Lynn News letters, September 2: Sewage in rivers, standards of rural roads and the effects of Liz Truss versus Rishi Sunak

James Wild MP’s column last week, condemning the water companies for discharging raw sewage into our rivers was nothing more than fiction and spin.

His faux anger at this is unbelievable, given that he personally voted along with the majority of Tory MPs to allow this to happen under the guise that it would have backed up in our homes: something that has never happened before.

He must take responsibility and do what he was voted in to do, act in the interests of his constituents.

Public health is more important than the profits of water companies who have underinvested their significant profits for the benefit of their shareholders.

Paul Rawlinson

via email

RESERVOIR

Site almost barren of flora and fauna

I’ve just had a walk round the reservoir to the south of Reffley Wood. The only insects I saw were a couple of white butterflies, a bee, and one grasshopper. I also noted that the area around the reservoir, once full of wild flowers and humming with insects, now just has a scattering of ragwort and few to no insects.

Years of early mowing, and other inappropriate management by the local drainage board has left the site almost barren of flora and fauna. If these fools are left in control of the management of our environment, the future of our wildlife species is indeed in peril.

Mick Eade

Lynn

DRIVING

Standards on our rural roads are appalling

The latest horrific crash near Southery involving a car and motorcycle with the subsequent death of the motorcyclist and a court appearance by the young driver highlights the issues all road users face (especially two wheeled travellers).

Driving standards on our rural roads are frankly appalling and with the disappearance of police patrols we’re seeing people get away with all kinds of breaches of road safety.

Who hasn’t watched drivers with a mobile clamped to their ear while driving? Swigging drinks, smoking, eating all appear to be perfectly acceptable as we hurtle towards oncoming traffic. Poor maintenance is rife, bald tyres and broken lamp bulbs can be seen on every mile we drive and the court pages remain full of drunk driving convictions every session.

The death of this motorcyclist represents the third biker to lose his life recently on our roads and as a biker myself I know how vulnerable we are as a group. Although we have the odd ‘careless idiot’ amongst our fraternity I can assure readers that at least half of the drivers we meet on our rides need advice on their driving skills, retesting, a visit to a garage or a magistrates court.

Steve Mackinder

Denver

POLITICS

You could not make up this insanity

Parliament has taken its eye off the ball as regards our massive inflation plus the eye watering energy costs.

Why has it done this? Because Sunak and Truss have been fighting it out as to who is worthy to become our next PM and despite a major financial crisis our government has shut down for the summer recess. You could not make it up, it is a kind of political insanity.

In Scotland, the refuse collectors are on strike, the streets are littered with rubbish, all festering away in the high summer temperatures making for a potential medical disaster.

In England water companies are discharging effluent into the sea to such an extent that popular beaches have been closed and a bleating government does nothing.

Climate change: definitely happening, but it is noticeable that the tree huggers have gone very quiet.

The ‘in’ word now is fossil fuels, fracking could be taking off once more, the huge oil fields off the coast of Scotland are being investigated, there’s mutterings about opening up coal mines.

In Kent alone, there are huge coal reserves under the English Channel, likewise in the north of the country in Yorkshire.

In the EU, especially Germany, the Bundestag has been storing gas like there is no tomorrow.

Quite amazing isn’t it that Putin turns off the gas and even burns the surplus to show the world that he’s got plenty of the same and suddenly political minds turn to fossil fuels once more. The West has been crowing about sanctions imposed upon Russia and how they have been effective which they most certainly have. But, as has been seen, it’s not all one sided.

Putin turns off the gas tap and great chunks of the EU are suddenly faced with rationing of power. To cap it all China has stated that it’s building more coal fire generators.

However, to return to the UK, we are having major strikes: the railway workers, the largest container port Felixstowe and barristers .

There has been talk by the TUC of a possible general strike this coming autumn/winter.

Sunak and Truss are making all kinds of promises as regards financial assistance should one of them become PM, but much of this should have been done this summer by the current government.

Six months into the Russia/Ukraine war and Europe is in turmoil, possibly we in the UK have an advantage by leaving the EU, we can make our own decisions if the politicians that we voted in stop pontificating and show some guts.

The alternative does not bear thinking about.

Alan Mudge

Pentney

She will walk into a crisis

Many leaders have come into a new job after some breakdown, or pitfall in their chosen line of work. Meaning that they have immediately to deal with a crisis.

For Liz Truss, the stakes could hardly be higher and not what she would have wanted, stepping into number 10 Downing Street, next week.

The problems she inherits as Prime Minister, include: a catastrophic cost-of-living crisis with astronomic energy bills; bailing-out poorer pensioners, and families on welfare with children; industrial stagnation and low growth; tackling an enormously high and rising government mountain of debt.

Added to which Ms Truss will be presiding over a deeply divided Conservative Party.

Of course it has to be recognised that the targeted audience for the all-important leadership endorsement is estimated at 160,000 fully-paid-up members of the present Conservative Party.

It must also be said – this is a tiny, and unrepresentative percentage of the overall UK electorate.

Moreover, because of the depth of these financial difficulties the country is now facing , most people would have wanted the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, to be selected as Prime Minister. Especially after securing most MPs’ support in Westminster. However, it appears that the ‘fully-paid-up-members’ have exacted ‘their’ revenge on the person ‘they’ blame for Boris’ demise.

Jim Mitchell

via email

ABORTION

It is mentioned, just in another form of words

Kevin Waddington writes in Viewpoint that abortion is not mentioned in the Bible, but it is in another form of words.

The 6th Commandment unequivocally states: “Thou shalt not kill,” and the pro-life lobby argues that abortion is murder.

Last minute abortion is permitted in some American States with campaigns to procure it in Britain, entailing a living child being removed from the womb.

If a heartbeat is forcefully stopped under these circumstances, it is demonstrably murder, trumping all the ideology of the abortionists.

Steve Mackinder and I have different views expressed without enmity, but on those expressed about rancour, we are at one.

David Fleming

Downham