Drastic action is needed to tackle plastic scourge
IS CHARGING or taxing the public to reduce plastic usage the only answer?
Instead of imposing stealth taxes on the public, the companies making items that can’t be recycled should be given deadlines to come up with alternatives.
Charging a deposit on a plastic bottle doesn’t stop it being plastic, it will just generate more money for someone.
Why aren’t the decision-makers introducing policies to increase the use of glass bottles and paper bags? The sceptics might be forgiven for thinking it’s because there’s no money in this via taxes and fines.
While the manufacturers are allowed to drag their feet in finding alternatives, whatever charges are used to clobber us, a plastic bottle, bag or cup is still made out of plastic. MIKE CATTERALL, Accrington, Lancs. WHY has Theresa May put a 25-year timescale on her plan to reduce plastic waste? People will simply think: ‘We don’t need to do anything right now — it will all be OK in 25 years.’ Let’s just get on with it. Slap on a deposit of 50p per plastic bottle and make retailers responsible for recycling when they are returned. R. HAVENHAND, Nantwich, Cheshire.
Vauxhall stalled
THE saga of Vauxhall — where 650 jobs have been lost after it was bought by the French — is just one of many botched buy-outs.
Look at our railways, water firms and rubbish collection companies, which have been sold off because British management is weak and our banks don’t want to invest in our companies.
In my field of electronic repairs, I used to be able to get parts directly from Tannoy. Since it was sold to a Danish firm, it’s a sixweek wait at five times the cost.
Most leading edge electronics companies have been sold off to foreign fund managers who asset strip them and then close the British operation. So don’t expect Vauxhall to be any different.
We need our skills and expertise protected, not sold off to the highest bidder.
DAVE TUTT, Chatham, Kent.
Outstanding disgrace
WHAT price local democracy? There were nearly 3,000 objections to Cuadrilla’s application to test for oil and gas in an area of outstanding natural beauty and only 12 in favour.
Result? County councillors have approved the application.
J. SCATES, Balcombe, W. Sussex.
Evil on the internet
AFTER reading Max Hastings’ article on the pervasive influence of the internet and social networking, I went online and asked how to make a certain type of bomb.
Within a second, a list of 95,500 tips and videos appeared.
This wasn’t the dark web where illegal activities take place, but one of the most popular search engines, which is available for anyone to access. If I was able to find this dangerous information with little effort, it’s clear nothing is being done to clean up the internet. MIKE DURAND, St Buryan, Cornwall.
Not so unfair
THE fact National Insurance contributions may have to increase by £120 to save the state pension (Mail) has been portrayed as targeting the young.
As the increase is to fund the pensions of current retirees, it’s claimed it would create a sense of ‘inter-generational unfairness’.
Can I remind the workers of today that my generation started work at the age of 15. I am 66, so I worked for 50 years.
Over the years, I accepted the regular rises to my NI contributions. Most younger people don’t start a job until after university when they are in their mid-20s so they will contribute far fewer years than my generation had to do. ANTHONY BENNETT,
Adlington, Lancs.
A star is born
IT’S great to see Amanda Barrie on Celebrity Big Brother, getting as much as she can out of life at the age of at 82. After our wedding service 59 years ago, my wife and I went to Glasgow for dinner and then on to the show Grab Me A Gondola in the King’s Theatre.
One of the dancers was a certain young starlet in one of her first stage appearances before she went on to fame in the Carry On films and Coronation Street. Thanks for the memories.
W. ROBERTSON, Hamilton, Lanarkshire.
Living life to the full
WE ARE told to eat five portions of fruit and veg a day, exercise to stay fitter for longer, save for our old age, take pills for blood pressure and cholesterol and drink less.
But when you do all these things and pat yourself on the back, you are accused of living too long.
It’s enough to make you want to slump on the sofa to watch TV with a bag of crisps and a G&T!
C. D. FIELD, Mellieha, Malta.
Fashion forward
AS A former buyer for M&S, I agree that there has never been such a proliferation of ugly clothes in the sales (Letters). The prints are terrible in unflattering shades of mauve and mustard and fabrics are all synthetic.
M& S should stop trying to attract young shoppers and concentrate on smart, flattering clothes for the over-30s.
Mrs R. O’GRADY, Whitton, Middlesex. AH, THE wonders of shopping on the High Street! First, drive to town and join the queue for a car park that charges a fortune.
Visit the shop to be told ‘we do not have one in stock, but we can get one next week’. Leave the shop and drive home. The following week, repeat the process to collect the item.
Ah, the wonders of shopping on the internet! Find what you want online, pay for it and decide when you want it delivered.
It is certainly a difficult decision to choose which way to shop. PAUL TRELOGGAN,
Sandilands, Lincs.