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

Elderly under attack by new government

It appears that 'let’s bash the pensioners' organisation is back!

This morning I learnt that my energy bills will rise during the worst periods, ie: autumn and winter, just when I am losing my heating allowance of £300 which was essential to get through the cold. Having lost my free TV licence a few years back, what else can they take from people who have worked hard all their lives to enjoy their retirement?

Never dependent on the state at all for anything, I and thousands of elderly people have obeyed all the rules and have managed to cope with the stress of living in Britain before retiring and looking forward to a fruitful and peaceful period of our lives.

As soon as the new government were in power this was not to be, for the first item that Rachel Reeves attacked was to take the heating allowance away.

All of this does not worry her and all those making the decisions with their high salaries, perks, share options, health insurance, etc. Not living in the real world and this applies to all government top people, they blindly see the increasing number of pensioners as targets for cut-backs yet are quite happy to spend millions on failed ideas such as HS2, Rwanda and sustenance for the thousands who cross the English Channel looking for a better life in our country.

Do those in power look after the populace in Britain? No, they do not.

I had high hopes for the new government but so far my hopes are fading fast. Does anyone else think the same as me?

Robin J. Brooks

Freedoms being stifled by Orwellian ministers

John Cooper praises the Labour minister Bridget Phillipson for ordering a review of the school curriculum to encourage critical thinking ‘in order to arm children against what she called putrid conspiracy theories’ and as a former history teacher, he thinks history, well taught, is well placed to achieve that objective.

He could be right, but in view of what has been going on in recent times, with so-called ‘progressive thinkers’ seeking to airbrush some people and the views they held out of history, I hope that such history lessons will not become a vehicle for only one opinion, with all other views dismissed as ‘far right’ and therefore irrelevant. Children should learn about our history as it was, good and bad, without any bias from the teacher.

As for the minister thinking that children need to learn such stuff, why then does she not think the same for when they go on to our places of higher learning? She has unilaterally prevented the implementation of a law that would have allowed different views to be expressed without the risk of being ostracised or being subjected to intimidation and bullying, in the places that are supposed to be the bastions and absolute bedrock of free speech and debate.

Already, in a matter of just weeks, we have seen Sir Keir Starmer attaching labels to people whose views he doesn’t agree with, whilst avoiding mentioning others who views and actions are just as abhorrent to many and his government taking active steps to encourage the repression of free speech.

The social cohesion of this country is under threat and there could be worse to come, as this government becomes more Orwellian with every passing day.

C. Aichgy

Jumping to wrong conclusion over tragedy

David Topple (‘Anger isn’t the same as racism’) makes a perverse leap of logic when he blames our “terminally ill society” for the deaths in Southport.

The killer is clearly a very sick individual. But go back to the “good old days’ and there were also extremely sick individuals committing mass murder: John Christie of Rillington Place killed eight or more people in the 40s and 50s; Ian Brady killed five children in the 60s; Peter Sutcliffe killed 13 women in the 70s, Dennis Nilsen killed 12 men in the 70s and early 80s.

Yet many people look back on these decades as a golden age. Few would argue that these mass murderers were the product of a “terminally sick society”; they acted out their own psychotic urges, common in a tiny fraction of mankind since The Garden of Eden.

In fact the homicide rate in England is the same now as it was in 1975, almost 50 years ago - around ten murders each year for every million people.

Southport was an isolated tragic incident and it is beholden on all of us to reflect and examine the facts when such events occur.

Jumping to conclusions about the state of society is simply dangerous and is exactly what the extremists and Russian bots who spread misinformation online sought to achieve.

Colin Wiles

Britain is no longer a free country

Despite being a lifelong pessimist and sceptic, even I am astounded at how quickly the Labour party has broken promises and alarmed at their attack on free speech, even free thought, in this country.

The government, led by a humourless, robotic lawyer and bureaucrat, has empowered the Blob which dominates so much of our public services, made clear that they will do nothing to halt illegal immigration, put vital businesses at risk because of their insane green agenda and are undermining all the advances made in education by reverting to the progressive ideology beloved of the teaching unions.

Most sinister of all they have, after decades of claiming that deterrent sentences do not work when directed at real criminals, decided to treat those daring to question the Left-liberal diktats in a manner of which any totalitarian state would be proud.

While jailing violent offenders is right, we now see ordinary people similarly treated for daring to express an opinion on social media, so that we now have, in effect, political prisoners in this country.

Britain is no longer a free country, as Labour seeks to criminalise opposition to their plans and to pass further legislation which will encourage those who take offence at the slightest thing, while ignoring the very real fears of the ordinary people.

