Costly, but just look of doing nothing ...
will be out of pocket even if they can get insurance payouts.
Jack said he couldn’t understand how we are all so good nowadays at raising money for foreign disasters yet we’ve not mentioned anything about raising money for our own.
He said that in ‘the old days’ there would have been a whipround in lots of places and the money passed on to help those who were struggling with the flooding and cleaning up.
I think he’s right: why haven’t we put ourselves out and raised money for those suffering this disaster at home? AUDREY MARTIN, Ferndown, Dorset.
A drop in the ocean
THere are many worthwhile initiatives which will no doubt be of long-term benefit — and HS2 might be one of them — but perhaps we should consider other more worthwhile initiatives in which to invest £50 billion . . . flood defence, for example.
Fortunately, here in the lovely North-east, we aren’t affected as much and our hearts go out to those suffering elsewhere. When you think of the enormous knock- on costs to businesses and personal lives, £ 50billion on flood defences would be a good investment for the UK. It’s not rocket science and it’s not ‘climate change’.
The Netherlands manages by ensuring that the water has somewhere to go. That means, for example, man-made channels, frequent clearing of drains and rivers regularly dredged.
All of these have been neglected in the UK in recent years to save costs, but without any long-term strategy by successive governments, which means passing on the problem to the next administration.
We can’t continue like this: things will undoubtedly get worse unless the water has somewhere to go. Indeed, all forms of transport will grind to a halt throughout winter and the cost to UK Ltd will escalate.
Politicians have to make a brave, bold decision — and it may be a brilliant vote-catcher. Flood defence initiatives would create many construction jobs throughout the UK with a ripple-down effect throughout our economy. So get on with it.
PETER SUTCLIFFE, Ponteland, Newcastle upon Tyne.
Old ways are the best
I’m IN my 80s and lived in a rural area during the war years. men were employed as ditchers, and all the ditches were dug out and the rivers dredged annually.
One river had eels in it and we lads took a bucket to collect them from the silt that was piled up on the bank.
Another thing farmers used to do was take the cuttings from the hedges, dig a trench in the field and make a land drain for the water to run into the ditches. I don’t remember any flooding as happens now.
Trying to blame things on ‘climate change’ is just an easy way to get out of not having got the jobs done. It may cost money to do it — but look at the cost of doing nothing.
J. V. APPLETON, Saxmundham, Suffolk.
Lives are being lost
NeTWOrK rail says yes to a high- speed portable flood defence solution, already deployed in France and by other agencies globally. Denmark has signed a portable flood defence framework contract.
The eA, meanwhile, has been fighting flood water with sand. The result is eight lives lost in the past eight weeks, 1,500 businesses and homes destroyed and the taxpayer facing a £2 billion flood damage bill two years running. ANDREW MESSENGER,
address supplied.
Snow joke!
THe other morning, my wife looked up from the mail and asked: ‘Do you want to make love to all the women you meet?’
‘No,’ I stammered, not knowing where this was going.
‘Then, according to Jon Snow, you aren’t normal,’ she said.
‘OK,’ I said, trying to prove my normality, ‘there are some.’
‘Who?’ she demanded, and that’s when the argument started.
There are some thoughts best kept to yourself, mr Snow.
TERRY PAYNE, Woodmansterne, Surrey.