NEWS CHANNEL
Sir - I have just read your article on the Turvey rat-run (BoS last week) and in my mind the idea put forward by Mayor Dave Hodgson (pictured right) is complete bunkum.
If he thinks that I am going to go south west to get on the M1 when I want to go north west adding that extra mileage and time on to my journey just for the whim of the residents of Turvey, he’d better think again.
Has he considered why this is a so-called ‘rat-run’ because it has been a main trunk road for 57 years as far as I can remember and has he also considered the extra fuel costs on that journey? The residents of Turvey just want to be able to park their cars out on the road instead of putting them in their driveways.
If Turvey can have this done why has not the ‘rat run’ through Oakley been stopped? Do not say that the new Western Bypass will clear it because it will not, unless (and I am saying this tongue in cheek because I have not seen the plans for it) they are just pushing extra traffic to the A6-Clapham Road junction which is already congested and will just cause longer delays.
Brian Gledhill Dewlands, Oakley, Bedford.
Humanists’ plain views
Sir - I would like to add my wholehearted support to Steve Lowe’s column in BoS last week about us getting ‘far too precious’ over comments made in public.
Diane Abbott’s comments about white people might have been misguided, but to interpret them as racist, hints at an extreme kind of sensitivity which is not only precious, but downright calculated.
Let me give you another example – The Bedfordshire District SACRE (which oversees religious and philosophical education in schools) has rejected qualified humanists from membership, in spite of the fact that humanism is a prescribed element of the curriculum.
The reason – well, one reason (we have been told by the chairperson of the Beds SACRE, Jane Chipperton) is that the Beds Humanist website ‘mocks’ religions by referring to the pious as people who are ‘afflicted by supernaturalism’.
Well, putting aside the fact that we don’t actually find that remark in the BH objectives, I don’t doubt that many humanists actually do think that – in much the same way that many among the pious probably think humanists are ‘afflicted by atheism’. But that doesn’t make us monsters, nor does this intend to ‘mock’. However, this has been offered by Ms Chipperton as a reason to exclude humanists from the decisionmaking – and therefore the allocation of public funding – on the grounds that the comment ‘offends’.
If the price of being involved – and making our own unique contribution to society – is to hold our tongues and keep our opinions to ourselves, one has to wonder what is the point of SACRE in the first place? Why not just have a governmentappointed quango to dictate what our children are taught? David Brittain Biggleswade Road, Potton
Watching what we say
Sir - I fully agree with the comments made by Steve Lowe in his column last week regarding plain speaking.
It is positively ridiculous the way that we all have to watch what we say about anything these days.
We can’t tell a joke, pass an opinion or make statements, even if they are true. It’s absurd, silly, and downright annoying.
Eventually to combat this we will all live in a box and not be allowed to speak to another living soul in case we offend – not by what we say but the way we might say it, or not as the case may be.
Even our body language will be scrutinised soon. “Did you just look at me when you spoke to me just then?” Just shoot me now. Oh no! I take that back, did I just offend you by asking you to shoot me?
Debbie Ball Abbey Grove, Sandy
Try saying it how it is
Sir - Steve Lowe began his criticism over the lack of free speech well enough, yet by the end of his commentary sounds actually much worse than the politically correct mob he, apparently, set out to berate. How on earth can he claim that ‘he . . . is not entirely convinced you can be racist about white people . . . ’? Does he think, for example, that Comrade Robert Mugabe murders and displaces white farmers for any other fundamental reason other than the colour of their skin? How does he explain the widely reported recent attack on the young white woman from Leicester, who while innocently waiting for a bus, was set upon by a pack of black Muslim women? The truth is that we are all racist and prejudiced to some degree. It is probably called ‘being human’.
Many of us often prefer, for instance, being with people who are similar to ourselves most of the time.
That is not to say that we cannot have good friends from other cultures or backgrounds, friends that we would back to the hilt.
Far from it, but to then try to preach from a pulpit that racism is all one way is just intellectually feeble.
Perhaps Mr Lowe is trying to curry favour from people of colour by making his remarks.
In my experience, people usually prefer being told how it is, rather than patronised by naive white people with a misplaced in loco parentis collective guilty conscience.
Jovan Radusin Address supplied
Basketball example
Sir - I write to draw your readers’ attention to a recent tour undertaken by a female youth basketball team from Queens Park to Jordan, Israel and The West Bank.
These girls travelled to this troubled region with a message of hope, friendship and solidarity, all qualities that we could easily be convinced have been lost in the UK.
