Readers' letters - August 1

Over the weekend, it was revealed that as many as 25 per cent of the total casualties of British and Commonwealth Forces of the Great War occurred at Passchendaele.

If this is true, then this is nothing but a damnation on Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig and the British Government under Herbert Asquith and David Lloyd George.

At the age of 73, I still fail to understand how the British people could accept such losses.

But I suppose, it was a sign of the times, when the British people were treated like cultivated mushrooms – ‘kept in the dark and fed on manure’ – especially with the Press being heavily censured. It begs the question, is the British press STILL heavily censured in 2017?

If technology had been available during the world wars, as it is now, where actual scenes are screened ‘live’ into the sitting rooms of the masses, people would not have tolerated this.

This can be confirmed by the Vietnam War – and every other armed conflict since.

Over the last few weeks, I have been reading the book written by General H.R. McMaster, US National Security Adviser. It is titled Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the lies that led to Vietnam.

Dereliction Of Duty is a stunning analysis of how, and why, the United States became involved in a disastrous war in South East Asia.

McMaster pinpoints the decisions that got the United States into the morass and reveals who made these decisions and the motives behind them, disproving the theories of other historians.

This book, I am led to believe, is now a standard reference book at the US Military Academy – West Point – on the pitfalls of politicians being ‘hand-in-glove’ with military manufacturers.

The Whitehall Generals and Admirals could do well reading this book, as well as those in the Palace of Westminster before engaging in further armed conflicts!

Norman Tomlinson

Lancaster

EDUCATION

Do as we say, not as we do

Hypocrisy clearly continues to flourish in what remains of the Labour Party.

For years Labour MPs have railed against grammar and private schools.

Despite this, several members of Corbyn’s inner circle have chosen selective schools for their offspring.

Diane Abbott, shadow Home Secretary, pictured, sent her son to the very expensive private City of London School.

When asked to justify her decision, she said: “ I want to do the best for my child”.

Don’t we all Diane.

Blair and Harman also put their children’s education before ideological preferences.

Seumas Milne, Corbyn’s strategy director, sent both of his children to grammar schools.

Now we learn that Rosie Duffield, the new Labour MP for Canterbury, who has described selective education as “horrible and divisive”, has sent her sons to an outstanding grammar school in the town.

She recently attacked the PM for her plans to build new grammar schools.

Nepotism was also recently attacked by left wing Momentum, despite the fact that Corbyn’s son works for McDonnell, the shadow chancellor.

How can any of the constituents of these people trust a word they say?

Dr Barry

Clayton

Via email

brexit

Too difficult to remain now

Some ever hopeful remainers still seem to hope that the Brexit process can be reversed, so let us consider what would need

to be done to achieve that end.

Firstly, since in the general election 85 per cent of the electorate voted for parties which said that they respected the referendum result and would support Brexit, it seems that, barring a mass Damascene conversion, what is first needed is yet another election and a new Parliament.

For that to happen, we would require either a vote in Parliament (which under the fixed term parliaments legislation would require two thirds majority) or successful vote of no confidence in the Government.

Assuming that election were then to be won on a pro-EU platform, the new Parliament would then have to decide whether to ignore the referendum result and rescind the Article 50 declaration (if they had the bottle to do so) or more likely call a second referendum.

This they would then need to win.

Lastly they’d need to persuade the other 27 member states to accept that decision, which they would probably only do on much inferior conditions to those we have at present.

All of the above steps must be completed before March 31, 2019 – good luck with that.

John R Wainwright

Address

supplied

fracking

Cut numbers

of protesters

Instead of complaining to the Government and going cap in hand to the Home Office for more money, why doesn’t Clive Grunshaw put some effort into lobbying the judiciary to start imposing stricter bail conditions on anti-fracking protestors and the use of exclusion orders? That would thin out the presence of activists and mean the policing levels could be scaled back, saving all us local tax payers some money.

M Westoby

via email

fracking

Protest has gone too far

Last weekend, I drove to Preston along Preston New Road and observed an assortment of tent-dwelling, ill-dressed, badly-behaved protestors, which I ignored.

Monday, along the same route, was another matter entirely.

I was utterly dismayed to find that their activities resulted in the closure of the main A 583 trunk road into the major UK resort town at the height of the holiday season. Even the poor miners’ activities years ago never resulted in anything like that. How long will this go on?!

John

Fellow of the Institute of the Motor Industry

missing

Have you found Eeore?

My black and white cat, distinctive because he has no eyes, has gone missing from my home off Lytham Road, in Ashton.

I’ve saturated the area with leaflets, but am now convinced he is nowhere in the near vicinity so need to reach a wider audience.

I know many people read the LP, and ask if you can put this letter in the paper as he has already been missing for a week.

Have you seen Eeore?

If seen, please contact the Lancashire Post. Many thanks.

Name and address supplied

n If you have found Eeore, please ring 01772 554537 or email [email protected] and we will pass your details on.