Our readers from across the county give their weekly take on the biggest issues impacting Kent and beyond.

Some letters refer to past correspondence, which can be found by clicking here. Join the debate by emailing letters@thekmgroup.co.uk

Don’t allow phones in the classroom

There appears to be a breakdown in discipline in our schools by a generation that is too preoccupied with toying with their smartphones to pay attention to what they are being taught in the classroom.

There is a valid argument that phones should be banned in schools in order to restore pupils’ concentration and uphold a climate of obedience.

Teachers must be given the authority to confiscate any device which would hamper them from discharging their tutoring.

Jenny Pain

Reform’s appeal is based around one person

It was interesting to read the article from the Secret Civil Servant about the alleged insider view from within KCC.

This is a bit unusual as it is not normal for officers to comment overtly or covertly about an administration, especially one so early in its life.

However, this is an unusual situation. Reform itself is unusual in that it appears to be a vehicle for one person and is structured accordingly.

With Reform its strengths and weaknesses revolve around a single individual which does not make for stability. How inherently unstable it is, is evidenced by its first few weeks in office.

Some of the processes are complete but cabinet members and councillors are in 'training', the leader has gone on holiday, the party chairman has resigned and then swiftly returned as head of DOGE and a councillor has been defenestrated for reasons as yet unclear.

If we also include the controversies over working from home, diversity training, what flags are flown and the DOGE process itself, one would conclude that it is not a good start. That said, there are three years and 10 months left of KCC in its present format, so perhaps we can put it down to teething problems.

Reform doesn't appear to agree with local government reform, on the grounds that they are not bound by previous decisions, that progress is 'hurtling ' in a direction they may not agree with and that the public have not been consulted.

Firstly, KCC is bound by policy commitments made by the previous council and cannot change tack for at least six months. There are also the districts that agreed in principle to the reorganisation. Reorganisation may be KCC's last hope, because central government might prop it up until it is broken up, like an old ocean liner going to the breakers yard.

I don't like the sound of DOGE, because I think it will do more harm than good. Its counterpart in the US has not covered itself in glory and there is no evidence that tech bros and millionaires have any better understanding of local government than anyone else.

It's like a crew of amateur electricians, attempting to rewire a complex machine armed only with secateurs.

Richard Styles

We don’t want our own war stories to tell

Those of your readers who, like me, are Second World War baby-boomers, will remember the stories their parents told them about both world wars.

My own parents lived in Deptford and during the Blitz of 1940, were “bombed out” of their home several times.

My generation grew into adolescence in the 1960s and 70s and raised their own families in the 1970s and 80s in the time of the Cold War, which kept an uneasy peace between Communist Russia and us in the West.

Now we must fear for the future of our own children and grandchildren as we see, with Putin’s war on Ukraine, a Hot War is on now our doorstep, with the prospect of Trump’s USA no longer giving us the kind of protection from possible future Russian aggression which we have enjoyed for so many years.

We can see in Prime Minister Starmer’s commitment to spend more on our defence capability, a recognition of the need to protect us from the threat of Russia, but it is clearly not enough and not quickly enough.

We should lead NATO by example in this and not tag along behind those of our partners who have risen to the occasion and recognised Russia for what it is: an existential threat to our freedom.

At all costs we must avoid the kind of fate Viscount Grey foresaw when he said, on the eve of the First World War in 1914: “The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime”.

John Cooper

Nationalise our railways for a better service

I am not holding my breath in the wake of the announcement that, yet again, train operators will be looking into sorting out the pig’s ear of a farcical fare system (or lack thereof) that faces rail travellers in this country.

For the last 30 or 40 years, we have been told that our farcical fare structures would be rationalised - and we are still waiting.

The basic commodity most in short supply these days is good, old-fashioned common sense.

Blinkered jobsworths at every level of our society have totally lost the ability to use their brains.

And there is something inherently wrong in the fact that, despite being privatised, rail companies have been receiving huge taxpayer-funded government subsidies for years.

The only way of sorting out the problems with our railway network is for them to be nationalised - along with water, electricity and gas.

Bob Readman

Learn from our neighbours on bus travel

Your correspondent Richard Styles makes salient points about the deficiencies of bus provision across Kent.