Colin Bullen

Show more humility over our history

Why do we British consider that we are superior to all other nations?

There is no doubt that we have contributed a great deal to all areas of life that have advanced civilisation. But so have other areas of the world.

The scientific knowledge which helped towards the Industrial Revolution in Britain was built upon the science that came from the Greeks and Romans. This was brought to the West by Arab and Muslim Scholars in the great universities of North Africa and the Middle East.

We criticise other countries because of their aggression and lack of liberties, yet we are not without fault in these areas. Censorship in Britain is more subtle than the outright actions of those countries we condemn but it still exists and is used to prevent certain facts and views being spoken or written about.

Our record with regard to actions taken against the Native Americans, the Aborigines in Australia, in India and Africa, more recently in Iraq and indeed the harsh treatment meted out to the peasants and working class in Britain suggest that we, as a nation, have much to feel guilty about.

The importance of studying history is to learn from our successes and our failings. A period of reflection and humility would be a good thing as we consider what kind of society we desire.

Ralph A. Tebbutt

Convenience of cars comes at a price

This week there have been an outbreak of parking wars where communities have either complained about an increase in parking charges, or expressed incredulity about the price of an individual place.

Nearly all of the towns in Kent were designed - if that is the right word - during the time when horsepower meant exactly that.

Post-war car ownership has risen from around two million vehicles to 32 million-plus and cars have grown in size by 20% since 1970, something that horses never did.

We all want to use our cars when we want, how we want and not pay too much to do so. Car running costs have fallen considerably since 1945, as vehicles are more economical, more durable, safer and more comfortable.

Unfortunately, this convenience comes at a price, which is pollution, climate change and congestion. Large parts of urban areas have been given over to car parking areas, where our mechanical steeds spend 96% of their time.

How can we use our cars, yet reduce the downsides of car ownership? Even if by some miracle, all vehicles became zero emission tomorrow, the problem of managing traffic and restricting urban sprawl because of motor vehicles would still be an issue.

Even Kent County Council (KCC) grudgingly accepts this. It has spent taxpayers’ money on public transport projects and cycle paths but their success rate is low.

Bus services are in a quandary: KCC's flagship Dover fast track bus service is fast going the way of the Mary Rose and the much vaunted zero emission buses (ZEBs) may well turn out to be the same old diesel-powered vehicles.

At least someone is on the ball as Go-Ahead, the operator for the North Kent fast track bus service, has fast-tracked their first zero emission tram-style bus. So Kent now has one zero emission bus at least.

Leicester with its Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) has 134 ZEBs running. Perhaps this is because it believes in buses as a tool to plan better urban and suburban transport, whereas KCC has relegated bus travel to a footnote.

KCC prefers to spend money on grandiose road and railway projects, while being unable to maintain the road network it already owns.

Richard Styles

Drivers being forced off the roads

I have not driven in central London for many decades but, after taking my disabled wife for a hospital appointment, I sincerely hope that I won’t have to do it again. It would appear that the Department of Transport and the mayor of London are doing their utmost to drive car drivers off the road.

I say this on the grounds that there is Ulez and congestion charges, 20mph zones, non-continuous bus and cycle lanes and road restrictions coming at you from all angles whilst trying to navigate to your destination safely. It is an absolute nightmare and not recommended for the faint-hearted.

To make matters worse, pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists drive around with impunity breaking every law in the book which seems totally unfair to the motorists who will inevitably fall foul of Sadiq Khan’s rule book, forcing them to cough up for an unfair fine.

Car drivers are being put into an unenviable situation where it’s nearly impossible to drive around without falling foul of something.

This is an attempt by those in power to force car drivers out of their cars into public transport. But for people with disabled passengers and wheelchairs, this is not an easy option.

Sid Anning

Greed of car parking charges

The scrapping of cash payments for parking is the least of my problems.

I no longer go to paid car parks, consequently, I rarely leave my house any more!

The one thing that I can still do in life is drive; just as long as I'm not going to be using a paid car park. It's not a matter of moving with the times, it's just old-fashioned greed, a better means of taking money from people with as little cost to themselves.

Added to which, it is shocking how many public car parks are owned by companies that take their money to offshore bank accounts and do not pay any UK tax or put anything back into the UK economy.

Personally, I don't use a mobile phone but even if I did, the apps are so unreliable. I was with a young woman trying to pay for parking where it took three quarters of an hour before both she and others could get the app to work.

J. Marden

Immigrants vital to health service

Please, Colin Bullen, explain exactly what you mean by ‘progressives of the middle class have facilitated mass immigration’.

Where would our hospitals, even our GPs and dental practices be without all those ‘immigrants’?

Marika Sherwood