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Protest elsewhere

On my normal working day (Tuesday), doing my normal visits to different sites all around Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Avon, Worcestershire and the Forest of Dean and listening to the radio between sites, the first bit of news I picked up on was all about some demonstrations going on in Bristol.

Thousands of demonstrators were lying down in the road, stopping law-abiding people going about their normal working day, stopping people who are just trying to earn a crust to put a roof over the family’s head. Some of those stopped from working will not be paid because if you don’t work, you don’t get paid. Apparently one of the leaders or organisers of these demonstrators has said that it’s going on all week.

What I would like to know is do any of the thousands of demonstrators involved have a full-time job, pay a mortgage or pay income tax or national insurance. If they do could they let me know who they work for because if their employers have allowed them the time off work to demonstrate causing untold misery to innocent hard working people I would like to send my CV to them.

My gut feeling is that they don’t have a full-time job so have plenty of time to cause unwanted misery on the streets. Why can you not hold a rally in a open space in a great big open field? You could have a stage built use a megaphone to get your point across talk to the people who want to listen to you, not destroy people’s lives.

What’s coming next? Are you going to start destroying shops etc because you can’t get your point across. If these demonstrations are all about the environment should you not be demonstrating elsewhere like all the countries who totally ignore all bans on fossil fuel and burn thousands of tons of coal, belching out thousands of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and sticking two fingers up to the rest of the world.

John L Crook, Haydon Wick, Swindon

Oblivious to EU issues

John Stooke (SA, July 15) seems oblivious of the problems that EU membership has created for the young generation and all people that live in rented accommodation.

Britain has a shortage of four million houses.

This has pushed up house prices and rents to a level beyond the reach of the ordinary working class.

This is especially true in parts of London where houses can be 40 times the average wage.

Things are not so bad in Swindon, where the average house is about ten times the average wage.

Shops and small businesses are also struggling with high rents and famous names like Woolworths and British Home Stores have vanished from the high street.

Many people in Britain feel that the only way to get the economy back on track is to leave the European Union.

Steve Halden, Beaufort Green, Swindon

Railway memories

I AM hoping to have another book published about Swindon Railway Works and would like to hear from ex-employees.

Especially welcome would be memories and information of working in the telephone exchange in the 1950s or before.

Otherwise any unpublished information, large or small, from before the 1960s please. Full acknowledgements will be given in any future publications.

Please phone 01793 436902 and leave a message or email p.timms@yahoo.co.uk

Peter Timms, Buckingham Road, Swindon