Dear Editor, We are almost at the end of the public consultation period over the seven Post Offices that are being closed by the Government across North Warwickshireand Bedworth.
The deadline for making your voice heard is 4 August.
Local Conservatives have been campaigning against these closures for over a year: a campaign that has included raising awareness of the threat through newspaper articles, radio interviews, leaflets and high street stalls.
In partnership with local sub-Postmasters and with the Atherstone Chamber of Commerce, we organised a constituency-wide petition and delivered some 3,288 signatures to 10 Downing Street.
Throughout our campaign, we were accused of ‘scaremongering’ by our local Labour MP. He attacked me in the press for talking about the issue, and refused to back our local campaign and petition. He voted in Parliament FOR every measure that has led to these cuts, and in March this year he voted AGAINST a Conservative motion to halt the closure programme.
Yet now he is suddenly a convert to the cause. Now that his Party are sinking in the polls and he is facing the prospect of losing his seat at the next General Election, he is popping up at public meetings and apparently campaigning to save a selected few local branches.
Why do Labour MPs and Ministers think they can get away with making decisions in Westminster, then try to distance themselves when the impact of those decisions cause pain locally?
The people of North Warwickshire and Bedworth aren’t fools. They know these cuts haven’t fallen out of the air – they are Labour Party Policy.
For local Labour politicians to pretend otherwise is demeaning for everyone.
Dan Byles,
Conservative Parliamentary,
Candidate for North Warwickshire& Bedworth.
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Civic society’s reputation has been damaged by this error
Dear Editor, The curious letter from Freddie Gick, (Birmingham Post, July 26) signed as Chairman of the Birmingham & Midland Institute, regarding the civic society and the NatWest tower, only clarifies the position, as he claims, by demonstrating just how confusing and confused the society appears to be.
To someone who is a detached observer brought up to date with recent reports in The Birmingham Post, it is obvious that the proposed tower will be a monstrous disfigurement to the area of Colmore Row and the council house, and a disgraceful memorial to whoever allows it to be built.
As the civic society finds itself the only local society concerned with the environment and conservation to support the proposal, it is not surprising to find Mr Gick and his associates on the defensive.
He says the society continues to be generally supportive of the proposal a few days after its vice chairman said it is not, and then offers four rather odd reasons for opposing it, the oddest being the shadow it may throw in the evening.
Another, almost as absurd, is the way the office lights will be seen at night by someone in Colmore Row. If the matter were not so serious his claims would produce derisory laughter.
As things stand, they should surely put his continued tenure of office in doubt.
Birmingham Civic Society has a long and honourable record for its endeavours on behalf of the city. What a pity that this record has been blighted so severely by an error of judgment that makes one wonder where its present loyalties lie.
James Clayton.
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Chuckling at city reaction
Dear Editor, What irony that the BBC wants to erect a new screen in Victoria Square in order to show the handing over ceremony for the London Olympics (you know, the event that is supposed to be of national significance but is simply an excuse to divert billions of pounds worth of public money towards the London area at the expense of the rest of the country).
This is the same BBC that is abandoning Birmingham and concentrating its resources in London and Manchester. The same BBC that consistently overlooks Birmingham and the region when it comes to choosing locations for its productions.
So it’s obvious what is likely to happen - Birmingham will roll over and agree to whatever the BBC wants and the London-centric bosses at the BBC will chuckle at Birmingham’s impotence.
Anthony James,
Boldmere.
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Take a chair for exercise
Dear Editor, Do all your readers think they are fit? Or perhaps need to lose a few pounds? Then gird your loins for the Challenge of the Year. The Sedan Chair Race in Birmingham city centre is back on Friday August 29.
The children’s charity, Variety Club Midlands, with sponsorship from Birmingham City Council, Metro Bar & Grill and BRMB, is organising the race, which has become an annual feature to raise funds to help sick, disabled and disadvantaged children in the Midlands region.
In the past four years the Variety Club in the Midlands has been able to spend more than £1 million on these children, giving them greater freedom and choices in life through 40 Sunshine Coaches and 44 wheelchairs.
Sedan Chairs are ready and waiting to be ‘dressed’, all that is needed is to raise the £1,000 entry fee per team of nine people.
The event begins at 12 noon with the parading of the Chairs in Victoria Square and will end around 2pm at the Awards Ceremony.
Entry forms from: Ralph Holden (0121 772 2250) or Anne Kennedy (07958 591462).
David Dunckley,
PR to Variety Club Midlands.
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Poverty hits farm workers
Dear Editor, Whilst we all moan at the rising costs of our food shopping there is a hidden risk that could trigger a major food crisis at home and abroad in the near future.
As annual pay talks get under way at the Agricultural Wages Board it is apparent that poverty pay is decimating the rural workforce. Currently half the farm workers are over 55 and a quarter over retirement age with farmers advising their children not to follow them onto the land since they will not get a living wage.
The trend that migrant workers are returning home it will become impossible to provide food security at home or help those starving abroad.
If agriculture and horticulture is to have a future then the National Farmers Union needs to grasp the nettle now.
In what other industry would we expect skilled workers to have charge of livestock or complex and dangerous machinery worth a king’s ransom yet pay them less than £7 an hour?
Steve Kirkham.
