Letters: June 3, 2016

Anonymity is granted only at the discretion of the editor, who also reserves the right to edit letters.

Diminished standing

UNFORTUNATELY, our country has little viable alternative than to remain in the EU.

It is very obvious our country can no longer compete with others and is unable to pay its way in the world.

The seeds of its destruction were sown by Tory prime minister Edward Heath in 1973 when he signed up for a European Union that was purely a trading agreement.

Since then it has changed out of all recognition.

However, irreparable damage to our ability to pay our way in the world was to be wrought on us all in 1979 with the election of another Tory MP Margaret Thatcher, who wasted little time in placating the whims of those she surrounded herself with, by rushing off to the Adam Smith Institute to seek advice from Sir Alan Walters.

He came back from excursions to the USA full of enthusiasm on to how to flog off all state-run industries, asset strip and close down the then ‘northern powerhouse’ with its vast manufacturing machinery base.

How obscene that the man should have been knighted for this wanton destruction.

What was to follow was an obscene ‘feeding frenzy’ in the 1980s by city slickers off the proceeds, while the British people were continually fed the lie that the country no longer needed manufacturing, most of it had to go and the way forward was speculative banking and services.

It took a long time for the chickens to come home to roost, however they did with the crash of 2008 we are still suffering from now.

Even though the likes of Boris, Gove, and IDS, may mean well there is no going back to a manufacturing-based economy as the cost would be astronomical, and the city frittered it all away in the 1980s mega binge.

Recently I watched a programme which recalled the triumph of England winning the World Cup in 1966.

Our country at that point was at its zenith, and there was a feeling anything was possible.

It now saddens me to see we have such a depleted manufacturing base we have to go cap in hand to the Chinese Communist Party and France so they will build us a nuclear power station.

I do not agree with building nuclear power stations but didn’t we have this capability once, or were Calder Hall, Dounreay, etc just figments of my imagination?

There cannot be any one of us that does not find it obscene that our transport infrastructure and essential utilities are now in foreign hands and that we no longer have the manufacturing base or the skills to make ships, planes, locomotives and rolling stock. Sadly, we are reliant upon other nations and financially in hock to them.

It is also obscene to see war break out within the Tory Party between the Brexiteers and the better off in brigade, as it is this same party that put GB limited up for sale in the 1980s and have dug us into a hole we cannot climb out of without the assistance of our European cousins.

GA WOODWARD

Nelson Street, Swindon

....

Count cost of leaving

I SUPPORT the EU, it is a natural progression of co-operation for Europe. With some disagreements the UK union has worked for 200 years.

I do have reservations, including further expansion. We should bring our new partners up to speed before looking at other members, these changes can only be done from inside the EU.

I wonder what will happen if Scotland and/or Wales votes to stay in the EU?

The Britex group may succeed in ending the 200 years of the United Kingdom where Hitler failed.

Never mind, according to Ian Hunt (The Adver, May 28) all the ‘little Hitlers in Brussels’ will be pleased.

My stance against Britex is simple. To leave will prove to be a backward step for the majority of UK citizens and all of Europe.

Where would the money come from for the transitional years? Panama? I think not. Joe Public’s pocket, likely.

A quick TTIP trade deal with the USA is very possible. US oil companies are waiting to frack up the UK.

Are readers aware, more than half of Tory MPs have investments in private healthcare?

The US health companies think the NHS is ready for take-over – a one-way street for a vulnerable little island.

Who supports them? Dan Hannan, Michael Gove, Jeremy Hunt, Douglas Carwell, (SA 28/05/2016) Boris and Ian Duncan Smith.

Britex will not stop immigration, legal or not. For the foreseeable future the UK will appear to be utopia to the undeveloped world.

With 20,000 miles of coast and inventive people smugglers, half a dozen ships of the Royal Navy would not be able to patrol every mile and inlet. Fix the source, develop Africa.

Who would govern these little independent islands? Boris, educated through the Bullingdon Club. Family links to Turkey, Switzerland, France Russia and the USA.

Then we have IDS, who said of himself: “Do not underestimate the determination of a quiet man.” His DWP has been accused of harsh treatment of vulnerable British citizens.

