Readers' letters - November 15

Across all wards, in all council estates, you will 
find people striving for a better future, trying to claw their way out of working poverty.

Too many people are seeking too few jobs, but the fact remains industries are being phased-out through automation.

This simply means that workers ‘will’ be replaced by machines (self-serve checkouts, drone deliveries, online supermarkets).

This is nothing new and has happened throughout industrial history.

Therefore there’s two very achievable options we can choose.

We can encourage new start-ups through condition-free grants or start encouraging any growing industry that still relies on people (such as electric vehicles, renewable technology, cycling culture, NHS).

Unfortunately our Government seems too focused on denying 
these.

Either way solutions must be found or we will be facing another generation of wasted potential, maybe the ‘Universal Basic Income” could help avoid this?

At the very least, these 
are worth a try.

Jaimes Lewis Moran

Member of Green Party

environment

Orchard of Bowland

The LP article, Orchard revival has biodiversity at its core, made interesting reading (LP November 11).

I have always had a fondness for fruit trees and orchards. Many a wayside verge and hedgerow is all the more special for the chance discovery of a ‘bird-sown’ fruit tree.

The Post article commented on the 62,000 hectares of orchards registered by the Ministry of Agriculture in 1970.

I recall, during my employment at said establishment in the 1970s, there was available to landowners a 20 per cent grant for “grubbing out” orchards. Scandalous! Scarce wonder the registered hectarage had fallen by 64 per cent in 20 years.

Over the past few years, I have, in my own small way, endeavoured to redress that catastrophic state of affairs, by attempting to plant out various fruit trees alongside the cycle track/footpath that was the Preston - Longridge railway line towards Grimsargh.

The problem I have encountered is the depredation of the plantings by individuals and, most recently, Lancashire County Council, at whose hands – or more precisely, mowers – four trees have been destroyed by the end-of-year tidying of the boskage.

Whilst I am prepared for a degree of wastage among the planting out of the ‘Orchard of Bowland’ (out-reach site for the Forest of Bowland!), senseless spoilage of this nature is uncalled for and disappointing to say the least. I do appreciate that this linear orchard is entirely an unofficial planting. Nevertheless, the fruit trees, once thoroughly established, will enhance the surrounding area and be a source of interest, colour and ultimately, fruit!

The trees are supplied from generic charity funds via my own business, and sourced in season from local supermarkets.

Some home-grown hazel whips added to the variety. Sadly these latter were among the council year-end clear-out. I hope, however, that the rootstock of these bushes will show themselves next spring.

In the meantime, I would ask individuals and LCC alike to treat the ‘Orchard of Bowland’ with a measure of respect. My aim, as funds allow, is to line the track from Bluebell Way/Guild Wheel to the end of the track near Stone Cross with fruit and nut trees. Only a fruit and nut case would hamper this attempt.

Martin Sutcliffe

The Grim Tsar of Grimsargh

economy

Ignorance about money

Following on from Royston Jones’ letter, concerning the super rich and their tax avoidance schemes driving inequality, I would like to point out another major contributing factor to our ever growing unequal society (LP Letters, November 7).

Not only do the majority of our MPs believe in ideological rubbish like trickle down and austerity economics but the majority (85 per cent) do not even know where money comes from, as recently discovered by the campaign group Positive Money and the polling company Dods.

Yes, those same MPs who tell us that there is “no magic money tree” and that we all must “live within our means” don’t have the most fundamental understanding of how the economy works – what money is and how it’s created.

In reality, there is a ‘magic money tree’ and it has many branches, including Barclays, RBS and HSBC, who create new money whenever they make a loan (at interest).

This system of privatised, commercial bank control over money creation is proving incredibly destructive for wider society, with personal debt levels at an all time high (levels like those that ushered in the last financial crisis) and most money ‘lending’ (a misnomer, no existing money is lent) directed towards financial and property markets, creating unproductive speculative bubbles that benefit a tiny minority.

Until we have politicians who command a basic grasp of how the system works in favour of a super rich elite, we can hardly ever hope to have MPs in power that represent the majority of people.

Simon Eaves

via email

animal welfare

Keep your

pet cat safe

So many cats are being stolen and it seems to be during the night. Better to have a grit tray inside and save your pet’s life.

Name and address supplied