Fortunately, however, there is some good news, with the new MetroBus 284 service recently launched, linking up Pembury hospital, North Farm, Sherwood, High Brooms, Southborough, and Tunbridge Wells town centre. This runs off-peak five times a day on a circular route from Monday to Saturday and is already being well used.

Regarding the new administration at Kent County Council, it would be a welcome move if they could follow the lead of their neighbours at East Sussex County Council, by extending free travel to passengers with a disabled bus pass across the county before 9.30am from Monday to Friday, thereby enabling them to get to vital appointments earlier in the day.

Cllr Dr Alan Bullion

EU deal betrays our coastal communities

In his letter, Steve Fulger claims the reset fishing deal with the EU is the same as that signed by Boris Johnson, but that is not correct.

The part of the original Trade and Cooperation Agreement covering fishing expires on June 30, 2026, so leading up to that date the UK government is free to negotiate a different arrangement, with the aim being that from the July 1, 2026 a new arrangement would be in place that would allow British fishermen in succeeding years, to gradually win back more fishing rights in British waters and EU fishing boat encroachment would be gradually reduced.

However, Sir Keir Starmer is still so wedded to the failing EU business model that he is prepared to sign away British fishing rights, without any favourable terms for British fishermen, for another 12 years.

It is a dreadful surrender that might prove more profitable for fish dealers but will leave our coastal communities, including here in Kent, utterly betrayed.

Furthermore, he is doing it at the very time of rising concern about ‘bottom trawling’, the method favoured by EU trawlermen, the French in particular, of using huge dragnets that ‘hoover’ up everything off the sea floor, destroying valuable eco-systems in the process.

Wherever anyone looks, our current Prime Minister shows no interest in putting this country or its people first.

Indeed, he shows such arrogant disregard for both that a huge number of Labour supporters felt the need to march into London protesting against him and his government’s policies, and if he continues to lead a government seemingly hellbent on taking this country on a road to ruin, I predict he will not survive until 2029.

C. Aichgy

Fanatics are taking over our institutions

Any hope of improving, or even maintaining our current economic position, and also of preserving our democracy, is being put at increasing risk by the activities of obsessional fanatics, who have succeeded in infiltrating many of our institutions and are indulged far too much by politicians and the media.

These people have been eating away like termites at the foundations of the UK for years, and the results are plain to see, as many of the basic assumptions about what it means to be British and how we organise our society are being totally undermined.

Although they have different aims, these activists are frequently drawn from a limited but vociferous section of the population, often students who have been brainwashed by distorted ideas emanating from universities. Some, caring nothing for the deleterious effects of their policies, seek to enforce the absurd net zero ideology upon the nation, thus leading to the destruction of our industrial base, the certainty of blackouts, and the erosion of our capacity to defend ourselves.

Others, despite the definitive ruling of the Supreme Court, are breaking the law by still distorting organisations with their refusal to recognise the reality of biological sex, thereby harming women’s rights. In addition, they demonstrate in favour of those migrants entering this country illegally and who are costing millions in taxpayers’ money to house.

The worst are pursuing a campaign against Israel, as she tries to prevent another murderous attack on her people.

Gullible supporters try to pretend that they are in some way taking a moral position in these matters but, were they ever to succeed in wrecking our democracy, the Marxist hard men would take control and crush these ignorant dupes along with the rest of the population.

As the poison has spread from academia and now infects schools everywhere, we must stop the brainwashing of the young now.

Colin Bullen

Stopping boats will keep Labour in power

The government's scheme to smash the gangs who perpetrate the illegal trade in migrants crossing the Channel to reach the UK has, by all accounts, eluded them and looks as if it is doomed to fail.

So far this year we've seen record numbers of crossings - almost 15,000 - and heaven knows what the total figure will be at the end of the year.

Tougher and more resourceful measures should be implemented to stop the boats.

But despite the millions we pay to the French there is insufficient action taken by the authorities to obstruct the boats from leaving Calais and setting off for our shores.

If Labour fails to tackle the issue then it will, in all likelihood, signal their departure at the next election and be a boon to Reform UK, who would be on course for a decisive win at the polls.

If they succeed in stopping the boats where other parties have failed, they will rightfully earn plaudits and our gratitude.

Not to mention a prolonged term in office.

Michael Smith