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Negotiating problem

POLITICIANS rely on the public sector civil servants to advise them on how to go about negotiating EU public sector business and is what Theresa May has been relying on when she triggers Article 50.

Negotiating business contracts is an art which can only be done by professional players in the private sector. A bit like poker where you never show your hand

With the exception of a few qualified lawyers who have chosen to be politicians, the rest of them are qualified at nothing more than the gift of the gab.

Take the last Chancellor for example. A geography graduate from Oxford. It would not have been so bad had he studied economics, and that also applies to his successor Mr Hammond, who is completely out of his depth

So they all have to rely on qualified private sector economists to run the economy. And good ones are hard to find.

And that raises a further question about the role of public sector mandarins running the Government of the day - in other words the old boy network whose noses have been put out of joint by Brexit, and one of whom was recently sacked by Theresa for his troubles.

But it seems that has not stopped them from trying to stop her from triggering Article 50 without the permission of the Remainers and going so far as to getting her to show her negotiating hand to all and sundry.

This alone proves that they are unfamiliar with the word negotiations. Nice club though, with plenty of perks to keep them going.

IAN HUNT

Hill View Road, Swindon

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Gallery questions

FURTHER to the SA Jan 12, page 4 and then Mr Renard’s piece about the new museum and art gallery.

Can it not be put to a referendum for all the people of Swindon to decide if we want to use £5m of taxpayers’ money and get the begging bowl out for the other £17m?

Part of the collection is on display in a gallery in Mayfair. This gallery is self supporting and pays for itself.

If everyone is so happy to loan “our” (Mr Renard’s quote) modern British art out to other galleries so lots of people can enjoy it, why not carry keep loaning the collection to galleries in other areas?

That way lots of people can see it and know it’s from the Swindon collection.

Then there’s no need to waste all that money, which we don’t have, to build a swan in the middle of the town and have to keep pumping taxpayers’ money into it for the next 50 years or so to keep it afloat.

Or is Mr Renard doing a Central Goverment ploy and borrowing the £5m to give away and we the taxpayers are left with a mountain of interest to pay back?

JOHN L CROOK

Haydon Wick, Swindon

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£5m will bring in £17m

ON BEHALF of the Swindon Museum And Art Gallery Trust I would like to correct a point made by David Collins (Letters, SA Monday January 16).

Mr Collins writes that Swindon Council is going to spend £20m on a new museum, but in fact, the council has pledged £5m towards it and the trust is working on securing the balance of about £17m in a variety of ways.

These include an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund, as well as corporate and private donations.

So, if the project succeeds, the £5m will bring in £17m to Swindon and a massive boost to its economy.

A model of the building that could become our new museum and art gallery is on view at the art gallery in Bath Road; I would encourage readers to take a look at it for themselves.

ROBERT HISCOX

Chairman, Swindon Museum and Art Gallery Trust

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Route uneconomic

M BRADFORD’S letter regarding extending Service 19 (Letters, 12 January) is a question we’re often asked – would it be possible to extend the routes from West Swindon to connect to North Swindon?

Just by looking at our route map, it’s clear that this area has scope for extension; however I’m sure that people will remember the introduction of this route in 2012 as Service 153. Unfortunately, poor passenger numbers meant that we had to withdraw this route as we were unable to generate enough income from the fares to cover its costs.

The situation today is still the same. At present should we reintroduce the service, it would be unlikely to cover our costs.

That saying there is no denying that it is an obvious gap in the bus network and we are keeping a close eye on housing developments and other changes in the area that could potentially bring additional passengers, which could make this viable.

And if this happens this route is one that will be seriously considered.

In the interim, from January 9 we have increased the frequency of this service from hourly to every 30 minutes on Saturdays and extended the service to serve New College.

PETER OLIVER

Commercial Director

Thamesdown Transport

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UKIP and Tory views

THE article of January 10 regarding John Short defecting to the Conservatives made me consider the differences between UKIP and the Tories regarding the EU.

UKIP wants a quick Brexit so that we can become an independent democratic country again.

The Tories want a soft Brexit that could take at least two years to negotiate and maybe very much longer.

The EU negotiations will consider staying in the Single Market and the Customs Union, and continuing the open door immigration to the half a billion EU citizens who currently have a legal right to live and work in Britain.

None of those conditions are acceptable to UKIP. This means that in relation to Brexit the policies of UKIP and the Tories are miles apart. UKIP consider the so-called soft Brexit is not genuinely leaving the EU at all.

STEVE HALDEN

Beaufort Green, Swindon