Two weeks after one man’s benefits were cut he was found dead from diabetic ketoacidosis – the fridge where he stored his insulin wasn’t working as the electricity had been cut off.

A man partially paralysed, missing half his head, was declared fit to work. What kind of leadership is this? And there are many more. Be aware, Britex are saying anything to win.

MIKE SPRY

Mayfield Close, Nythe, Swindon

....

Widdecombe support

ANN Widdecombe courted controversy in her time as a high ranking politician, but no-one can dispute she has a good brain.

It’s no secret she wasn’t in favour of David Cameron becoming Conservative leader in 2005.

I am not a Tory but wonder what Britain would be like now, within the EU if she had taken the reins at the start of the Conservative administration in 2010. A darn sight better I’d say.

I have no doubt this lady would have been the woman for the moment in negotiating Britain’s position in Brussels.

Having immense strength of character, a wealth of experience in politics, being quick witted and a good debater she would have run rings around these unelected EU bureaucrats.

Why didn’t she take up the reins in 2010's General Election? Didn’t she put herself forward, or couldn’t she drum up enough support?

If the latter, why not? Did being single have something to do with it? Not glamorous enough in front of the camera like Thatcher or Merkel? Seen as too forthright with the truth?

Could it have been fear her strong Christian faith could offend Britain’s multi-faith society? Or was she labelled as being just too British?

With her shed-load of political experience she is in a better position than most people when it comes to making such a monumental decision whether we stay or leave the EU.

I welcome her decision to vote Leave. She admits the economy will probably take a hit, but she is confident Britain in the long term will be stronger when it’s free to take control of its own destiny.

A survey in Japan and China, asks people to describe their thoughts about Great Britain. The Japanese said it was a nation of bad food.

The Chinese said we were a small but strong nation. I think you would agree they are right on both accounts!

WILLIAM ABRAHAM

Rodbourne, Swindon

....

Hard times on horizon

GREENLAND is the only country to have ever withdrawn from the EU, and it hasn’t gone well.

Greenland originally joined the then-European Communities with Denmark in 1973.

A referendum was held in 1982 over a dispute over fishing rights. Greenland voted to leave and it took a country of only 53,000 people and only one export to the EU – fish – three years to extricate themselves with the exit agreement The Greenland Treaty, which was finalised in1985.

The UK has a population more than 1,000 times larger and exports more than 4,500 products to the EU.

It is going to take much, much longer to renegotiate entry back into the Single Market than the two years Brexit campaigners are suggesting.

According to Dr Damien Degeorges, a Reykjavík-based international consultant, Greenland today is facing political and economic difficulties.

Even though the Self Rule Act of 2009 made Greenland’s independence legally possible, such a perspective remains far away.

It is one thing is to declare independence; it is another to have built a solid independent economy.

If the UK decides to follow Greenland’s example, we will be facing hard times and at least a decade of tough negotiations.

In the meantime, it’s families that will be paying the price through higher living costs, fewer jobs, and a less stable economy.

ALEX HEGENBARTH

Britain Stronger In Europe

Swindon

....

Outdated institution

RE BACKING our Royalty (S Picket The Adver, May 26).

At first I thought the letter had come straight from the Palace Propaganda Press Agency.

I would request that S Picket responds to the following questions:

1) Our Royal Family, he states, bring millions of pounds to the economy with tourism. Facts and figures, and quote your sources.

2) The Queen's 'incredible knowledge'. Knowledge of what? And how does it justify paying her via the benefits system, a third of a billion pounds each year?

Unemployed university dons, I'm sure, also possess incredible knowledge, but aren't paid an obnoxious sum each year which could be better spent on Joe Public.

3) Our Royal Family is the envy of the world, he claims. Another absurd statement when most countries are now republics!

Are you saying that they are all hankering after returning their ousted royal parasites back to their countries? Which countries have you in mind?

In the 21st century we ought not to have such unaffordable anachronistic institutions bordering on pantomime anymore.

If you fail to respond, I'll assume tail between legs.

JEFF ADAMS

Bloomsbury

Swindon