Not a bad idea to convert tanks into climbing frames

I was pleased to see, a few days ago, some kids clambering and having fun on that tank opposite the Prince of Wales pub.

Machines such as that were designed, manufactured and used purely as instruments of slaughter. I’m surprised that such an unpleasant machine should be treated with reverence rather than put to use as scrap metal. There are museums dedicated to the preservation of militaria of all kinds and it would seem that one such museum would be the proper place for engines of warfare such as this tank.

If I remember correctly, there is some mention in the bible of converting swords into ploughshares. Perhaps tanks into climbing frames might be a present-day equivalent of such a sentiment.

A mere community centre is unlikely to figure highly on our councillors’ to-do list - apart, that is from closing one down, as is the situation facing the people of Bockhanger and Bybrook. Accordingly, an online petition has been started. We’re told that the council coffers are brimming with cash, so it would seem that there’s no good reason why the good people of Bybrook and Bockhanger should have to wait long for a smart, new, modern centre in which to do whatever it is that communities do when they have somewhere in which to do it. On the subject of brimming coffers, given that Fergus Wilson is busying himself with issuing eviction notices to some of his tenants and given that he says he intends to sell off his portfolio of 300 or so rented out properties by the end of the year, would it not be sensible for our council to step in and compulsorily purchase many – if not all – the properties he owns within the borough?

Such a move would at least ease the worry of victims of the mass evictions and indicate a degree of care for the soon-to-be disadvantaged.

It would also give Ashford a good supply of much-needed social and/ or affordable housing.

There is some mention in the Bible of converting swords into ploughshares