People rely on buses... they need investment
I AM not a regular bus user, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the fact that lots of people rely on buses to get them about, whether it be for work, shopping, hospital appointments or socialising.
For their sake and to encourage people to make more use of public transport, we need a reliable bus service.
This means we need buses which are fit for the 21st century, not some of the older ones we still see on the routes around the region.
We also need a service which goes to places that people want to go to.
If only two people are on a bus, does that make it an uneconomical service? Probably, but it is still providing a service.
And I think that’s the key. It’s a public transport service and is something that we need to invest in. S Fielden, Wigan
Walk more to beat obesity
OVER the past few years, the issue of childhood obesity has surfaced again and again.
The problem does not seem to be diminishing since statistics show that during the last few decades childhood obesity rates have risen.
It’s obvious that today’s children spend less time playing outdoors than previous generations.
We should all take an interest in the health and welfare of young people and become active toward changing this picture.
One way we can all help to do this is by encouraging kids to walk to school. If you are a parent, walk with your child. Teachers could set an example too by leaving their cars at home.
Roads where pupils walk to school should be made safe. Too often young children are walking just a couple of feet away from a road where huge lorries are thundering along at great speed. Is it any wonder so many parents prefer to drive?
Encourage your child to participate in physical activity. Start a family tradition. Regardless of the weather, try take a walk every day. Joyce Ingham, Ashton-under-Lyne
Mental health so important
AS a society, we spend a lot of time and energy concerning our physical health and wellbeing. But often the state of our mental health gets pushed to the background.
That is why it’s important to raise awareness of mental health issues and focus on providing useful services to the individuals in Maine who need help with a mental or emotional health problem.
Mental illnesses are not the result of personal weakness, lack of character or poor upbringing. Mental illnesses can be treated. Most people diagnosed with a serious mental illness can experience relief from their symptoms by getting help. They can recover and live full and meaningful lives.
Though we have come a long way, there is a way to go. The stigma surrounding mental illness needs to be stamped out. Name and address received
Brexit means destruction
BREXIT, particularly a hard Brexit, is the single most destructive proposition ever contemplated and people voted for it to ‘get their country back.’
At the current rate there will be little left of the UK as we know it – Northern Ireland on the edge, Scotland probably emboldened to go for a second referendum on independence, the young disenchanted with the decision, the NHS heading for covert privatisation, businesses confused and our standards in danger of slipping in necessary regulation and who we do good business with.
I met someone whose 20-something son had begged him to vote remain as the future lies with co-operation and not division.
The EU is not perfect but what is? Many, admittedly not all, voted to leave through ignorance, nostalgia and insularity, and many had no idea what leaving would actually mean.
‘Out means out’ is utterly mindless and meaningless.
Now we are starting to get some idea and it will become clearer as time goes by although this ineffectual government still, seemingly, have no idea.
It is surely right to let the people have a say on the final agreement when they have some idea of what the final effects will be. We do, after all, live in a democracy where national and local elections are held on a very regular basis.
A hard destructive Brexit could be likened to chopping your arm off when you’ve broken it only to realise you could have mended your arm. True Believer, Salford
Lot of hot air on climate?
THE enormous waste of money, resources and brain power caused by academics’ obsession with ‘climate change’ is disappointing.
This obsession stems from the ideas of who those who, since the 1970s, have been opposed to Western industrial civilization.
Carbon dioxide is four per cent of all atmospheric gases, and anthropogenic carbon dioxide is a mere 4pc of this.
Let’s not dramatise amounts of carbon dioxide as being in the range of 400 to 450 ‘parts per million’ when man-made CO2 is a mere 16 parts per million. G Saunders, Manchester