The Queen shouldn’t be wearing ANY fur...
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ANY new outfits made for the Queen will be fur-free but she could still wear older pieces in her wardrobe that are made of or contain fur.
A spokesman for Buckingham Palace added: “We are not suggesting the Queen will never wear fur again!” The statement comes 19 years after the Fur Farming (Prohibition) Act 2000 in an Act of Parliament to ‘prohibit the keeping of animals solely or primarily for slaughter for the value of their fur.’ This was a direct result of a public consultation in 1998 which found there was overwhelming support to end the practice.
Prior to the ban there were 11 farms in the UK producing up to 100,000 mink skins a year. Today about 100 million animals in the world are bred for their skins and we still import fur skins from other countries.
On the other hand I thought why would a 93-year-old woman, with a vast wardrobe of furs, want or need any more! She must have the most extensive set of clothes of any woman in the world. So this announcement, although welcome, is just a small gesture but if the Queen decided never to wear fur again, old as well as new, this surely would send a fashion statement out that would resonate around the world and help to accelerate the demise of this obnoxious business. Besides adding a positive dimension to her legacy this would certainly curry favour among young people.
These animals spend their thankfully short lives, chasing their tails around in small dirty cages they can barely fit into becoming more and more mentally deranged until death must come as a grateful release. It is truly shocking! The
Queen’s furs wouldn’t be wasted.
They could be donated to a museum that specialises and exhibits clothing through the ages. I look forward to the day when the only fur coat I see is on the back of an animal and this cruel industry is consigned to the dustbin of time forever!
Colin Morrison, Whitefield
Learn to live with floods
WE have all been shaken by the aerial photos of roads and railways looking like canals and gardens looking like rows of oblong ponds. The River Don has burst its banks with a vengeance.
It drives home the message of the increasing number of scientists who have warned of the effects of global warming.
There have been demands for better flood defences. The problem is to decide where they should be constructed. If built on the ruins of present ones they will be overwhelmed by future worse flooding. We will have to work out where the new land/water frontiers will be.
‘Managed retreat,’ a phrase coined over 20 years ago, will have to become policy. One village has been moved already.
Widespread devastation might mean that cut-off individuals and communities might have to wait their turn for rescue. With this in mind at risk households should be urged to stock basic provisions, solid fuel, water-purifying tablets etc, and keep them upstairs. At school children should be taught first aid and how to swim.
We are in the first stages of a climate war which will continue long after we are dead. Our survival as individuals and as a species depends on how quickly we grasp and adapt to this reality.
Let me recommend ‘The Uninhabitable Earth’ by David Wallace-Wells, the bibliography of which shows why so many scientists are worried.
These floods are the red card.
Margaret Brown, Burslem
Disappointed at Cenotaph
I HAVE attended the Cenotaph in Salford for over 30 years in all weathers.
Restrictions this year meant l could not get to my usual place near the scouts. It was hard to hear the speeches and there was no way to join in the hymn.
I left early and will not bother again. I hope the ‘dignitaries’ enjoyed their little quiet area.
S.C.Roberts, Salford
Christingle Services
LAST year, thousands of people came together to attend 157 local Christingle services across the Diocese of Chester. These special events raise money for The Children’s Society to help vulnerable children and young people. They enable us to provide direct support to those who may be experiencing abuse, neglect or mental health issues, children who may be living in poverty, as refugees, or missing from home or care.
Their Christmas may be broken, but together we can help these young people to rediscover hope for the future. That is why I am encouraging people from across Cheshire to attend a service and donate to The Children’s Society – please join us and share the light of Christingle.
Mark Russell, CEO, The Children’s Society
What does future hold?
IF Scotland does vote to leave the UK I wonder if they would face a divorce bill as the UK did with the EU?
Also if they rejoined the EU would it mean a hard border with England and a end to free movement of people, not to mention currency and passport changes?
Phil Meakin Salford