No excuses: Manchester is all mouth, no action!
A GROUP of us travelled to the 2017 grand final at Old Trafford from Blackpool to Manchester by rail. After that the transport facilities were an absolute shambles.
The mayor, Andy Burnham, should resign and take his incompetent transport chiefs with him.
It was known at least a week before the match that it was a sell-out and that most of the fans would be coming from Yorkshire by train to Manchester centre.
Yet no special and adequate provisions were made for the buses or the Metrolink before or after the game between Old Trafford and the city centre.
Thousands missed their rail connections.
We may get the usual flannel of excuses from Manchester council, but that will not be new – Manchester is all mouth but no action. Jeff Roscoe, Blackpool Rugby League Supporters’ Club
What about the women?
WHILE I enjoy the excellent sports coverage in the M.E.N. I am surprised and disappointed at the total lack of coverage of Manchester City ladies football matches and news. The team are possibly the best in the UK and a leading club in Europe.
The girls play good football and do not get involved in time-wasting tactics, cheating or conning referees. Harvey Pickford, via email
Come and be a volunteer
FRIENDS of Debdale Park members look after all the flower beds in the park.
They have also raised thousands of pounds for new plants, but we need volunteers to look after them.
Can you help? Join our volunteer gardening group and spend an enjoyable hour or so relaxing in the park.
No special gardening expertise is required.
Without your help the flower beds will just revert to weeds and grass, so let’s help keep your park looking nice.
Contact friendsofdebdalepark.co. uk, or just call in the park and leave your details at the office. Allan Grafton, Chairman, Friends of Debdale Park, Gorton
Homeless are ‘invisible’
I WENT for a ride into Shudehill bus station and was most upset to see a young man partly propped up on the ground at the end of the tram stop.
He was visible, but yet seemed invisible, as many folk walking to the tram stop and the bus station just walked past.
I worked in the offices in the city centre in the 60s and 70s and I can’t remember any homelessness then. The area seemed happy. These unfortunate people have nothing, probably not even money to buy a cup of tea.
I have read of folk going on visits to poor parts of Africa and Asia and finding it so upsetting seeing many homeless people they said they would never return. I can see the same happening in Manchester.
Some told me there must be 200 to 300 rough-sleepers around the city centre. I find it upsetting that the city I have lived in all my life now has, it seems, many similarities to the poorest parts of Africa. MM Middleton, Manchester
Brexit will of the people?
BILL Newham makes a number of errors in his letter to you about the Brexit.
Being part of a union does not diminish your national identity. I am a proud Englishman, Brit and European.
Being part of the United Kingdom does not make me feel any less English, in the same way that being part of the European Union does not make me feel any less English or British.
One of the largest mistakes of the EU Referendum is that the British people did not understand that the EU is the world’s largest economy.
Being part of the world’s largest economy gives us a say in setting the rules of the EU and benefit from the global importance that gives us.
Being part of the EU meant we have twice successfully vetoed plans for an EU army, as well as influencing all policy of the world’s largest economy.
When we leave we will have no say over the world’s largest economy at all, despite exporting almost half our goods there.
Almost all countries around the world have arranged themselves into free trade blocs. Why? Because trading goods with your neighbours across short distances is cheaper and more reliable.
Bill Newham’s second main error is that he says to have another referendum on the EU would be to ignore the results of the first referendum.
This is utter nonsense. The result of the EU referendum was inconclusive. Just 37 per cent of the electorate voted to leave the EU, 34pc voted to remain, and 29pc of the electorate did not vote at all.
I know of many people who now regret their vote. The purpose of having another referendum is not to ignore the result of the first one but to see if it is genuinely the will of the people. Chris Walker, via email