We could be leaving EU before it collapses

I THINK I have the right to reply to J Bull’s sarcastic riposte to my letter regarding Brexit (M.E.N. Viewpoints, February 5).

First of all J Bull, sarcasm is the lowest form of wit. It is a shame that you could not challenge any of the major points of my letter.

Instead you picked up on the last sentence about Remainers emigrating to the EU and suddenly knew all my views on Europeans and immigration.

As a Brexiteer I am very happy to give full British rights to any immigrant working here continuously for three years. After Brexit I would welcome anyone from anywhere in the world who has skills. Brexit is about leaving the control of 27, or is it 28, now faceless, unelected buffoons.

The Common Market (EU) was set up purely to assist trade between European countries. It has ended up trying to create something like a country with the land mass of Russia and the US. In doing so it has invited countries to join who have nothing to contribute and have become a financial burden on the rest. Greece being a prime example.

Italy, the supposedly thirdstrongest economy in the EU, has just gone into recession and Germany’s economy is rocky. We could be leaving just before it collapses altogether.

After Donald Tusk’s recent arrogant, insulting outburst I don’t understand how anyone would want to be associated with these small-minded despots. Jack Haynes, Swinton

Don’t give EU a penny more

DONALD Tusk, President of Europe, has grossly insulted all of us who voted to leave the European Union. He says he hopes more than half the population of the UK are going to hell.

Then he expects us to give the EU a favourable divorce settlement that keeps paying his enormous tax free salary for longer. They seem to think we got it wrong as if in error, temporary mindlessness.

But they could not be more wrong – we are leaving because we choose to be governed by people who know we can sack them, not by men who say such things about his paymasters. I say we should now leave at 11 pm on March 29 with no deal at all, direct debits deleted and no more money paid out. Sue Doughty, via email

Buses need improvement

I AGREE with Jim McMahon MP (‘MP says mayor should make bid for bus firm,’ M.E.N. February 8,

2019) that Andy Burnham should buy up struggling First Bus. I also found the letter by Gary Nolan, CEO of One Bus, (same day) about a blueprint for improving the bus service interesting.

I am 75 and have used my travel pass to get around Greater Manchester for quite a few years now so am familiar with the pros and cons of the bus service. With that in mind and with a view to also saving a packet I decided to sell my car and give up driving for good. I know that because of my age my reflexes are slowing down and that the longer I drive the more chances there are of an accident. The only puzzle to me is why Prince Phillip (and others like him) don’t understand this too. So I am now a full-time user of the bus service. As Gary Nolan states in his blueprint, there are many improvements that can and should be made. What I don’t get is that there is nothing new here, the bus service has been this way for years (AND YEARS) so why haven’t these improvements already been made?

I think it is about time for drastic choices.

But meanwhile there are a couple of improvements I would like to see happen now.

This does not require rocket science.

Mostly this congestion is predictable because it is due to rush-hour traffic.

So why not alter the bus schedules accordingly?

Give drivers the time they need to get from one stop to another when traffic is always at its heaviest.

Then we passengers can plan accordingly and not be waiting outside in all weathers for a bus that is probably not going to come for another ten minutes.

Also, can we please have the same system as they have in London, where at each bus stop there is a digital readout of when the next bus is coming?

Not when it is due according to the schedule, but when it is actually going to arrive. Why not Manchester? Colleen Darby, Burnage Green Party

Bus service we deserve

IT is imperative that the regional mayor stops wasting time and introduces re-regulation of Greater Manchester’s buses as soon as possible. Our bus system was privatised and deregulated by the Tories in 1986 as part of an ideological attack on public ownership. Back then, the bus unions warned of a free-for-all among profitable bus routes with fares rising and services being cut on unpopular routes. Fast-forward to 2019 and we can see that they were proved right. It is a mess with increasing fares, falling passenger numbers, shrinking services, rising air pollution and a city centre that is gridlocked. Let us have the bus service we deserve. Iain Hepworth