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Audience and panel as bad as one another

Sorry, I just didn’t know there were so many dummies in Swindon.

And I can say that as a Swindonian born and bred.

Mind you, the Question Time panel was not much better on Thursday night.

We had the Green Party person Caroline Lucas, spouting off here usual drivel about how to avoid climate change and what the civilised countries and manufacturing nations have to do.

Now climate change has been going on for some five million years.

But of course its the democratic countries who are responsible for the present hoo-ha about it.

She forgets the fact that China puts more pollution into the atmosphere than the USA, All of Europe put together. In addition to China there is India and Pakistan, who are probably the next biggest polluters on the planet. Not forgetting the burning and destroying of the rainforests in South America.

But, no, according to her we in the West are to blame. Where does she get her figures from and why does she omit China and the other major polluters from her irate ramblings?

Felt a bit sorry for Andy McDonald, having to try and justify the Labour manifesto with the maths done by Diane Abbott.

Not an easy task, I am sure you are aware.

Zanny Minton Beddoes tried her hardest, to be fair, She was exceedingly tolerant of some of the stupid answers on the show. For that she gets my support.

Bandon Lewis, well he held his end up rather well I thought, quite difficult questions for him as he was a minister in the last government.

So he caught a lot a flak

Lionel Shriver? Journalist? Never heard of her. Tried hard but didn’t seem to understand much of it.

Fiona Bruce still seems to be too fond of hearing her own voice.

So if you missed it don’t fret, you missed nothing of importance.

God knows where we will end up after December 12.

Most of the audience will probably vote for ‘Noddy’.

David Collins, Blake Crescent, Swindon

We should be able to fund schools properly

The funding crisis in our schools is a scandal.

Over the last 30 years, I have been a school governor and parent to three children who went through the state system, attending Sherston primary and Malmesbury secondary schools.

Even in the late 90s, the funding of Wiltshire schools was one of the worst in the country. We put that down to the then Labour government prioritising big cities.

But since 2010 and particularly since 2015, the situation has got even worse. You would have thought that a Conservative government would help neglected areas that had a Conservative MP. But no such luck!

I have never known the funding of schools, in real terms per student, to be so bad as it is now and it’s having a terrible impact on our young people and their future education.

This isn’t good enough.

Britain is one of the richest countries on earth. We should be able to fund our children’s schools properly.

Malmesbury School has had to cut back areas of the curriculum particularly in the sixth form. Sherston primary has had to merge year groups together and remove most of the teaching assistants.

Our MP talked to the parents at Sherston and said that he couldn’t just ask for more money. Why not?

Now because there’s an election, we are suddenly being promised more teachers. I’m not holding my breath!

The only way we can win adequate funding for our schools is to make an informed vote for education on December 12, based on facts.

Readers should visit the website schoolcuts.org.uk

Martin Smith, Sherston