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Process before people

The recent Windrush fiasco is yet another example of the burgeoning, bumbling bureaucracy that is ruling – and, sometimes, ruining – our lives. It puts ‘process’ before principle, purpose and, more importantly, people.

Although some of these people, who have lived nearly all their lives in this country – perfectly legally – may not have had the ‘proper paperwork’ to show they were entitled to be here (it was The Government that destroyed the appropriate documents!), there must have been plenty of evidence to show they were legal. The officials should have taken into consideration such things as National Insurance number, NHS number, school and workplace history, tax returns, driving licences and passports. Surely this evidence would be enough to, at least, support a ‘presumption of innocence’? Is it not up to The State to produce positive proof of guilt?

Or has bureaucracy now replaced the fundamental principles of our ‘rule of law’ – that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and that we should be entitled to be tried and judged by our peers?

Malcolm Morrison, Prospect Hill, Swindon

A costly enterprise

With the onslaught of election leaflets, can I ponder about the wisdom of the old carriage works in Sheppard Street? We are told that it is being refurbished for future use, to the tune of nearly £7 million. This is a building that the council doesn’t own, and so the use of council tax payers money is questionable. What happens if the owners refuse to sell the unit to the council, or worse, when completed, say there are now grounds to increase the rent being paid?

One of the many claims in these election leaflets is the good work of Forward Swindon and others to get the university of Wales to come and set up shop in the building. 

Can the tax payers of Swindon be told just how much this has cost? 

T Reynolds, Wheeler Avenue, Swindon

Think of the people

As the local elections appear on the horizon - pamphlets through your door, strangers ringing your doorbell while you are in the shower - let me make a clear and decisive message to Swindon Council and its elected councillors.

This month’s council tax takes a week of my state pension. While going shopping with my son to Sainsbury’s in Stratton we avoid more potholes than the moon landings. There are signs up in the Dorcan carriageway directing people to the university in Park North. How long ago is that gone?

On the bright side while walking my little Westie on the side of Covingham Drive that the council have renovated to make a walkway and cycle path, across from the other side that is badly in need of repair, I actually passed a cyclist, the sixth one I have encountered in three months.

When will the people who have the status to run this town through the democratic vote start thinking about the people they represent instead of their self-interest?

Bill Williams, Merlin Way, Covingham