Ye Olde Greggs Post Office repercussions

the money.

2024 is a Local and General Election election year. I wonder if the sanctimonious, shameless Lib

Dem hypocrites will campaign with a prominent picture of their national leader, Sir In Denial Davey The Lib Dem Limpet, on their publications?

It could be that now, after Mr Bates vs the Post Office, voting Liberal Democrat won’t serve any useful purpose.

Paul Clarke, Wokingham

Wokingham is home to the oldest branch of Greggs in the country. Originally opened in premises opposite Station Approach, the business was set up by members of Corpus Christi Church to provide an alternative to Wokingham’s many drinking establishments and was named after the famously abstemious Pope Gregory IX.

In a time before mass media, the church choir would re-purpose hymns in order to advertise; examples being, “Dance, dance, wherever you may be; £1.10 for a beef pasty” and

“And it’s from the old I travel to the new; vegan sausage-rolls are threefor-two”.

This is from where we get the phrase “Gregorian Chant”.

The bakery used to claim it could cover anything in pastry, and its most audacious publicity stunt came in the August of 1898 when it coated the entirety of the street opposite in rough-puff-pastry, giving it its current name - “Wellington Road”.

Tim House-Pardy, Wokingham Living History Editor notes: This made us chuckle, but it is a great work of fiction

The Horizon saga just emphasises the dictatorship we are all living in our daily lives.

Sir Ed Davey’s attitude to the poor sub-postmasters and subpostmistresses who have been crucified because those in power cannot distinguish between right and wrong is appalling.

He is clearly not fit, with an attitude like that, to head any political party and should resign now.

Unfortunately, we have the same attitude in Wokingham with our overpriced salary leader of Highways Cllr Fishwick refusing a meeting with residents irrespective of whether a road surface is dangerous or not as it is in Radcot Close and Western Avenue.

Radcot Close was partly resurfaced a few weeks ago and already the holes are back.

The leader of the Council complains every week about the lack of government funding.

Why doesn’t he try some fundraising schemes or even approach the elite residents who have houses worth in excess of £1m to lend money?

We also never see a set of accounts from whichever party is in power.

Everything is swept under the carpet and away from the residents.

All the figures that are bandied about you cannot trust.

The Council can do just what it likes paying crazy salaries to executives and the residents have no say.

Unfortunately, there are not enough people like Alan Bates who took on the post office and who will step forward and challenge these injustices in our society. It is clear

that anyone who wants to take on a post office has to sign a contract part of which says that it is not allowed to complain about the software used in the computer.

This is clearly against the worst dictatorship imaginable.

It does not take much intelligence or common sense to understand that all technology will have faults.

People should be allowed to complain and have their complaints properly investigated independently. Every postmaster or postmistress should have this item taken out of the contract.

We seem to have reached a point in our society when the only way we can get a complaint heard is either through social media or a television company that might be prepared to support the cause.

All these points raised just confirm that we were being run nationally and locally by a political party which is destroying our society.

So next time you vote, think twice and ask yourself why you are voting for a particular person.

Cedric Lander, Woodley

Listen more please

Watching the public inquiry on the Post Office I am appalled by some of the comments from some Post Office Sub Postmasters such as “I am not listened to” and overweening bureaucrats that treat us little better than cattle”.

There are so many many more similar comments.

Then reading Wokingham Today over the last two weeks I find articles by the current Lib Dem Leader of Wokingham Borough Council and his Executive Member for planning pontificate with their red herrings on the Government and excessive housing numbers.

The real truth is the local Conservatives when in power supported a plan for 2,300 houses over and above Government allocation to be built in the period 2040 to 2055 when they only have to plan TO build in the next plan period 2025 to 2040.

I have no doubt the Government might like the more houses the Lib Dems seem to be happy with building, but they are not forcing the Council to build the extra 2,300 houses.

Prior to the election the then Lib

Dem Leader Clive Jones (Sir John Redwood’s opponent at the next general election) stood placard in hand with the residents fighting 4,500 houses at Hall Farm.

After the election when he came to power he did nothing when he could have just removed the extra 2,300 houses at a stroke of a pen.

I wonder if he wins at Wokingham can we rely on him to honour his commitments or will he be like Sir Ed Davey in his handling of the Post Office fiasco?

Getting back to housing numbers, if a Council builds less than their official government housing numbers in their 15-year plan it creates two issues.

One is the developers can challenge the Council at appeal using the failure to deliver as planned (often referred to as failure to maintain a five-year housing land supply) and then when the next plan is drafted any deficiency in numbers is simply added to the new number for the next 15-year plan.

If a Council delivers more than they are required to build then the government might say thanks very much but it will not nor has it ever reduced future housing allocations because any Council were good lads and built more than they were required to build.

This is the Lib Dems’ BIG RED HERRING saying they are trying to persuade the Government to reduce the number of houses planned by 2,000 when all they have to do is say in the evolving housing plan that they will not plan for any houses over and above the numbers the Government sets for the new 15-year plan.

That’s their official right but they don’t want to do it for reasons best known to themselves while they fool us all by saying time and time again that they are fighting the housing numbers. How building 2,300 more houses than they are required to build fits that bill I do not know.

At the Post Office public inquiry, another comment made was “They have lost sight of the fact that they are dealing with human beings”.

It’s a pity that the Lib Dem Leadership at Wokingham Borough Council have not learned that lesson and came clean over the fact that they want to build all the houses they don’t have to build while at the same time trying and fool us into thinking otherwise.

Let’s show them on May 2 that we are human beings with a vote and so a sting in our tail.

Cllr Gary Cowan, Independent Borough Councillor for Arborfield at Wokingham Borough Council

Be dry and visit the pub

You might be surprised by someone from Alcohol Change UK advocating this, but we’re nearly at the end of Dry January - so maybe it’s time to head to the pub.

Giving up alcohol shouldn’t mean giving up socialising. Pubs are increasingly supportive of Dry January, and for good reason. Our research shows that 44% of those going alcohol-free this month are more likely to visit a bar or pub if it serves a good selection of alcohol-free beers, wines or spirits.

So how about seeing what’s behind the bar at your local? You might find a range of good options already on offer – there’s been a huge increase in the quality and availability of alcohol-free products over recent years. And they can help us cut down the amount of alcohol we drink, while making nights out more inclusive.

But they’re still not universally easy to find. You can help change that. In fact, many of our supporters have told us that speaking to the landlord of their local has resulted in better alcohol-free options being stocked year-round.

If you’d like to see improved options behind the bar, why not pop into your favourite pub and start a conversation with the staff? Your encouragement might just help make your local even better!

Check out dryjanuary.org.uk for more info.

Joe Marley, director, Alcohol Change UK, the charity behind

Dry January