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

We deserve to benefit from Eurostar stations

Regarding the Eurostar not stopping at Ebbsfleet and Ashford stations, I would like to point out that when this railway was constructed the people of Kent were under the impression we would be able to get on and off at these stations.

We had to put up with all the inconvenience during the construction and only had the benefit for a limited time. Having to go into London to come back passing through these Kent stations is, in my view, ridiculous and unacceptable.

Ginny Jones

An exception to driving rules

I agree with all except number 2 of Bob Britnell's ‘Ways to avoid bad driving’ (letters last week).

However, when I approach a T-junction with the intention of turning left, the last thing I want is the car behind to draw up alongside me when they're turning right. My view of approaching traffic is then totally blocked and I have to wait till it's clear in both directions before they can turn right and give me a clear view.

I therefore feel fully justified in straddling both lanes to prevent such behaviour.

John Clayton

Shocking price of non-alcoholic drinks

Like many, I overdid it over the Christmas period, but I have no wish to completely stop drinking and decided to try alcohol-free drinks, so still being sociable.

However, when I looked at the products I was gobsmacked by the prices being charged. Many of the leading brands are charging the same as the 40% alcohol product. There is £9.91 duty on a litre of 40% spirits which equates to almost £7 on a standard 70cl bottle. As there is no duty on alcohol-free drinks we would expect them to be around £7 a bottle less?

Furthermore, the alcohol removed from the product is used in hand sanitisers or similar, which offsets the cost of removal.

I want to know why consumers are being clearly ripped off.

Phil Bulman

Defence spending cuts going too far

Recent reports as to the state of the Royal Navy highlight the parlous condition to which our national defences have been reduced. Over centuries it was the Navy which defended these islands, and indeed did much to create the modern world. At the outbreak of the First World War we had over 400 warships, while in 1939 it was still the largest in the world, with over 300. Today it has been reduced to 12 frigates, six destroyers and two aircraft carriers, while two frigates are now to be mothballed because of a lack of sailors, and the Navy has been reduced to advertising for the position of rear admiral to command our nuclear forces.

Every time governments are short of money the amounts allocated to defence have been the targets for reduction. Only the threat of using our nuclear weapons would remain, but, as a reaction to conventional attack, this could not be used.

A triumphant Russia would not be content with conquering Ukraine. We may see first the Baltic States, and then the nations of Eastern Europe being attacked one by one, before Putin turns his baleful eye on Western Europe and the UK, as, if Ukraine falls, then the protections offered by NATO, given the growth of isolationism in the USA, may very well be proven illusory.

To allow our defences to shrink, when facing the increasing threat from implacable enemies is insanity.

Colin Bullen

New homes need to be affordable

Stop building three and four-bedroom houses, as these are well out of reach price-wise to thousands, and build affordable social housing, as was done after World War Two.

Stop building on farmland. There are many unused brownfield sites that could be used. All new buildings should have solar panels and all existing homeowners should be given a subsidy in getting solar panels fitted. We have just got to be seen to be coping with global warming.

I am 85 years old and was lucky to have worked all my working life. I do not have any academic qualifications but I do have common sense. I was born in the Garden of England and brought up in Great Britain, something I’m very proud of. But it is fast disappearing.

Richard Mummery

No public trust in political class

This government, like almost all since the Second World War, came to office on only a minority of the vote but able to wield 100% of the power. The views of the majority who didn’t back them get disregarded.

In most constituencies, people know who will win long before the election, because the same party has held the seat for decades. Millions of votes across the country essentially count for nothing.

Political parties end up focusing their resources on the small cluster of voters in marginal seats who will decide the outcome of a general election. Everyone else, meanwhile, is left out in the cold.

The consequences of this democratic dysfunction are all around us, presided over by an unrepresentative political class in whom the public have lost trust.

Proportional Representation means that everyone - no matter where they live or which party they support - has a vote that counts.

Neil Andrews

Police too concerned by woke credentials

The police are failing to engage fully with criminality in a robust and relentless way that the public has a right to expect.

Despite the increase in police numbers which jumped from 129,110 at the end of March 2020 to 147,430 in March 2023, the rate at which crimes end in the capture and conviction of the culprits, has fallen to an egregious degree.

