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Germans need to learn

SO ONCE more Germany is insisting that we Britons have to still allow free movement of people within our country if we wish to have contact with the Single Market.

I sincerely hope that our prime minister Mrs May remembers what she has already stated. Brexit is Brexit. And that no free movement was a very large part of the Referendum vote, which came out decidedly in favour of leaving the EU.

Do these German politicians really believe that if they stick to this line that Germany can afford not to sell one million vehicles into this country in the future.

I am sure that Mercedes, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche will be well pleased with this stupid statement from a delusional German politician. Do the Germans never learn?

When we the British say no we mean no. It’s not rocket science. All we want is a level playing field. We will buy their cars and a fair amount of their beer. But we don’t want them just coming over here from all quarters of Europe. We told them that in 1939-1945.

When are they going to realise that no means no?

So, come on, Mrs May. Most of us are totally behind you.

The Single Market would be of help to us but it’s not at any price.

We can get new markets and, if we are honest, we all know that.

It’s about time the Germans learned a lesson once and for all.

DAVID COLLINS

Blake Crescent, Swindon

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EU won’t win trade war

I WONDER how many of your readers are aware that the EU has decided to try blackmailing the UK into a trade deal.

Brussels is saying they will only allow us into the free market if we accept unlimited immigration.

Does it want a trade war it cannot win? We have 27 countries around the globe queuing up to do business with the UK since we opted for Brexit.

And, while it would be nice to continue to trade with France, Germany and the rest, it really is not an essential for Britain.

However, for the EU, trading with the UK is as vital as breathing is for the prolonging of life.

The EU’s share of world trade has dropped dramatically in recent years. It has fallen from over 30 per cent in 1980 to just 18.3 per cent in 2014.

It is further projected to fall to under 10 per cent by 2039.

Despite this, it is now threatening one of their biggest export markets with a trade war.

Over the last six years the EU nations have sold the UK a staggering £190bn worth of goods more than we have sold to them.

Are they really going to put such a market at risk simply to enforce free movement?

This was one of the main reasons so many of your readers voted to leave in the first place.

Over that same six years our trade around the globe has been making this country a £21bn surplus.

With the probable 27 new trade deals in place as soon as we get out of the EU that can only massively increase in the future.

Looked at from their perspective, Brussels are effectively saying “Accept free movement of people or we will plunge the rest of the EU into a minimum £31bn per year financial black hole by not trading with you.”

TONY MOLLAND

Former chairman

Devizes Constituency UKIP Association

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Keep buildings elegant

I AM very pleased to read in the Adver we are having a new museum and art gallery.

Can we please have a really elegant building this time round?

Apsley House is a lovely building that was ruined by the carbuncle built on to it in the 1960s.

Surely somewhere there is an architect who can design something suitable for the 21st century that is useful and elegant and does not look like a public toilet?

There are still in Swindon some very attractive buildings, perhaps the architect could do a tour of the old streets to get some ideas.

Also plans should be put on view before anything is decided.

We do not want another gas works or car park.

MARGARET GARDINER

Address Supplied

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Incinerator is just that

THE article in the SA 28/8, Campaign against South Marston Energy Centre, intimating the word incinerator was

not accepted as the description for gasification, needs clarification.

According to the .gov.uk website, article 3 of the IED reads:

“41) ‘incineration plant’ means any stationary or mobile technical unit whose main purpose is the generation of energy or production of material products and which uses waste as a regular or additional fuel or in which waste is thermally treated for the purpose of disposal through the incineration by oxidation of waste as well as other thermal treatment processes, such as pyrolysis, gasification or plasma

process.”

As the speaker explained at the meeting, “the plant would first heat the waste to force off gases, and then the gases would be burned in a second combustion chamber”.

This is perfectly in line with the above definition of incineration.

The residents of Stratton and South Marston accept the government’s definition of incineration so too should the developer, Rolton Kilbride.

MAUREEN DILLEY

Whilestone Way

Swindon

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Glass table warning

A COUPLE of years ago my retired mother bought a garden furniture set for her decking in her garden at Coleview.

We were out for the afternoon, thank goodness, as she usually sits at it.

It was a hot afternoon and during the afternoon my neighbour said he heard what sounded like a car backfiring.

We came home at about 6pm and found the glass top table had exploded in the sun covering a substantial area with hundreds of thousands of tiny fragments of glass.

Today the clean up operation begins.

I would urge everyone to take care in such hot weather with glass topped tables. Imagine if a child had been playing under it.

STEVE BLANCHARD

Coleview

Stratton

Swindon

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Bag bits up for charity

SEPTEMBER is Women And Heart Disease Awareness Month at the British Heart Foundation.

I’m writing to ask your readers to help fund vital research into heart disease by taking part our in Bag It, Beat It campaign.

About 28,000 women die from a heart attack each year in the UK – that’s three every hour.

But surveys have shown that women are less likely than men to recognise the symptoms of a heart attack and seek help.

I’ve donated to my local shop and I’d encourage all your readers to get involved this September and do the same.

Simply fill a bag with unwanted clothes, shoes, books, handbags, DVDs, CDs, bric-a-brac and children’s toys, to Bag It, Beat It.

All donations will help the BHF to fund life-saving heart research.

It is a sad reality that coronary heart disease is the single biggest killer in the UK, causing the deaths of more that 6,530 people in the South West each year, more than 2,730 of which are women.

But with the continued support of the local community the BHF can fight harder to reduce this figure.

For more information and to find your local BHF shop, visit bhf.org. uk/bagit or to book a free collection call 0808 250 0024.

It’s a wonderful way to declutter and save lives.

DAME ESTHER RANTZEN

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Seeking an old friend

MY DAUGHTER and her friend went to Princecroft School and Kingdown School in Warminster in the mid-1970s.

We sadly moved back to Kent because of my husband’s work but Shanti Bamforth and my daughter Jacqueline Ditcher kept in touch for some years.

Shanti lived in Pound Street, Warminster with her adopted parents Monica and Mike Eden.

Over the years Jacqueline and Shanti remained in touch. However, Shanti married a soldier and moved to Germany.

Jacqueline sent Shanti her own beautiful wedding dress to be married in.

Jacqueline did visit Monica and Mike when driving through Warminster in approximately 1996 but since then we have lost touch but would love to trace Shanti.

Shanti was born in Malaysia and our whole family loved her. We have felt sorry we all lost touch.

My daughter is now a grandmother but often wishes she knew where Shanti was and I would so much like to find her.

Neither of us can remember Shanti’s new surname which has not helped.

If anyone has any information, please contact me.

JUNE DITCHER

17 Alison Crescent

Whitfield, Kent

01304 827109

June.ditcher@hotmail.com

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Gridlock from homes

REGARDING concerns raised by Marlborough Town Council over traffic problems being caused by the 175 new homes planned off Salisbury road, they are about 40 years too late.

This traffic problem was argued over when the railway was closed down. What a brilliant idea that was, but it did offer a perfect solution to the traffic problem.

By turning the track into a perfect bypass it would have solved today’s problems.

But there were always the objectors who, with no thought of the future thought that Marlborough would die if that happened, were probably the same people who thought the same thing when the M4 was built.

I can foresee no solution now, without great expense.

People keep banging on about Marlborough needing more homes and jobs, but this will not help the traffic problem. With the two or three cars per household coming out of this development, plus from the hotel, this will cause a permanent hold-up.

My journey from Burbage into Marlborough used to average 10-12 minutes. The other day, midweek at 3pm, it took 45 minutes. In a couple of years it will be gridlocked.

MIKE BIRD

Burbage