'Campion Empire scepticism'

SIR - I was interested in the article by the Police and Crime Commissioner in his bid to take over the responsibilities of the Fire and Rescue and Police committees and any other that may be available to boost his new empire.

Of course this move would appear to save a lot of pounds which would be invested in the new Campion Empire cynically speaking.

Personally I think it a retrograde step, that as a man who stepped into the role of Police and crime commissioner with so little experience should consider that he is qualified to chair such important and responsible public bodies.

I apologise if I sound sceptical but I didn’t vote for the PPC role, I thought the job was adequately carried out by Chief Constables.

Richard Cassling

Lower Wick

'Leave fire service alone'

SIR - John Campion’s proposal’s are intended to enhance his roll in local governance at the expense of fire safety and disguised as an improved front line service.

I believe that a good fire service will be managed by firemen under the control of the Chief Fire Officer, Nathan Travis, not someone who is trying to build his own empire with little regard for the needs of Hereford and Worcester residents.

The present Chief Fire Officer has considerable experience of the dangers of fire and far better able to understand how to protect people.

As far as sharing buildings is concerned, this is already happening with Senior Fire Officers transferring to West Mercia police headquarters at Hindlip and the senior officers at Hereford moving into Hereford Police Station so it is difficult to see how a further £4 million can be saved.

If it works and it aint broken, leave it well alone !!

Cllr. Brian Regimbeau

Malvern

'‘Maybot’ is out of time'

Sir - A most interesting Editor’s note in the New Statesman describes how when Mrs. May became Prime Minister she delivered a fine speech in Downing Street:  she would create a different, more communitarian  (OED: member of the community practising communism?),  even post-liberal conservatism and she would fight against  “burning injustice”.

She understood that the vote for Brexit was also a vote of protest against a failed economic model;  against austerity, against stagnant wages,  in-work poverty and against ultra-globalisation.

She accepted that people were weary,  that life can be a struggle.

She said:  “The government I lead will be driven not by the interests of the privileged few but by yours.”

Opinion polls suggested that Mrs. May was admired and trusted.

She was cold and austere but also seemed to be serious.  Yet her actions were never equal to her early rhetorical positioning and she never reached out to the many millions who had voted Remain and felt excluded.

By the time of the election she was reduced to repeating soundbites and cliches;  she had become the “Maybot”.

The promising language of the early months of her premiership when she spoke about the common good and the need for greater social responsibility had gone altogether.

What became clear was that the adjectives “hard” and “soft”  Brexit are now quite passe.  Head of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson favours an “open” Brexit , Keir Starmer, Labour’s  serious-minded barrister is against what he calls  an “extreme” Brexit,  Andrew Adonis, Labour peer and educationalist supports a “sane” Brexit .

Labour activist Sam Tarry wants a “peoples’ “ Brexit.  Commentator, Philip Stephens has called for an  “intelligent” Brexit.  Jeremy Corbyn wants a Brexit that protects jobs and workers’ rights which could perhaps be called a “Bennite Brexit”.

Her maligned former joint chief of staff Nick Timothy’s biggest regret is that “we did not campaign in accordance with the insight which took Mrs. May to Downing Street.

With her authority and confidence shattered she has succeeded only in creating more confusion and tumult.”

Few of her colleagues believe that she can or should remain much longer.

Wendy Hands

Upton-upon-Severn

'Your report was racist'

SIR - I refer to a report in the Berrows Journal about travellers at Perdiswell.

We saw these travellers arrive in the late evening, as they were directly in front of our house, at no point did we see them being aggressive to anyone.

There were no parents, school children or football club activity at this time, as the paper suggests, being evening and half term.

What bothers us most with your report, from an impartial newspaper, is the last paragraph. There are three issues of concern.

The first is the publication of a police non emergency number, with a reference number.

The only offence here is trespass, an offence which had already been committed. It would be racist to make the automatic assumption, because they are travellers...

Secondly, the words “.. get them gone.” Gives the impression of vermin.

The last of our concerns is the implications associated with the use of the words “... concerns about child safety” followed by the police no.

We take offence at the impartial newspaper implying that because they are travellers they must be a risk to children.   This is both racist and derogatory.

Lucy Grant

Worcester

  • Editor’s note: We stand by our report. We report facts and other people’s actions and comments, and we do so without prejudice.

'Golden ship in a bottle'

SIR - Voyager N.A.S.A’s deep space probe has quite recently met and gone through the Heliopause, a position in space where our Sun has no influence nor power over natural objects or manufactured. Sometimes known as the Solar wind.

Voyager‘s secondary mission was to reach Sirius, “The Dog Star”, at a impossible distance of 8 light years taking about 10,000 “Earth years” to reach this star. Well beyond this current time and many, many lifetimes after that.

This Ambassador of the Earth, contains messages of goodwill, abundances of welcomes to whom or whatever is out there?

But on those gold compact discs, recorded forever is an account of a non united world.

We are not at peace, can’t feed all, medically in our infancy, religious intolerances, discriminative’s upon discriminative’s, ethnic cleansing and reliance on “fossil fuels”.

Let us pray and hope that the Human Race solves these disputes, or through advanced technologies catch up with our “ Golden Ship in a bottle “, to replace those aforementioned compact discs as to show The Human Race has advanced enough to venture out beyond our Blue marbled globe, or we’ll be classed as savage outcasts upon an Universal prejudice.

The ultimate discrimination!

Rob Allan

Worcester

'Complaints about buses'

Previously, I sent a letter informing users of Diamond Bus Services in the Kidderminster and the Worcester area to direct complaints to The Traffic Commissioner for the West Mids & Wales.

I would now like ask people to send their complaints: Diamond Buses Rotala: Martina Maxwell.

M Grout

Kidderminster