We are worryingly bound for a lawless society presided over by feckless police chiefs who are concerned more about their woke credentials than enforcing the law.

The criminal justice system too is proving to be grossly inefficient and courts are reluctant to impose prison sentences on felons in order to moderate the burden on our overcrowded prisons.

The government, meanwhile, doesn't appear to be anxious about the deterioration in the response by the police to tackle offenders.

They have, in no small part, been responsible for nurturing the culture of laxity amongst those who are employed to keep us safe by failing to instigate a policy that would stiffen the resolve by the police to properly investigate criminal activity.

M. Smith

Scandal has shattered the myth of trust

I believe the reason so many are upset regarding the victims of the Post Office is because people can relate to this situation. They recognise that over the years they also have been dumped on from a great height, lied to and misled, by those from whom we expect honesty, guidance and protection.

Sadly, this myth of trust has finally been exposed by our government and all who are connected to these appalling acts inflicted on their victims. The list of their crimes is growing every day and we are probably looking at the tip of the iceberg.

No one should escape culpability. Many will endeavour to do so. We should challenge any utterance from these powerful bodies that does not make sense to us.

The country owes a debt of gratitude to all those postmasters and postmistresses who have stood up and challenged the machine of governance that is supposed to protect us.

We can only admire their courage and endurance. May they get back every penny stolen from them, and much more.

Elizabeth Hurrell

Justice must be done over Horizon

What makes the Post Office ‘Horizon’ scandal even more outrageous is the fact that they continued to hound and prosecute hundreds of innocent postal workers for years - even after they became aware of major problems with the ‘Horizon’ accounting system.

Frankly, I am sorry that Paula Vennells has finally given in to pressure and been given the opportunity to ‘return’ her totally undeserved CBE - she should have been stripped of it.

It beggars belief that she and her colleagues failed to question the fact that out of the blue, 900 loyal, hardworking postal workers had suddenly, according to ‘Horizon’, turned into criminals.

Justice will only be seen to have been done in this appalling scandal when every one of those wrongfully prosecuted have had their convictions overturned and received generous compensation. And those responsible been prosecuted, convicted and get to spend some time behind bars.

As for the suggestion that the postal workers who have suffered for years should receive ‘Royal Pardons’, that would be adding insult to injury. Pardons are for those guilty of some wrongdoing – the postal workers most certainly are not!

Bob Readman

Bizarre tunnel vision of bosses

I see one of the latest revelations emanating from the egregious Post Office scandal is that the investigators earned bonuses for securing convictions.

A huge number of non-crimes were committed which resulted in no loss to the Post Office; investigators were then paid to look into these falsely generated allegations, but on no occasion did they consider that circa 900 potential cases, compared to half-a-dozen frauds pre-Horizon per year, was noteworthy.

A bizarre tunnel vision approach, which dismissed common sense over persecuting powerless people. They then threatened multiple sub-postmasters with theft charges, despite no real evidence, and offered them the lesser false accounting charge, if they pleaded guilty; thus, earning their bonuses.

Some lucrative racket they were running. And we haven't even calculated how much the Post Office made from these poor people chipping in their own money to cover imaginary losses!

Robert Boston

Extent of suffering should be told

How many sub-postmasters have been bankrupted or had their lives ruined as a result of the Post Office scandal? How many post offices had to close?

It is understandable that families torn apart, forced into bankruptcy or to move should be shy about speaking out now.

But I hope that any who have joined the successful campaign groups will contact the paper so that readers have a sense of what this deplorable, long-running national embarrassment has meant to sufferers in our own neighbourhood.

Richard Bourne

Keep an official mail delivery system

If the Post Office mail system is stopped, have they thought about mail coming to Britain from other countries - and vice versa?

Yes, mail in some large countries is sent in other ways, but some things must be sent by postal mail. In the USA, for instance, medical items must go through the official postal service. Many of the other services are not required to deliver everything everywhere, while the Postal Service must do so, even if it is halfway up a mountain.

Another thing; other entities charge much higher rates for everything. And in the USA, they don't take as much care of the items they deal with.

So it is time for someone to reconsider the value of an official postal service, wherever one is in the world?

Nina Maynard