Diocese is clearly out of touch with its congregations

ter has donated a staggering £15 million to the Conservative Party. This almost equates with the sum of money spent by the Tories at the last general election. We now know where their funding for the general election later this year will come from: someone who makes racist and sexist remarks and is happy to express the desire to kill an MP. To paraphrase Mel Stride’s remarks, is it not now time for the whole Conservative Party to “move on”? more dense than water that can be used in thousands of locations in the UK.

We can also reduce our energy consumption by building low-carbon houses and insulating older ones. Other clean, renewable energy sources like geothermal and tidal all have their place.

Anyone who is looking for excuses and not solutions clearly doesn’t understand the dangers future generations face if we fail: and for those who say: “What about China?” we can influence China by working with other nations who want to do the right thing. China relies on trade, so we have influence, but only if we act ourselves.

One thing is certain; if we don’t continue to make progress, we cannot ask others to do what is necessary. ✒ SAVE the Parish is right; our churches are under threat. I am very glad that you are covering such an important topic.

As someone who is in their early twenties and helps in my local church, I am very much concerned by the way the Truro diocese is running (or ruining) local parishes. With each month the number of worshippers is going down, and I could not agree more with Save the Parish.

I find the response of the Truro diocese very out of touch; those of us who spare our time are not trying to “bring down the church”. Exactly the opposite: we are trying to prevent it. and pipes and processing the sewage. Suddenly, dividends for shareholders (typically private equity, hedge fund, foreign) and bosses’ sevenfigure salaries became the priority.

The overriding need to enrich a select few at the expense of the community has led directly to the threat of a desalination plant. South West Water’s sole justification for this project is that it is committed to ensuring the taps don’t run dry: but, of course, those words ring hollow because in the same breath the company says that repairing leaking pipes is an expensive way of protecting water supplies. The reality is that repairing pipes and making sure Colliford Reservoir (only 72% full after eight months’ torrential rain) is a drain (no pun intended) on profits while a sexy capital scheme can simply be loaded on to the bills we all pay. It is easy to see how a desalination plant seems a quick win for the freeloaders.

Taking water, along with gas, electricity, telecoms, rail, mail and housing, back into public ownership needs to happen. These industries need to be run by a system of

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Taking water, gas, electricity, telecoms, rail, mail and housing back into public ownership needs to happen

grassroots democracy involving the workers and consumers. We have seen with the appalling Post Office scandal that a publicly-owned utility run on top-down, capitalist lines offers no protection or accountability to workers or consumers. Shareholders, who have had a ball for 35 years, will receive no compensation except in cases of proven need.

The immediate task for the many people who cherish Par beach and St Austell Bay is to defeat the desalination proposal. Once that is achieved, I hope people will reflect on the fact that while water remains a source of profit the next desalination project is just around the corner. We need our utilities back in public hands.