The basketball team represents the huge diversity found in Bedford.
The group includes girls whose families came to the UK to claim asylum, the children of economic migrants, as well as the children of those whose parents and grandparents have grown up in Bedford.
The team will be retelling their experiences today from 7pm at All Saints Church Hall on Westbourne Road.
I would urge all those who believe in the clearsightedness of youth to attend this event.
Sean Jackson Chairman, Bedford Friends Of Al-Walaja
Is this really justified?
Sir - It brought tears to my eye listening to Deputy Mayor Charles Royden’s passionate speech on local radio regarding Covanta.
Comments like ‘it should have been a decision which was taken by local people . . . ’, or ‘we cannot allow this, we have to do this for the people of Bedford . . . ’ and ‘the borough council wants to put the views of local people to the test .
. . ’, and lastly ‘we really can’t afford to do this however . . .’ But there were tears of anger and frustration, knowing Cllr Royden and the council will make sure that the use of £100,000 of taxpayers’ money for two petitions to Parliament is justifiable. This is Central Bedfordshire Council’s problem not Bedford’s.
The double standards of the council are appalling. The same principles should have applied to local businesses and residents in Brickhill but did not.
Cllr Royden certainly did not apply these views or the sense of outrage when residents and local shop owners appealed to him for help in fighting the Tesco Express from opening in Brickhill.
Lots of words, bad advice, stalling tactics, inconsistent and contradictory information, have led Tesco to getting their way.
The licensing authority, part of Bedford Borough, will ‘justify’ disregarding the objections received by residents in not wanting a third off-licence on the small parade in some oblique manner.
The council cannot ‘justify’ taking on Tesco but they can ‘justify’ using the taxpayers’ money for petitions to Parliament, a fight they won’t win.
But it is a ‘justifiable’ expense to the taxpayer and makes good headlines! Kathleen Coggins Rooksmead Save Brickhill Campaign
. . . Or indeed is this?
Sir - I noticed when looking at the public notices this week, the amount of subsistence that council members can claim.
I feel the amount allowed is way over the top - £7.20 for breakfast, £10.80 for lunch and £15.90 for the evening meal.
I frequently eat out at lunch and evening times.
Bedford is full of very good cafés and restaurants offering all types of food at half the price of their expenses and some include a glass of wine or beer in the cost.
In this time of cutting back, how can it be justified to give them more for one person than most people spend on a family of four.
R Walker Margetts Road, Kempston
Trade-in expectation
Sir - Who informed me that they will make the two of us who live here happy? Oh yes, beneath the clap-trap they spout they should check their past and present history of making people unhappy, like myself, prior to moving to this address where I am fortunately not a customer of British Gas. For 40 years I had strife with them overcharging.
Now this happiness, they inform me, is a chance to pay more to them in a form of insurance for an aged boiler. As this cottage does not have any gas mains connected I assume they are talking about her that lives here with me. Many things do not work when a boiler reaches 73 years of age and certainly nothing comes from this old boiler. In fact lumps are dropping towards its boots! So yes please, make me happy by installing a new boiler but only if it comes in the shape of Liz Hurley or Ann Widdecombe. Please hurry as I am determined to get started with a new old boiler.
Mr Rumple George Street, Maulden
Well done BoS
Sir - Re: Bedford Riverside North Development. CPRE Bedfordshire very much endorses your comments concerning the proposed Riverside North Development and in particular your call for the borough council to encourage, through competition, a number of alternative designs upon which residents of the Borough can voice their opinions.
CPRE considers the river to be an extremely important green corridor through the urban centres of Bedford and Kempston - vital for both wildlife and recreation as well as providing an opportunity for carefully considered commercial and residential development.
The river is a part of the very soul of Bedford and so any development in the immediate vicinity of it needs to be treated with great care and vision - not simply relying on commercial interests. We believe that any new development should draw its theme or inspiration from the Victorian Embankment which is so much part of the town’s character.
This does not mean that we should look for a pastiche or copy of this area. Excellent contemporary design of high quality buildings and landscape could be a tremendous asset for Bedford.
The current proposals which take very ordinary commercial buildings right up to the riverside and minimise green space will do nothing to enhance a prime site in the town centre. We need to encourage architects, developers and planners to come forward with designs for buildings and landscaping which the people of Bedford can be inspired by and justly proud of.
We commend BoS for its action and leadership on this issue.
Ann Collett-White For CPRE Bedfordshire Executive Campaign to Protect Rural England-Bedfordshire branch
For more views on the issue see pages 12-13
