Swindon should have no fear: it can thrive again
WHILE I understand Honda leaving Swindon is a terrible blow to the town, it is nothing as great as the loss of mines in South Yorkshire and the Welsh Valleys.
Sheffield was hit by the closure of steel works, as were port Talbot in Wales and redcar in the NorthEast, but the people learned to adapt. Today, South Yorkshire is flourishing with new industries built on the old pits. The biggest success story is the Sheffield Hub on the old Orgreave site.
This is where rolls- royce developed the specialist material used in turbine blades for aircraft engines. Boeing started with a research and development facility, then two years ago it built a factory. It is now building a second, even bigger production facility.
McLaren has opened a new factory on the site to build carbon fibre tubes for sports cars.
Companies investing in this area are confident in the people who work for them — and the future.
Years before Honda came to Swindon, the town was famous for building locomotives for the Great Western railway. I am sure the town will attract new industries.
TONY CLAYTON, Worksop, Notts.
Return to glory days
HONDA’S relocation to Japan can be seen as a great opportunity. Swindon has a chance to return to its former glory as a railway town.
Why not let train manufacturer Bombardier take over the Honda site in Swindon? The steel could be supplied by Scunthorpe and port Talbot. We need to encourage people with imagination and the will to create new jobs, not depend on other countries. THOMAS SAYERS, Saltburn, N. Yorks. MY fATHEr was a ‘guest’ of the Japanese in World War II, during which time he helped to build a railway. He had nightmares until the day he died. Nothing would persuade me to buy a Japanese car, wherever it’s made.
JUNE GREEN, Bagshot, Surrey.
A gift, not a right
fOr someone like me on pension credit, the free TV licence for over75s has been a gift I welcomed. Now the BBC is debating whether to continue to offer this bonus.
The outstanding reputation of the BBC is built on providing topquality shows and dramas as well as extensive news coverage on TV and radio, which must cost a lot.
If the BBC wishes to continue the free licence, it should be assessed on income in the same way as the warm home discount. The free licence is not an entitlement, but a generous gesture.
ANGELA BRAY, Exeter, Devon.
Don’t drop litter, bin it!
WELL done, Mary Archer, for her litter-picking efforts (Mail). I do my bit every Saturday in a pleasant church garden. There are shrubs, roses and wooden benches for anyone to enjoy a rest.
Despite the fact there is a bin by every seat, I still pick up used nappies, vodka bottles, gas capsules and food detritus. I will carry on litter picking, but I wish it weren’t necessary.
A. SHORER, Ilford, Gtr London. KEEp Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean, supported by the Mail, is magnificent. But shouldn’t we be encouraging people not to drop litter in the first place?
D. WARNER, Harwich, Essex.
Booming Britain
DESpITE remainer scaremongering, 167,000 more people are in work, wages are rising annually by 3.4 per cent and there is a record number of vacancies.
U.S. banking giant Citigroup is buying Citi Tower in London’s Canary Wharf for £1.2 billion.
residential property sales in Central London are buoyant, with EU citizens the largest group of buyers among the international customers who make up over half of those buying homes.
STEVE GREY, Great Barr, Staffs. THE state of the Brexit negotiations and the disintegration of our political parties indicate it’s high time that we select as Mps only those with business experience.
We should stop relying on politicians with Mickey Mouse backgrounds in pr and university boozing clubs. And to concentrate their minds, politicians need to be relieved of their mobile phones before entering the Chamber. ROY WIDDOWSON, Redcar, Cleveland.
Wrong target
THE issue of pollution caused by wood-burning stoves and open fires highlights the lack of joinedup thinking. The Defra figure of 38 per cent for UK particulate emissions caused by domestic fires and stoves is shocking.
Even a Government-approved ‘eco-friendly’ stove emits pollution at the same rate as 25 ten-year-old diesel lorries, we are told.
road transport accounts for 12 per cent of particulate emissions, yet all the emphasis is on eliminating internal combustion cars by 2040.
To replace the 32 million cars on British roads at an average price of £30,000 would cost £960 billion.
There are 1.5 million stoves and, at an average price of £2,000, the cost of writing these off would be a much lower £3 billion. Such a move is unlikely, even though we are prepared to cripple the UK motor industry and the economy. You can’t go to work on a stove.
MIKE BASNETT, Walsall, W. Mids.
Loving son
DAVID prOWSE’S moving account of his life caring for his mum who has Alzheimer’s (femail) mirrors my experience.
I am looking after my mother full-time after resigning from my job six years ago.
Like David, I have had to negotiate the hurdles of social isolation, physical and mental exhaustion, the pain of seeing the mother I have loved all my life slowly disintegrate, and the anxiety over the decisions about her care that will inevitably have to be faced.
He ends his article by saying: ‘It’s just me, a couple of self-help guides, guesswork and love.’
May I recommend to anyone in the same situation the website
futurelearn.com, which offers free online dementia courses. for personal help and support, I must thank the Admiral Nurse service supported by Dementia UK. STEVE BAILEY,
Manchester.