King's Lynn smell, Gaywood River, abortion and Fincham accident – Lynn News letters

But extraction and unwarranted dredging are practices that have been taking place for many years and have and do damage the ecology of this precious chalk stream river.

I am further interested that Mr Milner as “the river guardian” does not mention pollution as a threat to the Gaywood.

Agricultural and waste run off and sewage are all threats to the life of this river. If it were miraculously exempt from the scandalous pollution that affects most rivers in this country, I am sure joy would be unconfined.

However, I see no cause for celebration about the treatment of this river. It is in a poor way. There may be life in some stretches but no one could honestly say it is in a healthy state, supporting the amount of life it should and in some parts looks like a ditch rather than a chalk stream.

Public awareness and concern is growing about this dire situation and it is thanks to committed people like Feargal Sharkey and organisations like Extinction Rebellion and the Rivers Trust that it is.

Julia Irving

Hillington

SMELL

What on earth is causing this stink?

I know this may sound pretty trivial, but it’s really getting out of hand now.

What is that awful smell that keeps wafting over Lynn?

Two nights this week, once at 6pm then last night at 9pm, we sat with all our windows open enjoying the evening summer breeze, only to have to jump up like maniacs and run around the house closing them all to stop us gagging.

It’s not just evenings. We sat in the Globe beer garden last Friday afternoon when it wafted over and we all had to go inside.

There’s lots of speculation to as what it might be. But no one knows the correct answer. Just that it spoils our daily lives.

And I can’t imagine it being healthy being subjected to it on a daily basis.

Debbie Berney

via email

ABORTION

Disagree by all means but don’t attack each other

Recent letters from writers Ryves, Rust and Conolly really haven’t left any stone unturned in their similarly-worded attacks upon the anti-abortion campaigner Sheridan Payne after he expressed some pretty forthright views in the Lynn News.

Clearly his divisive views continue to get a nice airing thanks to letters from these contributors taking things to another level with sneering mockery of his opinions and heart-felt beliefs.

Calling his views ridiculous, arcane, misogynistic and bigoted is way beyond reasoned argument, I’d suggest, and surely he’s entitled to express his opinions as are we all and long may it continue.

But the rambling vitriol denigrating his politics and his religious beliefs in their intemperate little rants only serves to undermine their arguments and indicates they hold equally extreme and intransigent attitudes towards others.

Having a difference of opinion is normal and healthy but come on everyone... let’s try and write these letters with clear heads and keep it calm and out of the gutter.

Steve Mackinder

Denver

His is a right wing stream of Christian thought

A vociferous opponent of a woman’s right to safe legal abortion, Sheridan Payne nevertheless acknowledges (Viewpoint, August 16) that both Jo Rust and myself raised legitimate points concerning the status of a foetus.

Ethically speaking, this is the most important question of all, because whether we consider cells have the potential to

develop into a person, or whether they are already a person, determines all subsequent discussion of rights.

Hundreds of years ago, some celibate cleric decided that two microscopic cells were a person, on the assumption that a soul entered at that point, although he could provide no evidence to support his speculation.

Mr Payne re-inforces this idea with his overweening arrogance that he knows exactly what (his) God thinks about abortion. This despite the fact that the word ‘abortion’ is never mentioned once in the Bible, nor is induced termination referred to let alone discussed.

Given that abortion was not uncommon, and apparently well tolerated in the land of the Bible writers, it is reasonable to assume that if they had shared Mr Payne’s views they would have said something about it. There is no ‘Thou Shalt Not’ concerning terminations.

A group of cells does not make a person. Human cells are routinely cultured for medical purposes: heart muscle cells will contract in a dish just as in the body, skin and liver cells work normally. But these are not a person. Why? Because there has to be an elaborate degree of co-operation between different specialist cells for this to be the case.

A foetus meets none of the criteria to be considered a person. As the organism develops

towards maturity this, of course, changes. At 28 weeks, survival outside a women’s body is possible, and this is when mainstream ethical philosophers regard it as suitable that rights should be assigned.

I have happily worked alongside Christians in the peace movement, and understand that Mr Payne represents only an ultra right wing and fundamentalist stream of Christian thought.

There are many studies indicating large support from Christians of pro-choice positions. To select one of these randomly: a 1996 survey found that 72 per cent of Australian Catholics said that the decision to have an abortion ‘should be left to individual women and their doctors’ (BBC Religions: Christianity and Abortion).

It is not a belief in God that can cause a person to become a bigot or misogynist but their own political choices and social attitudes.

Mr Payne reveals his true colours when he equates abortion (which the best thinkers on both sides of the debate agree involves serious ethical choices) with the hate-filled Nazi mass murder of Jews, Sinti, communists, socialists, trade unionists, gays and disabled.

I would be shocked if any other correspondent expressed such a disgraceful sentiment but I am well used to Mr Payne’s views.

Kevin Waddington

South Lynn

ACCIDENT

I’ve had an overdue lesson in humility

I haven’t written to Viewpoint for several weeks after 15 years of continuous contributions to these columns.

By divine providence, my wife Chrissy and I are lucky to be walking the streets of Downham.

On August 8 we were driving through the tranquil village of Fincham when horror struck through a serious collision with another motorist, reported in the Lynn News.

We had to be cut free by firefighters and attended to by paramedics.

The Police said we escaped death narrowly considering the damage to the car, which was a write off.

I was driving my wife to a pre-assessment for cancer surgery a few days later at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital.

Thanks to the initiatives and flexibility of the hospital, the operation went ahead with this additional pressure on her mind.

I would like to put on record our depth of gratitude to the NHS staff for the compassion and care to Chrissy as she rebuilds her health with their help.

Some of my letters in the past have been hard hitting, but I had a stark reminder of our mortality, and I’ve had an overdue lesson in humility as this crisis in our lives hopefully recedes.

David Fleming

Downham