Our readers from across the county give their weekly take on the biggest issues impacting Kent and beyond.

Some letters refer to past correspondence which can be found by clicking here. Join the debate by emailing letters@thekmgroup.co.uk

Bus cuts add to deprivation

The problems and failures of our economic system are clearly demonstrated by the latest decision by Arriva and Stagecoach to cut bus services.

As the level of bus fares rises and the state of bus services seriously declines, more people are returning to use their cars rather than the bus. This means that there are less passengers, less income for the bus companies.

The only way the bus companies can respond is to further increase fares and reduce services.

What this process completely ignores is the fact that one out of every four people do not have access to a car and are completely reliant on buses to get about. This is particularly true in rural areas.

Many people, mainly young, old, mothers with children, those on low incomes, do not have the means of travel and thereby suffer even greater deprivation.

It is for this reason, to defend public transport, that throughout the country people are coming together to campaign for a public transport system that meets the needs of everyone.

Ralph A. Tebbutt

Strange ways of tackling our problems

We are polluting the air with vehicle fumes. We are facing a food shortage. Water is our most precious commodity, so we must make every effort to conserve it.

So: Buses are being cut, forcing people into their cars. We are building houses on arable land instead of growing food. Maybe these houses won't need a water supply?

I give up!

Linda Jackson

Responsibility being taken away from individuals

Mr Grummitt mentions the word ‘respect’, the lack of which he deems to be the cause of troubled young people today. I would suggest that the word ‘responsibility’ is much more appropriate.

For decades, little by little, the populace has become infantilised by taking responsibility away from individuals: health and safety regulations have put the onus on organisations rather than the end-user; parents have been absolved of preparing their children for the rigours of life; ne’er-do-wells have been excused by reason of poor parenting skills, etc.

Responsibility comes through experiencing it in those around you; how can it be expected that the young will think responsibly if their elders are seen to be deprived of that ability by the systems around them?

Respect, similarly, is a two-way street: if those with even the smallest amount of power act in a disrespectful way, they have not earned the right to expect ‘respect’. Nowadays it seems commonplace for employees to bad-mouth their employers, not just in the pub but broadcast to all the world on social media. The mainstream media makes every effort to magnify these acts of betrayal, thus adding to the loss of faith in our public institutions and business enterprises.

To return to Mr Grummitt’s sarcastic comments about my ‘wonderful world’ of today, I come back to the word ‘responsibility’. No one needs to slavishly follow social media, and if parents act responsibly, and their children pick up on their example, issues of ‘mental health’ would be drastically reduced. I would mention, by the way, that three of my children come under the heading of ’millenials’ and I have every confidence that they know what responsibility and respect are.

John Brightwell

Enough is enough with migrant crossings

John Cooper says that according to an international survey, the British people are enthusiastic towards refugees (last week’s letters). Well, most of the people I know and speak to want the crossings to be stopped, and right now.

These people, in my view, are economic migrants. There is photographic evidence that they are dumping their mobile phones and documents into the channel in order that they cannot be identified. Doesn’t that tell you something about the motives of those who have crossed many borders to get to us?

People who are supposedly poor and destitute are paying the smugglers thousands of pounds to be given a place on a rubber boat.

Are you happy about it costing you and tens of millions of pounds daily to accommodate them? I see every day people sleeping rough in doorways with no home to go to. Do they not deserve housing also?

When are you going to say enough is enough, John Cooper?

Mr S.C. Anning

Green spaces being turned to concrete

This country, very small in size compared with other countries, is now having to concrete over green fields that were once designated 'green spaces' to build thousands more houses.

Pouring sewage into the sea and rivers will increase much more when all the proposed houses are built. I understand soon the population in Britain will be more than that of France.

Immigrants pay at least £3,000 to cross the channel. I wish I had that sort of money .

Betty Renz

Complaints add nothing to Brexit debate

In recent weeks, we have had several letters all complaining about Brexit but not even one suggestion from any of them giving an opinion on what they think the alternative should be.

I have no idea what they think they are achieving by raking over the same old ground time after time but never committing to making a positive contribution.

One said that the EU needed reform, obviously forgetting or overlooking the fact that David Cameron tried that whilst the UK was still a member and came back empty-handed. Another said recent polls indicate the majority now think that Brexit was a mistake, but without any information provided as to what questions were asked or how much was revealed to them about the possible consequences of reversing the decision before reaching that alleged conclusion.

