Be careful with barbecues

Re the fire reported by the KM in Rylands Road last week [‘Three sheds destroyed in fire’, Kentish Express, May 10].

Some years ago my neighbour had some friends in for an evening barbecue in the garden, it was on a Friday, then a second one on the following Saturday.

The leftover barbecue appeared to still be live, though the embers were hardly glowing, so to be sure and liven it up, my

We’re told that they’re going to throw up that block of 400 flats approved for construction in 2016. We could be excused for hoping that a pause of five years might have given them cause to reconsider.

As it is, this development will just add to Ashford’s increasing status as a mere dormitory town. More family homes are needed in town, or the place will become a ghost town during the working week.

The one thing that might have brought the town to life would have been the regeneration of the market in the town centre. Where it belongs. I see there was a bit of a market tucked into the Elwick Road centre last Saturday. It is surely not unreasonable to ask why the council has decided to attempt to move everything to an ill-considered toytown area beside the ring road.

‘This development will just add to Ashford’s increasing status as a mere dormitory town’

I have never considered the keeping of dogs as pets in towns a good idea. Over the past 18 months the numbers have increased manifold, leading to considerable legal and illegal trade.

Many were bought to give a degree of companionship during lockdown. But now that people are beginning to return to work, it is inevitable that many of the creatures which had provided a degree of companionship will now be redundant.

Animal welfare organisations are already becoming overburdened by a glut of abandoned animals. This will only get worse.

I’m lost in some kind of amazement at what the press are calling the sausage wars. Remember when Bodger Johnson told us that he had an ‘oven ready’ Brexit deal?

That there would be no problem with the Irish border? Well, now there actually is a problem, he’s claiming that it’s no problem.

An easily fixable blip. Trouble is, the EU lawyers don’t agree. We’ll just have to wait and see, though it would be better if the thing could be resolved without the American president putting his oar in.