More on KentOnline
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
Devolution will bring more power to Kent
I think your articles about the proposed new mayors to be elected in Kent are encouraging signs for the future of our democracy, both at the local and national level.
In the first was the news that Medway Council’s cabinet has agreed to involve eight 10-year-olds in participation in local democracy and engagement with the community by creating a young mayor and seven deputies to represent the voice of children.
The council is to be congratulated for this small step in the direction of involving children in local decision-making.
The other change, the creation of a Mayor for Kent is part of the biggest shake-up in local government in 50 years. The new mayor would be given more powers over housing, transport, education and employment, which the Labour Government hopes would drive economic growth.
In addition, they will have the experience of existing mayors to draw upon - Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester, Sadiq Khan in London and the existing 12 Metro Mayors.
In the English Devolution White Paper which underpins the changes is the worthy ambition that these changes would “Unleash power from Whitehall back into local authorities that know their areas best”.
It is all very reminiscent of the 1960s and ‘Power to the People’ but devolution of power has got to be a good thing and it is important that we maintain and strengthen our democracy and recognise that it may be very old but it isn't perfect and its evolution isn’t over yet.
Finally, the changes strengthening democracy in this country are all the more important with undemocratic, authoritarian governments around the world gaining ground at a rate reminiscent of the 1930s and this should worry us all.
It was, after all, Winston Churchill who was quoted as saying: “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others”.
John Cooper
County isn’t ready for a mayor
So, democracy is officially dead after Kent County Council voted to cancel the May election without consulting the voters.
The pretence is Labour want to turn us into a unitary authority with an elected Mayor but nothing is ready to go on this and it will be years before they are ready, meaning the existing councillors will serve seven years.
Let's be clear, this is a ploy by Labour because they will be obliterated in May!
Mick Carr
Starmer finding out government isn’t so easy
The Labour Party's approval rating taking a tumble and the Prime Minister's prestige diminishing almost on a daily basis, together with the fact Reform UK made gains in council elections, have only reinforced the government's woes.
But Labour has time to turn their fortunes around before the next general election, providing they adhere to the pledges they made to secure a mandate to govern.
Being in opposition for so long, Labour had lost sight of how easy a ride they had compared with the trials and tribulations of running the country.
They are open to scrutiny not only by the outgoing administration but by members of the public who voted for them.
The so-called honeymoon period which usually follows in the wake of a new government was soon dispelled and the initial cheers quickly turned to jeers.
Meanwhile, Nigel Farage has been dealt a blow by Elon Musk when he said he wasn't up to the task of leading his party. This comes at a time Reform were counting on a generous donation from the billionaire.
But if Labour fail to deliver on their set goals, then it would almost certainly pave the way for Reform to garner enough support to put them in office at the next election.
Michael Smith
Farm tax will threaten our food security
Many are alarmed that despite extremely well-attended protests around the country, the issue of the family farms tax is being ignored by the government.
The combination of changes to both agricultural relief and business relief on inheritance tax would force many family farmers – who may appear asset “rich” on paper, but are cash poor and earn little for extremely demanding work – to close their farms and sell.
Once they are gone, there is little chance of them coming back. The Country Land & Business Association has calculated an enormous 70,000 farms will be affected. There will be a huge knock-on effect on a wide range of other businesses and job losses too.
Economists have now calculated that the Business Property Relief tax change will actually cost over £1 billion more than it brings in, due to the resulting loss of 125,000 jobs and a £2.6 billion reduction in tax revenue from economic activity. This makes the argument “the money is needed for public services” completely redundant.
In addition, the government is spending billions to support farmers abroad. They are also pressurising British farmers to sell their farmland for housing estates which the homeless and first-time buyers cannot afford.
I presume the government could not possibly argue in favour of worsening public finances as well as risking our food security.
Sylvia Laidlow-Petersen, agricultural spokesman, the Heritage Party
Shameful failure to deal with grooming gangs
When Mrs Pankhurst and the suffragettes were fighting, and eventually winning rights for women, they would never have imagined that, a century later, groups of organised perverts would be preying on girls in towns all over Britain, subjecting them to almost unbelievable levels of sexual assaults and rapes.
What makes it worse is that woke social workers and weak senior police officers should have ignored what was going on for ideological reasons, or a craven desire not to be seen to take a stand which might offend the politically correct.
The politicians of the main parties have totally failed to deal with the issue and are more concerned with virtue signalling, than in being willing to take any action, and even now prefer to try to score points off each other.
Unless something is done it is quite possible that the fury of parents, seeing their daughters exploited, will lead to a reaction which will sweep away more than those actually committing these atrocities.
Colin Bullen
Poverty is no excuse for theft
I’m sorry, but I do not go along with those who steal, regardless of what it is, whether it’s formula for babies, or bikes.
