Your letters on the environment, TV adverts, politics and Covid-19
Here are the letters from this Tuesday’s Lynn News...
Think climate change when casting vote
Will it be all change after the borough council elections? Will the new council make changes that are good news for the environment and so good news for people – this generation and the next?
A first welcome change would be for the council to be frank and up front about the climate emergency.
Our homes may not be falling into the sea like some at Hemsby but many homes are vulnerable to flooding.
We need honesty from our councillors about what our choices are and what the trade-offs will be.
Another welcome change would be a sense of urgency. Although the present council declared a climate emergency in 2021 it does not feel like we’re in an emergency.
In an emergency you stop what you are doing and focus attention on dealing with the emergency.
Take setting a target of 2050 for getting the borough’s carbon emissions to net zero.
It is like waiting to see flames from a chip pan before turning off the heat.
Yes the date for the council’s in-house emissions is sooner at 2035 but those emissions amount to less than 1% of the borough’s total emissions.
There are so many aspects to the climate emergency that need action but evironment does not even have its own meeting time.
Instead it is lumped together with community in a panel that only meets once a month.
This panel has not the capacity to scrutinize environmental decisions or to ensure that environmental consequences play a major part in every decision taken.
The most recent IPCC report warns: “We won’t be able to adapt enough if climate change goes too far - we need to keep to 1.5 degrees.”
It is not possible to keep the increase in temperature to 1.5 degrees without making big bold changes.
To face up to the scale and nature of the challenges we need imaginative ideas, collaboration and true leadership.
The job of residents is to step outside the all-consuming business of daily life in order to decide the election candidate most likely to take the steps needed to achieve a future that is liveable.
It’s down to us: the choices we make on May 4.
Jenny Walker
Roydon
Slow down and obey the law
On my local roads around Grimston I see speeding drivers completely ignoring the speed limits which are there for public safety.
OK there is one through route, which runs from Narborough to Hillington, which is often used by ‘non-local‘” ’ drivers wanting to travel to Sandringham or onwards to the West Norfolk coastal towns – a short cut from the A47 to the A148, avoiding Hardwick – where drivers, not from this area, don’t seem to see the point of adhering to the legal speed limit.
And I’ve seen on many occasions, drivers totally ignoring the speed monitoring equipment which is moved around Grimston, Congham and Roydon, by a dedicated local Parish Councillor, to gather data about local speeding problems.
But I’ve equally seen local drivers doing the same, many are my neighbours who will hate me for calling out their disregard for public safety.
Those same people, were one of their children or relatives knocked over and seriously
injured or killed by a speeding driver, would be calling for the restoration of the death penalty.
Why can’t they get a grip on their own behaviour and do the right thing and slow down and obey the law?
George Wood
Congham
Struggling with ‘Nasty Party’ epithet
For once I find myself agreeing with David Fleming (partially). He shrilly insists Dominic Raab's bullying wasn't a reason to resign and he shouldn't have.
Nope, what should have happened was Mr Raab should have been dragged into Rishi Sunak's office and unceremoniously given his marching orders once the outcome of the investigation was revealed.
He should have been booted out, kicked into the long grass... sacked.
Resignation is the soft option and allowed Raab to leave his job with some vague sense of his own control of the situation. His defiant resignation letter clearly indicated he saw himself as the victim but obviously wasn't prepared to tough it out. Mr Fleming's 'dog eat dog' world of aggressive assertiveness is coming to to an end and hopefully we'll end up in a society where we can achieve our ambitions without a need for browbeating, domineering swagger and pushing people around.
Bullies always crack eventually and clearly Mr Raab chose resignation rather than stand by his claim of innocence which suggests to me he wasn't quite as bullish as he appeared about his abilities to survive in light of the investigation into his workplace antics.
Clearly the Tory Party is still wrestling with Teresa May's 'nasty party' epithet and while we hope Rishi Sunak is capable of weeding out more of the 'nasty' politicians I fear he's still got a long way to go.
Steve Mackinder
Denver
Beware the World Health Organisation
Readers in previous Viewpoints have questioned my source of information concerning my scepticism on how Covid-19 was handled, but criticism is still being delivered by expert knowledge.
Take the Welsh Local Assembly which had the most stringent lockdowns during the pandemic, yet has received challenges on its own doorstep.
According to Swansea University there is no evidence that shielding benefited vulnerable people according to a study, with the high rate of in-hospital transmission blamed for the failure of the policy.
It compared 117,000 people shielding in Wales to other areas with higher statistics, 5.9% compared to 5.7%.
The Welsh Government said shielding was introduced on medical and scientific advice. The researchers at the University said the data raised questions about whether the policy worked.
They concluded that a "lack of clear impact on infection rates raises questions about the success of shielding, with an absence of further research".
Professor Helen Snooks who led the research said: "It wasn't underpinned at the time by any evidence.
“If shielding was going to be effective in reducing deaths and serious illnesses from Covid, then it really needed to reduce the infection rate, but unfortunately, we didn't find any evidence of that in the study.”
In Wales, nationally and globally the judgements of politicians must be held in doubt.
Under the guise of health, Covid testing was widespread, but scarily those who were tested now have their DNAs in the possession of the authorities with a capacity to police other areas of our lives.
Beware The World Health Organisation.
David Fleming
Downham
There are too many adverts
I am not against adverts in newspapers but I am against so many on television. I have just read in a national newspaper that 730 more hours of advert breaks will be coming to TV. We have enough already.
There are more adverts than programmes.
The BBC will be making a fortune on the alone, yet so many elderly people are paying for a TV licence fee every year, which should be stopped.
I say just stop all these celebs that work there and cut their extortionate wages first.
Marry Urry
Lynn
