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Campaign of deceit

IN response to T Reynolds (Letters 26/04/2017) on the 23rd June last year the British people frankly did not know what they were voting for. There were two reasons for this.

The first was the industrial scale deceit and dishonesty of the Leave campaign meaning that people’s perception of the EU and the effect that it has on this country was grossly prejudiced and distorted. Indeed it is hard to know where to begin when it comes to the lies of the Leave campaign as the vast majority of what they said had less to do with reality than the average Disney animation! Indeed T Reynolds demonstrates this dishonesty by conflating warnings of risk with lies and repeating the fabricated claim that the Remain campaign stated that World War III would break out if we left the EU. If T Reynolds had bothered to conduct a little research he would know that claim was fake and was actually made up by Boris Johnson!

With regard to the claim that T Reynolds never once heard an MP say that we should stay in the Single Market there is video footage widely available on the internet of various members of the Leave campaign including MPs such as Boris Johnson stating quite categorically that they did not wish to leave the Single Market. T Reynolds therefore clearly needs to conduct some research on this issue as well. This also highlights the second reason why people did not know what they were voting for on the 23rd June last year. The Leave campaign did not and never has put forward a coherent plan for what they wished to see happen if this country leaves the EU with some members of the Leave campaign stating they wished to stay in the Single Market.

Given this background it is therefore quite perfectly correct to state that the Government, including Swindon South MP Robert Buckland have no mandate whatsoever to remove this country from the Single Market, and to do so would be to act in an undemocratic manner. Furthermore, this would be the case irrelevant of the outcome of the General Election on June 8th as there are many more issues involved in a General Election than our membership of the Single Market.

Finally I would correct T Reynolds regarding why this once great country went bust in the 1970s and had to endure the national humiliation of going cap in hand to the IMF. This was primarily due to industrial decline following the end of our empire when we lost our captive markets. These markets were eventually replaced by the Single Market, and our economy thrived as a result of our membership of the EU which has given access to that market. Leaving the Single Market, as proposed by the Tories and Kippers would be national economic suicide.

ADAM POOLE, Savill Crescent, Wroughton

Judgment will come

RE How many gods? ( Adver. 25/4/17 Janet Woodham).

One can accept Janet Woodham’s hopeful version of an afterlife and a God where if there is one, a “new life will begin.” (Along with the charming company of murderers, rapists, adulterers, fraudsters, etc).

A new world that John Lennon imagined had already been built in communist Russia. A living nightmare of torture, genocide and darkness. Followed by Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, and Mao!

The other version? Scripture.

The Holy Bible is perfectly clear: after death unrepentant sinners are removed from God’s presence for eternity. No appeals, no delays, no “what about my rights?”

Ah, but “the New Testament God is all loving and forgiving,” the hopeful Mrs Woodham gushes.

Both the OT and NT are the same God, Mrs Woodham! His love and wrath are revealed in both, had you cared to look.

He is also a judge, many conveniently ignore this fact.

Revelation 20 speaks of the books and the book opened at Judgement Day.

The faithful receive their rewards while the unfaithful and unrepentant, in short the evil doers, get their just desserts. If God did not spare His only son from suffering and a vile death, why kid yourself, Mrs Woodham, that He will spare the unrepentant? It’s of no use use saying “sorry” at Judgment Day – it’s too late.

For those who sincerely seek Him they do see the Hand of God in the heavens with its unparalleled beauty and mystery.

JEFF ADAMS, Bloomsbury, Swindon

Time to make a stand

MAY I thank Chris Gleed for his kind words and support? I had no wish to upset John Stookes as a hard working caring councillor. I thought twice about it before submitting my letter. However I have found out tonight I have a lot of support from various sources. Sometimes we are left with no choice but to make a stand against our caring community endeavours.

I receive a basic state pension every week. One week of my pension is eradicated by council tax. A large sum of this is to supplement indexed linked council employees financially unsustainable pension schemes. Is this fair by any stretch of the imagination? I do not refer to the hard working council workers from grass cutters to bin men. The ones behind the desks on their backsides come to mind. Bean counters and pen pushers, not forgetting the traffic controlling brigade who could not run dodgem cars at a fairground.

Fortunately due to my financial frugality and common sense, over a lifetime and working until I was 69, I receive other income to supplement my situation, not from the state, or any other pension scheme. My concern is that hard working people in their twilight years are suffering financial hardship through no fault of their own, to supplement the Grand Poos Baas at the council’s retirement incomes, at their expense.

BILL WILLIAMS, Merlin Way, Covingham, Swindon