It’s immaterial, as stealing is stealing, no matter how you dress it up, and there is no excuse or justification for it as there are plenty of charities and food banks available to cover those in need.
Yes, life is difficult today, as many of us old-age pensioners will testify. But I would rather chop my fingers off than go and steal.
During and after the war my parents brought up four boys. Yes we had holes in our socks which were darned and patches on our trousers, which mother made good.
The trouble with today’s generations is that they are bad managers and simply cannot live within their means. They are wrong to think it’s justifiable to steal.
Sid Anning
NHS dentists are needed urgently
Following on from your piece about more NHS dentists in our county, I can only hope this happens sooner rather than later.
I know from personal experience the only way to get to see a dentist is if you have the financial means to pay privately and not everyone is fortunate to be in this position.
This results in many people choosing to visit a dentist only in an emergency, obviously not the right thing to do, but understandable when some families are already struggling to keep a roof over their heads, let alone find the money for private dentistry check-ups and treatment.
The result of this is an additional pressure on an already over-stretched A&E service.
The government needs to address this country-wide issue urgently, as dental treatment should be available to all working people, at a cost that is affordable and easily accessible.
Sue Hibbert
Blame dithering for net zero drive
Colin Bullen trots out his usual list of bugbears about issues such as net zero. This may not be needed if there had not been 60 years or so of denial, dithering and delay by politicians, businesses and sometimes the unions.
As it stands we only have to see the current increasingly worsening situation for wildfires (Los Angeles), flooding (Spain) and those conditions harming UK farmers, alongside more frequent heatwaves and storms to see we all have to redouble our efforts.
Further, we have had "encouragement of private enterprise to grow the economy" style policies for the last 40 or so years, since 1980s deregulation and privatisation.
This just led around the world to the rich just getting richer whilst everyone else suffers low pay, joblessness and austerity.
We now need, for starters, to bring our public services back into state hands and damn the company compensation, pointing out the billions they've had off us whilst providing run-down services.
As for immigration, I'd point out that the small boat crossings are because there are no safe routes. This needs tough, if difficult, negotiations to provide legally. We need such migration anyway to help rebuild our NHS - where migrants are the backbone - and for the construction industry, plus much else.
The small boats have brought in just 150,000 since about 2018, whilst 'legal' migration has seen far greater numbers, though this is forecast to drop to around 300,000 per annum, as the Migration Advisory Committee recently pointed out.
Ray Duff
Look to diet to beat diabetes
After the recent news item about a doctor curing diabetes by using a Low Carb High Fat diet (LCHF), the NHS spokesperson said it was interesting and needed more research.
The low carb cure for obesity has been known since 1800s. The no carb cure for epilepsy was also widely used at that time. The low carb cure for diabetes has been known for 40 years plus and was widely used until they discovered injectable insulin.
A well-respected Dr Tim Noakes in South Africa, who was trying to save their health service - which like ours is overwhelmed - extolled the benefits of the low carb high fat diet as a cure for non-communicable ailments.
The whole medical profession turned against him and took him to court. They spent years and 10 million Rand trying to discredit him and failed on every count because Dr Noakes and his fellow advocates of LCHF had the results of thousands of correctly carried out placebo controlled, peer-reviewed trials and medical papers. The entire medical profession of South Africa couldn’t bring anything to counter it to court.
The medical profession needs to stop dismissing the LCHF out of hand. It will save a lot of people from a life with this condition and it will save the NHS a small fortune as it will reduce the drug bill tremendously.
The secretary of state for health needs to have serious talks with the medical community to get this into mainstream practice.
Mr A. Hardie-Storey
Could board game boost tourism?
For Christmas we received (at our request) a family board game called ‘The Great St Ives Pasty Dash’, the aim of which is to circulate around the board collecting pasties, the winner being the first to gain and hold on to six.
Like a monopoly board you progress from square to square on a die roll, following the instructions of the square on which you land, you may gain a pasty, lose a pasty, be directed elsewhere, like any other board game, oh and under the right circumstances you may "steal" a pasty from a rival or lose one to swooping seagulls.
On many spaces you pick up a card on the reverse of which will be some fact or statement about St Ives. Get the one about parking problems and miss a go!
It's great fun, took the two of us about half an hour to play, longer with four of us. The interesting thing about it, is that it is marketed by St Ives Tourist Board and produced locally for them. The playing board is laminated and foldable, players are card surfboards, pasties are small moulded resin or similar, obviously simple to make.
I thought why couldn't we have something similar for Canterbury? Instead of pasties we could have pilgrim badges.
It works for St Ives and I reckon it could work here and boost tourist income.
Bob Britnell