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People have spoken

I AM glad I was able to make R More chuckle when reading a recent letter which was published in the Adver (SA 29 Dec).

However, I do feel your correspondent is stretching matters to suggest that my letter attempts to justify the hyperbole of either the Leave or Remain campaigns.

My letters on the subject merely set out the indisputable fact (as agreed by R More) that both sides exaggerated their positions, something I abhor, as people are not as ignorant as their supposed peers would believe and are more than capable of seeing through the fog of deceit.

What many, but not all Remainers, will not accept is that the Leave campaign won the argument and the vote.

Both political Parties, Labour and the Conservative opposed leaving the EU but promised they would honour and implement the decision of the people as expressed in the referendum vote.

Even committed Lib Dem leader Vince Cable, a diehard Remainer, said in September 2016: “The public have voted and I do think it’s seriously disrespectful and politically counter-productive to say ‘sorry guys you’ve got it wrong, we’re going to try again.’”

R More implies that they would like another opportunity for another vote. In 2015 Parliament voted by six to one to give the people the decision on the UK’s EU membership.

After the referendum Parliament voted by an overwhelming majority to implement Article 50 and in the 2017 General Election Conservatives and Labour stood on a platform to leave the EU which included the Single Market and customs union.

Guess what, more than 80 per cent of the electorate voted for the two Parties, while the two Parties calling for a second referendum saw a reduction in their share of the popular vote.

To answer R More’s final question – I think anyone reading my letters knows that I have nothing but contempt for the dishonesty of politicians at both local and national level who make vows, pledges and promises with little if any intention of keeping them.

It is simply in their very nature to proffer anything to secure a vote and it’s very sad that they cannot be held to their promises beyond another election five years hence.

DES MORGAN, Caraway Drive, Swindon

Put bobbies on the beat

On PAGE 2 of the SA on December 21 Mr Macpherson is telling everyone that the council tax increase of £1 a month is to stave of cuts to frontline officers.

I welcome that as long as it does what it says on the tin and it’s spent on frontline police officers.

Then we go to page 5 and gaga land is back with us. SBC are going to slap £1 on all parking charges to, they say, sort out the homeless and drug abuse issues happening in the town.

But how are you going to sort out the problem? From what was written SBC are going to employ three full time staff to deep clean the car parks. What I don’t understand is, are the same three full time employees going to be addressing the anti-social behaviour which is going on day after day year after year?

This has not been sorted out yet by either the police or SBC but, hey presto, these three employees are going to deal with all the issues of anti-social behaviour happening in Swindon.

How are they going to cope with being intimidated by groups of people who see the car parks as a refuge and a place to sleep?

Surely this is a police issue? They are trained to deal with anti- social behaviour. The first officer on the scene will way up the situation and call for back up which will arrive in seconds.

I cannot see a SBC employee screaming down his radio or on his mobile to the SBC switchboard, being put in a queue being told your call will be answered within the next 20-30 minutes or, ‘you are number 59 we are dealing with number 20 please hold!’

Mr Macpherson you have hiked up council tax to keep officers numbers up, use it to put bobbies on the beat and sort out the anti-social problem, that’s what we pay for in the first place.

JOHN L CROOK, Haydon Wick, Swindon

Team is a shambles

I’M WRITING this the morning after the day before. I left the County Ground having witnessed what was the worst second half performance I’ve ever seen from any team representing STFC in more than 40 years.

The capitulation was simply awful. It’s a trend we are seeing far to often this season. The consecutive loses at home are unacceptable. In my opinion, we have too many players who simply aren’t good enough, even at League 2 level.

Our midfield is the poorest I’ve ever known. In fact, I’d go as far to say we ain’t got one and that will be no surprise to the fans that regularly go out there.

I do blame Lee Power for the club being allowed to get relegated to the bottom division. His way of running it and interference with the playing side has put us in this situation. He will go down in history and will always be remembered for it.

Consequently, the club may never recover from it. And we, the fans, are the ones who will bear the brunt of it.

Quite rightly, he has given Dave Flitcroft control of the playing side. Any proper chairman obviously would.

I appreciate that DF had to put a new team together. We are now half way through. I didn’t think things could get worse after last year. But, worryingly, they are.

If we are led to believe that Power gave him a budget for promotion then he has failed. Most of the new players are average at best and that’s being polite.

Home performances have been horrendous and embarrassing. DF talks a good game but I do question his ability to turn our fortunes around. He had similar experiences when managing at Barnsley and Bury, which resulted in the sack.

Something has to change before we sink even further. Relegation to the National League is more likely rather than promotion back to League One.

ALAN WILSON, Shapwick Close, Nythe, Swindon

Working class suffer

NEIL Mercer (Dec 23) cannot see that men in the 1930s were better off financially than well paid couples today because of high house prices and rents.

House prices in London used to be three times the average wage. The very same houses in London today can cost 30 times the average wage.

EU membership is pushing up the cost of living and the working class can no longer afford to have children.

The cost of living was so much lower during the Great Depression of the 1930s and at that time it was common for families to have ten children.

TERRY HAYWARD, Burnham Road, Swindon

Put people first

IT WAS a pleasant change to read (for a change) that local councillor Stan Pajak was recommending a cut in the council tax.

And also that only 12 per cent of the expenses available to the parish council had been claimed.

Maybe our “esteemed” borough councillors will take note and follow this example (is that a few pigs flying across the sky?).

And maybe the MPs might also do the same (now I can’t see the sky for all the pigs flying across the sky!) Seriously though - isn’t it about time all politicians started putting people before pocket, not the other way round?

GERRY TAYLOR, Newcastle Street, Swindon

EU is to blame

HOMELESSNESS is always a big issue at this time of a year and John Stooke (Dec 28) is right to demand action on the housing crisis in Swindon.

The housing shortage has developed slowly over the last 20 years. For most of that period there was a Labour government running the country.

European Union membership is the main cause of the housing shortage. House prices are now out of reach for first time buyers.

It is the young generation that are suffering the most from our membership of the EU.

STEVE HALDEN, Beaufort Green, Swindon

Enough of Brexit

As A New Year rolls in can we please stop the never ending letters about Brexit? I have my own views on it, and also on the people who have been waffling on about it.

B..oring.

R..epetetive.

E..ndless.

X..tremely annoying.

I..ncessant.

T..iresome.

We are all sick of it. Change the tune.

ROGER LACK, North Swindon

Remember 1959?

IN RETIREMENT I’m creating a diorama of Swindon Station in 1959, including the roads and houses around the station.

As a boy I remember getting to the station by bus, and noticing a taxi rank opposite the entrance. What I can’t remember is the colour of the buses and that taxi rank building. Do any of your readers have photos or recollections that might help me?

Incidentally, the diorama will be on show at the Steam Museum next September.

WILL HEATH, 99 Histon Road, Cottenham, Cambridge, CB24 8UQ T: 01954251093