular, unpleasant and racist Little England.

As one who is politically independent, I am not arguing that the extreme the right wing agenda is any different in principle to the extreme left wing agenda proposed by Labour.

I see nothing more desirable in the Tory determination to regularly subject disabled people to an uncaring tick box exercise seeking to reduce benefits in order to catch out a few dodgy bad backs than I see in borrowing vast sums to buy back Royal Mail when the private company seems to be working OK.

This is what is so good about the outcome. It reflects the thinking of the majority of people I know, who do not operate at or believe in political extremes.

I just hope our politicians can be grown up and return to a degree of co-operation and consensus for the benefit of all of us.

Oh, and the sensible Vince Cable properly back in Parliament and the very strange and often very nasty UKIP virtually eliminated… Nutty already gone… an election that just keeps on giving!

JOHN STOOKE, Haydon End

I hope you’re all happy

WELL, I hope everybody is now happy. What a total fiasco it all turned out to be. Labour did well because it promised so much to those freeloaders who don’t want to pay for anything and additionally don’t want to work either.

Why should they work when normal people pay their taxes to keep these lazy people who prefer to live on benefits?

Nothing wrong with an awful lot of them except for the fact that they just don’t like work.

Then we have the students, they thought that by voting Labour they wouldn’t have to pay to go to university. Didn’t work did it?

If you decide you want further education, why shouldn’t you pay for it? It’s you who will benefit in the long run if your degree is a sensible one, rather than just not another “Ology” to prove how clever you are and a degree that is no use to anyone, so nobody benefits.

Well, you voted wrongly and you still didn’t get what you wanted. It just made life more difficult for those who work and try to get things done and earn their own living, not rely on hand outs.

Are you happy now? Or are you going to start whinging yet again? Grow up, join the real world, learn to live with it.

DAVID COLLINS, Blake Crescent, Swindon

Third World War is here

MOST so-called ‘terrorist’ groups end up around the table of politics and come to be regarded quite differently. Remember Nelson Mandela, possibly one of the most respected world leaders of the 20th century was, for many years, regarded as a ‘terrorist.’

The recent passing of the Deputy First Minister of the north of Ireland, Martin McGuinness, reminded most of the former IRA, in which he was a senior commander, the PLO’s Yasser Arafat was first president of a Palestinian authority, the list goes on.

I agree with Corbyn that ‘all bombing is wrong’ so, following that view, all bombers are ‘terrorists’, no matter who they are.

If you’re living in a remote Iraqi village and it’s bombed, wouldn’t that be terrorising?

However, unlike Corbyn, I’m not an absolute pacifist and do believe quite strongly that sometimes, as a last resort, violence is a horrible necessity to get peace.

It took six years of violence to be rid of Fascism in Europe and I’d have been proud to put a uniform on and do what was necessary.

Finally, the issue that inspired this piece, the recent Islamic State attack in Manchester.

Surely this has become (and perhaps always was) beyond ‘terrorism.’ Maybe I feel like this because it was my beloved country that was hit, but hasn’t the Third World War already started? We just haven’t realised or perceived it as such.

It doesn’t bear thinking about even the prospect of IS - or any group - hacking into something on the net.

To be honest, the future and extent of cybercrime terrifies me. I couldn’t be further from supporting Trump on most things but one line in his speech whilst visiting the Middle East rang true and that was ‘this isn’t about religion, this is about good and evil.’

Comparisons with any so called ‘terrorist’ group in modern history are natural but foolish. Usually a group has something that can be negotiated on, a slow process of change with compromises made on both sides.

How can anything like ‘peace’ be even talked about here? And with a new suicide bomber born every day, a military victory seems unlikely.

To finish on a more hopeful and positive note, remember how former hate-filled enemies McGuinness and Paisley ended up being called the chuckle brothers because of their ability to make each other laugh? It was almost beautiful to watch.

But sadly, as stated previously, IS are beyond ‘terrorism.’ SM TURK, Highworth

NHS on its last legs

THE NHS is entering the end stage of a 30-year privatisation plan. It is going from being a public service largely publicly funded through taxation to a system based on the American model which is run by the insurance industry, driven for profit, not based on patient care but on your ability to afford insurance.

In order to drive that market, you have to create waiting lists – problem – reaction – solution.

The 2012 act Health And Social Care basically denationalised the NHS. It removed the duty of the Secretary Of State to provide comprehensive universal health care, effectively abolishing the NHS.

And, since 2011, under the cover of austerity agenda it is deliberately defunding the NHS.

The settlement for it used to be about four per cent a year. It’s now shrunk to one per cent.

Therefore, we have built in to the NHS severe underfunding, meaning deteriorating staff working conditions and poorer service.

There are three things that the private sector wants:

1. The £120bn recurring NHS budget.

2.The land and buildings are a terrific asset which can be sold off.

3. Fifteen million plus people’s data is a treasure trove to the likes of Google and others, who are waiting in the wings to get their hands on it.

An insurance will not protect you when you become seriously sick and expensive.

They will look for any reason to dump you and you’ll be left without care. That’s how insurance companies work. That’s how private health care works.

Another five years (or even less) and the NHS under the current government will be gone.

Come on people, wake up.

LINDA CROUCHER, Eldene, Swindon