Readers' letters - March 23

We need a new EU referendum
Do we need a new EU referendum?Do we need a new EU referendum?
Do we need a new EU referendum?

The Brexit referendum is losing credibility by the day.

There is nothing undemocratic in one referendum replacing and reversing an earlier one, just as since the beginning of our democracy, it has been accepted for one Act of Parliament to replace or modify an earlier one where the electorate thought such a change desirable.

The desirability of a new referendum is now increasing by the day.

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But the matter is now more serious, and it seems that defence of our democracy might actually require a new referendum. Certainly common sense does.

We now know that the supposed £350m a week extra for the NHS as a result of Brexit was a fabrication of the leave campaign, together with much else.

We were not warned that the supposed ‘freedom’ to trade with all the world might well be a poisoned chalice. Just one example – a headline recently that “Milk from infected cows could be sold in UK under post-Brexit US trade deal”.

Does Brexit mean freedom to infect our kids?

Every day we see a government, propped up by and in thrall to the support of the DUP purchased with our money; a government which says the referendum vote must be followed but cannot agree among itself what that means: a hard, a soft Brexit; or maybe a medium rare one!

The referendum had nothing to say on this.

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You cannot abide by a referendum vote which has not addressed the question at issue. However, the matter is more serious.

As I understand it, the news now breaking suggests that the way in which a person was likely to vote might have been improperly influenced, in favour of a leave vote, by the use of personal information garnered from Facebook by certain agencies.

It seems that the vote may not have been quite the free vote that a democracy requires, and the absence of which in Russia we mock.

What is now urgently needed is a new referendum which does address the central questions, the conduct of which is properly monitored and the complete freedom of which is protected. We are proud to differ from the Russian electoral system. Let us keep it that way.

Mike Harwood

via email

ENVIRONMENT

Eyesore blocks prized view

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Without any doubt whatsoever, the view across Morecambe Bay must rate top of all seaside vistas in this country.

This is Morecambe’s prized asset.

Some might say our only asset.

The focal point for this splendid view is the promenade, which runs from nearly Hest Bank to Heysham Village.

So, to attract visitors to our town to enjoy this, you would expect the prom to be kept in tip top condition, which in the main, the council plays its part in doing so.

The only eyesore that hasn’t been addressed is the ever growing number of wagons and wagon units parked on the promenade between Aldi and Regent Road.

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Hardly the vision of a town desperate to attract much wanted visitors.

The thing is they are parked legally.

Why?

Because it is entirely at the discretion of each town’s council whether to allow or disallow this.

If they were parked on a regular basis on the promenade at Bare, would something have been done about it?

So before this unsightly problem turns the West End into a free ‘truck haven’ and isolates the West End even more than it already is, the council must act to preserve this precious asset we possess.

Bob

Heysham

nhs

Scary but worth it

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I finally got round to using the home testing kit for bowel cancer, offered to the over 60s by the NHS.

The results came back as abnormal, so a colonoscopy was offered.

Scary, yes, but despite having no symptoms of anything amiss, I accepted.

A large polyp was spotted and removed then and there.

This turned out to be non-cancerous, but would have eventually caused problems.

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This letter is to encourage others to face their fears and go ahead with the screening, and also to record my thanks to the team in Morecambe and at the Westmorland General Hospital, who were exemplary in their professionalism and care.

When you are anxious, small things like the simple touch of a hand and the offer of tea and toast afterwards can feel like great kindnesses.

We are so lucky to have a National Health Service (though we really need to pay more in taxes to fund it) and fortunate to be given the chance of life-saving screening.

So please, grit your teeth and take advantage of this.

A Lancashire

lass

russia

Cold War dangers

Keeping abreast of the unfolding events in Salisbury could almost be like reading the pages of an Ian Fleming spy novel.

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Would there have been so much reaction if it had happened ‘up North’ for poor Theresa May who, if she is ultimately successful, will be known not only for our exit from the European Union but for escalating the Cold War with Russia, given the expulsion of Russian diplomats from London.

Why anyone should want the job of Prime Minister, with its relatively poor pay, compared to the heads of London’s city banks, is beyond me.

Edward

Grainger

via email