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Tory outrage a sham

T REYNOLDS questions Martin Webb about the “hang the Tories” banner displayed around the Tory conference.

The outrage of Tory media outlets is synthetic. The same outlets invented the term “political correctness” to defend racism.

Like T Reynolds they enthusiastically swallow policies, designed to make the rich richer, which harm to masses of ordinary people.

So for them it’s OK that today there are 400,000 more children in poverty than when the Tories got in, with all the misery that causes.

It’s OK that, as Kate Linnegar pointed out, the most vulnerable in society are squeezed even further so some come to see no way out other than suicide.

But, while these policies are easily swallowed they claim to be choking on rhetorical violence of the slogans of some of their opponents.

There is nothing new in harsh symbolic imagery, some of it violent, in political struggle.

Such slogans are not policy demands. In my view legitimately, they can show governments that the victims of their policies are angry and determined to oppose them.

Why, for instance, would Grenfell Tower survivors and their supporters not be angry at a party which champions cuts in building regulations? (As I write this the BBC news reports the Government announcement it won’t fund safety in tower blocks.)

T Reynolds’ comments on Blair’s attack on Iraq are irrelevant. The Tories fully supported that attack. Corbyn didn’t and campaigned against it, as did many of the people who were last week protesting at the Tory conference.

I may be wrong but I doubt T Reynolds left his sofa to oppose that.

PETER SMITH, Woodside Avenue, Swindon

Help end health stigma

AS WORLD Mental Health Day fell this month can I thank everyone in Swindon who helped me with my mental health journey.

I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in September 2005. I have learnt to live with the condition and not swing too much towards mania or swing towards depression.

Recently I completed my first half marathon, the Royal Parks Half Marathon, in beautiful central London in aid of two fantastic charities, Mind and Bipolar UK, who help people live with these conditions.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all the health professionals in Swindon that I met, my colleagues at the borough council and the Research Councils where I worked, and my family and friends for their support in helping me to manage my condition when I lived in Swindon.

Those in the health service in particular do a fantastic job caring, advising and supporting people going through challenging times.

Attitudes to mental health are changing. I have trained to become a Mental Health First Aider in the Civil Service and I would encourage all companies to train a good percentage of their staff in this.

More people are having conversations and people are more accepting of conditions now. The stigma is beginning to be broken down, although we have some way to go.

So please make an impact, whether in your workplace or with family and friends so that we can work towards a world where living with a mental health condition is no longer an issue.

CHRIS VAN ROON, Tuscan Road, London

Know your enemy

I APPLAUD the Advertiser for giving Graham Carter a platform to espouse upon a particular brand of evil so prevalent in the western world today.

In his column (titled ‘Fat cats always take the cream’) Mr Carter took great pleasure in berating his own ‘privilege’ in being a ‘white, middle-aged, rich man.’ In this (very revealing) column, he exposed a poisonous self-hatred that is a cancer to the Western world today, a cancer that must be expunged if we are to have any hope of thriving and surviving, not just as a country, but as a civilisation as a whole.

If you want to know why the country is in such a mess, and why people feel no pride, patriotism, or sense of belonging, then look to the words of Graham Carter.

In speaking his mind he has exposed everything you need to know about the mindset of large portions of the liberal establishment, in media, academia, entertainment and politics in the UK today.

I look forward to Mr Carter’s next column. It’s important to know your enemy, and Mr Carter certainly falls into that category, not just for me, but for many other proud Englishmen living in this wonderful country today.

MARK ANTHONY PRITCHARD, Lineacre Close, Grange Park, Swindon

Talis is a rising star

MAY I say how pleased I was by your article about Talis Kimberley-Fairbourn in Wednesday’s SA.

I was at the Green Party conference and was thrilled at her nomination. She is truly a rising star of the Green Party.

We of course discussed lots of policy proposals and I am pleased to say it is now party policy that there should be an extra public holiday, called Windrush Day, on or around June 21 to celebrate the benefits migrants have brought to our country.

This would be similar to Martin Luther King day in America.

STEVE THOMPSON, Norman Road, Swindon

Don’t shop in town

The story about the man fined £100 because his parking ticket fell off the dashboard caught my interest.

He bought his parking ticket at the right time. He paid the correct amount. There was no suggestion that he was attempting to evade the parking charges. The only issue is that his ticket fell on to the floor.

The moral is, don’t do your shopping in Swindon. Use one of the out of town shopping centres with free parking.

Councillors should hang their heads in shame. They are elected to serve the public but are acting more like the Gestapo.

TERRY HAYWARD, Burnham Road, Swindon