FLYING TO USA IS CHEAPER
REACTION WAS SO RUDE
THIS letter is in response to [the mean-spirited comments and unashamed rudeness’ of some ladies at the Royal Ballet screening at Cinemac] when three of my best friends and I took to our seats to watch a performance of The Nutcracker.
Why, you may ask?... God forbid we had fetched a baby with us!! How very dare we. The whispers started behind us and spread across the row with a theme of “Oh my God she’s got a baby”
“Gasp!! There’s a baby down there”
“I am presuming she will take it out.” “Oh it’s so young!!” This was followed by so much tutting. I am surprised that any false teeth remained in place.
When booking this performance to celebrate my friend’s 40th, I ensured I booked seats right on the edge near the door and with no seats in front, to allow my friend an easy escape route if needed.
Baby did cry, at which point my friend was on her feet by the time the third cry was out and was heading to the door.
The comments instantly started again “Take IT out” “Thank God for that” and my favourite one “We wouldn’t have dreamed of doing that in our day”......
Really, and why is that?? Because you would have been chained to the sink or cooker while husband was down the mines, or because you are so judgmental and believe that women should stay inside and only come out in daylight hours when nothing fun is happening.
How interesting that most people of a pensionable age have lived through so much and yet are quick to judge and think it’s OK to be so rude.
It’s common to hear people say the younger generation are so rude, however I believe intolerance is one of the rudest traits to possess and there is an older generation out there who could do with refreshing their attitude on this.
OK, so maybe taking a baby to a ballet isn’t appropriate but let’s really ask ourselves why...would a mum sit there and ignore the crying child and carry on watching or will they feel self conscious and try to comfort the baby and take it out?
“Leave the baby at home” you may say. This baby is the youngest in a beautiful family of three and the older two were being babysat by grandparents. Baby is being breastfed.
I was so disappointed at our older generation and embarrassed by our culture. Funnily enough a Spanish lady sat a row in front cooed and said “Ah how cute”. Baby was wearing a tutu!
All that was needed was a bit of patience and tolerance and trust that Mum would have done what mums do...wonder if any of you who were sat behind us are mums and grandparents???
We left the ballet very quickly, watched it at home and had a good old giggle and hoped that we don’t get like that when we are old. Or maybe it’s not an age thing and you have always been so rude.
There was no statement when buying the tickets that said children were not allowed. Nicky Owens via email
HS2 EXPENSIVE AND FLAWED
SO HS2 trains COULD be on way to the town! Will that, with the fact that people will be able to travel from London to Leeds and Manchester a bit more quickly, fully justify a bill of about £60,000,000,000?
For Maxonians though it will be nice to board a train in the evening and wake up next morning in Paris, Barcelona or wherever in Europe.
Oh I forget, the planners have ignored any need to connect HS2 to HS1, so the uninterrupted journey from Macc to Europe will, unfortunately, now be interrupted. It will involve a trek from Euston to St Pancras. Another very expensive cock-up I think. David Booth Bond Street Macclesfield
WELL DONE ON SAVING A&E
LIKE many other readers, I was relieved to learn last week that our local hospital is not going to lose its A&E dept... at least for the time being.
There are several people to thank for this sensible decision. The many who signed the petition and those who campaigned on its behalf but also this newspaper, which led the fight as it did a decade ago when the threat was to the maternity and children’s services.
Sadly, I have to strongly urge everyone to remain vigilant, as these threats to our NHS services are more or less continual. I have no doubt that we will have to pick up our cudgels again before long.
Perhaps next time the chair of East Cheshire NHS Trust and her board will show themselves,or at least speak up publicly in support of the hospital and its services for which she and they are currently responsible. The total silence from them is deafening... unless of course they were in favour of closing these vital services, which I find hard to believe.
It is no use them hiding behind their chief executive. It is his role to manage what he is given, but the chair and board of directors are responsible to the local population for what is done on their watch. Perhaps they will now show their support for the services the Trust provides and tell us what they are doing to preserve what we have. Peter Hayes Chairman, East Cheshire NHS Trust 1990-2000 THE HS2 propaganda machine (press office) has fooled the eagle eyes of the Express.
The HS2 trains will be a foot taller than current Pendolinos to accommodate larger wheels for the ultra fast speeds. So the trains may be able to stop at Macclesfield or Wilmslow, but passengers will not be able to get on or off without a step-ladder. Thus only the able bodied will use HS2. No wheelchairs or disabled; certainly not from Cheshire! Plus, few journalists have commented on the fares. You can now fly from Ireland to the USA for the price of a single ticket on HS2 from Manchester to London. There will be no need to queue. Peter McLellan Stockport TWO weeks ago, Macclesfield’s Conservative MP David Rutley was keen to extol the virtues of HS2, the government’s proposed new high-speed railway (Macclesfield Express, November 30).
He spoke of “economic benefits to the town”; he stated that “our access to Manchester Airport is very important”.
The latter may or may not be true (certainly, the new roads currently ripping up swathes of ancient woodland in Poynton will result in even more airport traffic jamming up Macclesfield’s roads), but it is not relevant to HS2, as there is no proposal for a line linking the town with the airport, which might actually benefit the area.
Mr Rutley goes on to state that “Macclesfield will continue to have at least the same speed of journey and frequency of service”, in addition to any trains which may leave the HS2 line at Stafford to come to Macclesfield – which is only a “proposal being considered”.
Hard to see how this could be the case, as the (flimsy) business case for this “Railway for the Rich” is that it would free-up capacity on existing lines – you can’t have your cake and eat it.
Well, Mr Rutley, the people of Macclesfield have given their response – Facebook comments in last week’s Express range from “need HS2 like a hole in the head” to “cost far outweighs benefits”, with just one reader celebrating an “extra lie-in”!
Already forecast to cost an eye-watering £56bn pounds, HS2 is now running into enormous difficulties, with a proposal to demolish a brand-new housing estate in Yorkshire, as well as the small problem of finding a route through midCheshire that will not leave trains sinking into brinefields.
Let us remind you, Mr Rutley – you are in Parliament to represent the views and interests of the people of Macclesfield, not the other way round.