My personal view is that we are where we are and that the price the UK would have to pay financially along with other sacrifices it would have to make, would be too high, and once they were conveyed to the electorate in advance of another referendum or debate in Parliament, the results of polls claiming Brexit was a mistake, would be quite different. I believe we have to make Brexit work and I also believe that over time (possibly with renegotiating with the EU and providing the necessary legal changes are made) we can make it work.

That should give Robert Boston and others who remain opposed some views that might elicit a response other than just repeating that they think Brexit was a mistake, which adds nothing to the debate.

C. ichgAy

Populists speak for the ‘uncool’ majority

As the political elite, ably supported by their cheerleader the BBC, gloat over their success in pulling down a Prime Minister who had the courage to speak for the ordinary people, one sees a constant criticism of what the former refers to as populists.

The term is obviously intended to be pejorative, but what it really reveals is that the elitists resent finding themselves in a minority on an issue, as they believe that of course they, and those who share their cosy consensus, should not be challenged, or worse, outvoted by those they regard as the great unwashed.

In the aftermath of the 2016 referendum it was clear that these arrogant, selfish snobs regard ordinary people as inferior because they lack power, wealth or status, and should not get above themselves by daring to oppose the groupthink of the ruling class.

At one time the latter were aristocrats but these days it is a coalition of so called intellectuals, professionals, politicians, luvvies, and talking heads from much of the media, who fear being thought of as ‘uncool’ for espousing such things as patriotism, or exhibiting a concern for the problems of the average person.

Those who supported Boris and Brexit could see that the democracy they and their forebears fought for was being handed over to Brussels bureaucrats, while those who now demand that something be done to stop illegal immigration across the channel are not racist, but are angered by the failure of the government to take any effective action.

As far the Conservative party is concerned, for the second time a popular Prime Minister has been ejected by the so called ‘one nation’ Tories, who are in fact ’no nation’, given that they wish to see this country become no more than a province in a single European state.

Both Thatcher and Johnson were elected by landslides, but the self-serving time servers on the Conservative back benches arrogantly overrode the decision of the electorate and once again the Heathite wing of the party is in control. Wets in the party say that the most important consideration now must be party unity, but this is untrue, as a united party is infinitely less important than the preservation of the nation, and is of no use if its intentions undermine the latter.

Colin Bullen

Clowns led us out of the EU

We learn that the Gravesham MP Adam Holloway was among the seven MPs who voted against a report by the privileges committee which ruled that Boris Johnson deliberately misled Parliament multiple times. Boris Johnson is, of course, synonymous with Brexit which was based on lies and false claims.

We are not the only country to be taken in by populist politicians. The most egregious example is Donald Trump in America.

These politicians wave the nationalist flag, promising to make their country great again or to bring back sovereignty. But they are not interested in advancing the wellbeing of ordinary citizens; they are only interested in advancing their own careers and increasing their wealth.

Populists are easy to spot because they are all narcissists and compulsive liars.

People have short memories. They forget that not so long ago Britain was the sick man of Europe, reeling from one crisis to the next. Ted Heath had the vision and tenacity to get us into Europe. All his good work has been undone by a bunch of second-class clowns.

Michael Charles

Challenges of watching TV

Back in the '50s TV sets began to appear in people's homes. In those days they had only one channel to choose from so the BBC had no rivals.

Yet the cost of a set was, for many, prohibitive since the price was equivalent to several weeks' salary for the average worker.

Fortunately, they had the option to rent and it soon became the norm. Renting was not unlike a form of insurance since if anything went wrong, the rental company was obliged to cover the costs of the repair bills.

The picture was subject to interference due to the fact that the signals were broadcast over the airwaves and could be disrupted by other electronic devices. This interference ranged from passing airplanes to vacuum cleaners.

By the end of the decade, three quarters of all householders owned a TV set. Indoor aerials weren't as good as outdoor antennas as they were not mounted at as high an elevation, and the building walls blocked some of the radio waves which consequently had a detrimental effect on the picture.

The bunny-eared aerial which was invented in 1953, was what we had when I was growing up.

Looking back to those times, watching TV wasn't as comfortable an experience as it is today. There were too many occasions when the picture on our black and white set was lost to a series of disturbances which marred our enjoyment and I had to make all sorts of manoeuvres, some of which were farcical, to recapture the picture.

When the picture was finally restored and I returned to the sofa, someone would enter the room and this inevitably brought another distortion to the image on the screen.

I spent more time on my feet than sitting and the exhaustion and frustration that washed over me made me warm to our wireless!

Michael Smith