Readers' letters - July 5

Hopefully, this is a final observation on the Penwortham Sainsbury’s/Tesco farce.

There have been several observations in your paper, some interesting, some not.

The last ‘anti’ letter I read claims it would have been a supermarket that everyone was against and nobody wanted (LP Letters, June 25).

Really?

They must live in a different part of Penwortham than me.

Most people around here are disappointed.

Mainly elderly I admit, but they are voices that need to be heard.

And as for the comment that Cop Lane would be a traffic nightmare, has anyone seen it lately since the building started on the church hall site?

Also, it has been said, no supermarket is needed, but more independent retailers serving the community.

When I moved here, we had at least four butchers, two greengrocers, two fish shops, a frozen food store, a car parts outlet and two haberdashery /garden shops, plus a Booths.

Did any survive then?

So why would they now?

You may find life pretty easy as you pop in your car and get your shopping done, but many, for health and age reasons, can’t.

I would have been happier with the proposed store, petrol station, and car park.

Dream on!

ALLAN FAZACKERLEY

via email

POLITICS

Squabbling like rats

What on earth has happened to the Conservative Party?

Here in Lancashire, their local authorities in South Ribble and Wyre seem fixed in an alternating cycle of infighting and incompetence whilst Lancashire County Council is under legal shadows over privatisation contracts.

At a national level, it appears even worse.

Two years after the referendum and the government STILL hasn’t agreed what it wants to achieve from Brexit.

Distracted by internal chaos, they are doing little or nothing to tackle the real problems this country faces like the rise in violent crime, the crisis in social care, zero hour contracts, homelessness, deteriorating public services – including the worst train service in Europe – and roads which are often more pothole than tarmac.

None of these issues can be conveniently blamed on Europe but the Conservatives squabble like rats in a sack whilst the country gradually falls behind.

Now the increasingly unhinged Boris Johnson says “f*** business” yet what he’s really saying is “f*** jobs”.

The EastEnders actor, Danny Dyer, summed up the national mood by describing former Tory leader David Cameron as a “t***” since he, like the old Etonian millionaires Boris Johnson, Rees-Mogg and their nannies, can walk away from the mess, knowing that the rest of us will pick up the pieces.

They are leading us up the garden path whilst trying to sell us a pig in a poke with the vision of a future based on new trade deals with Vanuatu and Tuvalu. If it wasn’t so tragic, it would be laughable.

Jane Pilkington

via email

Technology

Cashless or choiceless?

I have heard that a supermarket is opening its first ‘cashless store’. Apparently it is to cater for the impatience of shoppers and create shorter queues. (Here’s an idea, why not increase the number of staff on the check-outs?!)

I wonder what the elderly or indeed anyone who prefers to use cash think of this choiceless concept?

Or if it will increase the debts of those on a budget as they will be less likely to keep a close eye on what they spend (it is so much easier to spend, spend, spend on a credit or debit card than with a £20 note)?

Or maybe that’s the idea. With cards we can spend to our heart’s content, no longer limited by the idea of ‘living within our means’. Maybe debt is the future and spending what we actually have is an outdated idea?

Win win for the retail sector. Lose lose for the elderly, the poorest and the most vulnerable in our society.

I suspect also with less contact with hard cash and this seemingly increased impatience for shorter queues, we will all suffer in the long run.

What’s next, a completely staffless store to save on salaries? Shush, best not give the big faceless corporations any more ideas!

Molly Clare

via email

nhs

Social care

and the NHS

The NHS will not survive another seven years, never mind 70, unless there is proper integration with social care.

Unless action is taken to reduce ‘delayed discharges’, it will lurch from one crisis to another.

Henry Cobden

Address

supplied