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Housing anger

IN 2010 I wrote to the newly elected Swindon South MP Robert Buckland on several issues, one being the rise of homeless people under a Tory government.

The latest figures on homelessness released a couple of weeks ago revealed that the numbers have doubled since 2010.

In his recent budget chancellor George Osbourne appeared to brag about the fact that he was going to spend £100 million to prevent more people becoming homeless.

With all the cuts over the last six years this government has created mass homelessness and the £100 million that he announced he is going to spend should have been spent/given to housing charities/housing projects six years ago to prevent homelessness.

MARK WEBB

Old Town

Swindon

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Daffodil delight

QUERCUS robur, or English oak is my favourite native British tree, followed closely by Wales’ symbolic mountain ash (Sorbus).

As a proud Welshwoman you will not be surprised to learn that my favourite flower is the daffodil, Narcissus pseudonarcissus.

Long may Coate Water to the County Ground be lined in spring with vast expanses of beautiful nodding daffs.

A REEVE

Old Town

Swindon

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Am I the only one?

I HAVE just read £9m (£2m over spent) worth of nothing.

Before the letters page gets inundated with the yes or no brigade, to leave or not to leave that is the question. I thought the whole idea was to enlighten the great masses and explain with facts and figures not a five point list of what the UK may have secured in a special status list all of which may well be cancelled by Brussels if we vote to stay in. Can we trust them? Me personally, I am still in a state of confusion. The leaflet sent out by the party in control of this great land did nothing at all for me. All it did was scream out The Tory one sided reasons to stay in the EU. There was no real evidence to sway my vote. A complete and utter waste of £9m (£2m over spent) of tax payers money.

Will the Leave party be bringing out a leaflet to the tune of another £7m of tax payers money to tell us, the masses, the reasons to leave? I wait with baited breath to see. At the moment I am not a convinced voter either way, which makes me wonder am I the only one.

JOHN L CROOK

Haydon Wick

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Important facts missing

THE government leaflet sent to every house at a cost of £9 million is missing two important facts.

The leaflet should have included the cost of Britain’s EU membership fee which is £55 million a day.

Britain’s trade deficit with the EU is £60 billion a year and this important fact should also have been included in the leaflet.

These two facts are fundamental to the decision when the public has to choose whether it is best to remain or leave the European Union.

STEVE HALDEN

Beaufort Green

Swindon

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Holiday booking angst

IF you have booked a holiday or thinking of it, beware.

We booked a trip to York and the Yorkshire Dales. Having been given the coach pick-up place in Swindon a taxi arrived and said he was to take us to Gloucester, and there was the coach.

When we reached Woodall Services on the M1 we all had to join other coaches depending on our hotels.

After waiting three hours the coach for us had not arrived and we were directed to another. We missed going to York and at our hotel our meals were waiting.

The new driver spoke very little English - he just grunted and shrugged his shoulders.

Everyday something went wrong and did not follow the itinerary.

The final fiasco was when we got back to Gloucester there was no taxi waiting for us.

The emergency number we’d been given only played a message about a magazine - we tried three times on separate phones.

We wrote to Diamond Holidays - no reply. We wrote to A.B.T.A with copies of our letters, they told us we were in a queue. No luck with compensation so we are asking for the taxi fare from Gloucester to Swindon - £100.

My latest letter of three/four weeks ago has not been replied to. In their latest letter they said the time delay means no further action from them. The time delay is of their making.

CA WEBB

Royal Wootton Bassett

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It's a big world out there

ON Monday 11 April I received, by post, my copy of the Government funded pro European Union propaganda leaflet.

This undemocratic biased attempt to brainwash the UK public has cost the tax payers almost £10 million.

Shamefully, the government has failed to provide the Leave campaign with an equal opportunity to put its case forward. They have obviously been learning lessons (or perhaps taking orders) from their antidemocratic masters in the European Union.

