Letters
Don’t let the BBC become a casualty; West Dorset MP Chris Loder must be delighted by Government plans to scrap the TV licence, even though the move has been described as a death sentence for the BBC. Mr Loder is a member of the influential Common Sense Group of Tory MPs and the dismantling of the BBC is among their chief aims. Every Government since the days of Winston Churchill has accused the BBC of bias so why set out now to destroy it? The extensive CSG manifesto provides the answer: public opinion is no longer shaped by a wealthy elite whose newspapers have aways been propaganda sheets for the Tories. The pro-Tory bias must be restored and the first step is to crush alternative (“Marxist”) voices even where they are trusted and respected. But there is more. The next targets for Mr Loder and his pals are the abolition of the legal requirement on broadcasters for impartiality and the abolition of laws against hate speech. This would clear the way for a UK channel like the notorious Fox News that has done so much to propagate lies about the US election. The CSG sees itself “in the midst of a culture war, one which could prove to be a life and death struggle for conservatism”. Don’t let the BBC become a war casualty. Make your voice heard before it’s too late. Simon Moon Mere, Wilts.
30
My MP Andrew Murrison, in last week’s NBV magazine proposes to support the PCSC Bill, to as he puts it “Ensure that vandals are convicted”. A remark made in connection to the acquittal of the Colston Four. My I remind the right honourable MP for South Wilts that they were found not guilty by a jury. Or maybe as we have seen with parties at Downing Street, this government doesn’t uphold the law. And his support of the easing of the PM’s covid restrictions because the data has vindicated his actions is laughable, if only we had followed the data to begin with. We should have locked down weeks earlier each time and much stricter. That would have saved tens of thousands of lives and the economy. At every step his party has put people’s lives and jobs at risk and they’re not finished yet. As an island nation in comparison to New Zealand, England has spent 213 days in national lockdown, whilst New Zealand has spent 71 days. England has had over 100,000 Covid deaths. New Zealand has had 52. If we adopted similar policies and then vaccinated this would have been over by now But I’m sure you are right Mr Murrison, it was the restrictions that took our freedom not your Prime Minister’s inept leadership. Mark Holderness Shaftesbury
New Blackmore Vale, 4th February 2022
Conservative MP and popular Brexit supporter David Davis summed up the pathetic Johnson government perfectly with his quote from Oliver Cromwell, when he used part of the “for the name of God” speech at Prime Minister’s questions recently. For the benefit of those not aware of it, I have taken the time to quote Oliver’s speech that dismisses the rump parliament in 1653. Interestingly, it could have been written today and would have the same recognition as it did almost four hundred years ago by the public. “It is high time for me to put an end to you sitting in this place, which you have dishonoured by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice. Ye are a factious crew and enemies to all good government. “Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Ye sordid prostitutes have you not defied this sacred place, and turned the Lord’s temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices? Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation. “You were deputed here by the people to get grievances redressed, are yourselves become the greatest grievance. Your coventry therefore calls me to cleanse this Aegean stable, by putting a final period to our iniquitous proceedings in this house; And which by Gods help, and the strength he has given me, I am now come to do.
“I command ye therefore, upon the peril of lives, to depart immediately out of this place. Go, get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves be gone. “So, take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors. In the name of God, go.” Mike Fry Upton We have all been informed of another round of significant Council Tax increases. For many years, some London Boroughs have boasted of major efficiency pursuits to minimise increases, whilst some have even reduced their charges from time to time. Why are our rural Councils so allergic to learning these skills to contain costs? The bigger issue with Council Tax is not a local one. The valuation bands of this tax stop at Band H (£320,000 in 1991) which means that anybody with a property substantially in Band H is subsidised by everybody else in the bands below. It would be like saying there’s no need to collect any more income tax / inheritance tax / VAT from you because we’ve already squeezed those tax requirements out of those earning / inheriting / spending less that you! I’ve always wondered why 650 MPs aren’t talking about this – maybe they are all living in magnificent homes, well into this cavernous Band H, and are very happy for us lowerband folk to subsidise them! There’s an enormous London town-house – 21 Upper Grosvenor Street, W1K 7PD
blackmorevale.net