What will the Government’s next move be? Perhaps they could organise a North Korean style referendum and issue ballot papers with just one tick box for remain in the European Union.

On the same day as my government indoctrination leaflet arrived, I picked up my copy of the Swindon Advertiser and as I turned to the Business News noticed the headline “Trade deficit with the EU hits £23.8bn”.

This report informed readers that the office of national statistics said the UK’s trade deficit with the EU hit £8.6 billion for the month of February and £23.8 billion in the three months to January. It also said, both of these figures are the highest since the ONS began collecting this data in 1998.

This implies that in a year the UK will spend in excess of £90 billion more on trade with the EU than the EU spends on trade with the UK. Let’s not forget in addition to this huge trade deficit the UK also hands over a net difference of £8.5 billion per annum in contributions to the EU.

There are those in the Remain campaign who try to use scare tactics by saying if the UK was to leave the EU they would be reluctant to trade with us. The figures above speak for themselves.

We buy far more from the EU than they buy from us. Is anyone seriously suggesting that Germany won’t want to continue exporting their cars to us or that France won’t want to keep exporting its wine and cheese to us? Does anyone seriously think the EU is going to cut off its nose to spite its face?

The UK is a growing economy and is the fifth largest economy in the world. The rest of the world is full of massive growing economies. International Monetary Fund data confirms that the EU’s share of world GDP continues to shrink. It has fallen from 30 per cent in 1980 to 17 per cent in 2015 and the forecast is for it to continue to fall.

Recent events show the UK government is losing credibility and public confidence. The Remain campaign’s scary arguments don’t stand up to scrutiny.

Its a big world out there and there’s plenty of trading to be done. I predict after Brexit the EU will be clamouring to trade with the UK.

MR K KANE

Wharf Road, Wroughton

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Western Players cheers

THE Western Players have done it again.

Night Watch at the Arts Centre is a thriller set in Kensington with a wife who has ‘visions’, and wait for the sting in the tail – the play had an excellent cast led by Karen Evans who played the part so naturally. The eaves dropping housekeeper played by Edelgard Funk was very amusing, the irritating neighbour played excellently by Matt Hemmings and the psychiatrist, Shirley Dobson was brilliant.

The set and particularly the lighting was very atmospheric.

Well done to all the cast and production team, particularly the director John Fisher.

If you get a chance to see this, you will not be disappointed

CHRIS KYLE

Wanborough

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Blaming EU for all ills

IN reference to letter dated March 9 Swindon Advertiser, Steve Halden states our manufacturing such as ship building motor bikes and electrical components such as television etc have been lost, the reason given is our joining of the common market in 1973.

I wish to inform him that it was the Japanese who took over the ship building industry as they were able to produce ships lighter and faster because they had invested in modern technology, they were also more efficient in costing.

The same goes for motor bikes like Yamaha etc, Hitachi televisions and a host of electrical components. The Americans also built the United States cruise liner thus taking the Blue Riband from us as being the fastest liner to cross the Atlantic.

Mr Halden, you seem to blame the EU for all our ills, but as you seem to be the spokesman for UKIP in Swindon its about time you told your followers the true facts without being misleadingbecause this is not the only time you have tried to mislead the public. Digital TV was one of them, and by the way our car industries rely heavily on investment from India.

ROGER DYSON

Haydon Wick

Grinding to a halt

BRITAIN joined the Common Market in 1973 as a thriving vibrant economy, but 43 years later the British economy is on its knees.

Swindon Borough Council needs to cut its spending by £20 million a year.

The first targets for cuts are libraries, Coate Water, Lydiard Park and picking up litter from the streets.

The Public Libraries Act 1850 gave local councils the power to establish free public Libraries.

The Victorians could find money for libraries 166 years ago but now we find they are a luxury that we cannot afford.

Britain must vote to leave the EU on 23rd June because at the present time the British economy is slowly grinding to a halt.

TERRY HAYWARD

Burnham Road

Swindon