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

Some know nothing of real poverty

I thoroughly agree with Sid Anning about the so-called poverty that some people profess to have.

I, too, am 80 this year. When I was at school mobile phones, internet and credit cards didn’t exist. If you wanted to talk to someone you went to their home and talked face-to-face. If they lived too far away you wrote a letter. To see someone at a distance you walked, cycled or took public transport. Very few people had phones (landlines) or cars.

To buy something you paid cash or, if you were rich, you wrote a cheque supported by a cheque guarantee card.

If you say you don’t have enough income, forget about Sky, Netflix, etc, there are more than enough programmes on free stations without paying for hundreds more.

Likewise, if you must have a mobile phone, buy the cheapest one you can find and pay-as-you-go. Forget about expensive contracts.

There are lots of ways to cut down on spending. I know some people say they cannot do without, but think of all the money you could save. Some people don’t know what real poverty is.

Jean Rolfe

Make nationalism a thing of the past

The correspondence regarding the National Anthem is wrongly focussed. We should be giving less thought to ‘Anthem’ and greater consideration to ‘National’.

People are more important than nations. The age of nationalism is long past. We are in a global world.

An example of how integrated the world has become is the tragic death of those aid workers in Gaza. Seven people, from four nationalities, working together to bring aid to a population in need and killed whilst seeking to provide that aid.

It is the younger generation that is most aware of, and rejoices in, the diversity that now exists in our society. It is also the younger generation that has suffered most because of the many changes in our economic system brought in by Mrs Thatcher.

Our view of the communities to which we belong has to be widened. We have to understand that globalisation is more than an economic fact, that it involves a much deeper integration of all aspects of life.

If nations continue in narrow, nationalistic, attitudes, seeking only national aims to the exclusion of all other considerations, the ultimate end could be nuclear war.

The problems the younger generation faces are greater than any that we have faced. That generation has to find a solution to climate change. This again is a worldwide problem that cannot be solved on a nationalistic, or capitalistic, basis.

Ralph A Tebbutt

In harmony with anthem views

I appear to have stirred a backlash for my views on our National Anthem, which I believe is in need of something more fitting to replace it.

However, I respect the comments of those who have cogently expressed their opposition to my proposal. Their reasoning is measured and provides much food for thought.

So I'm now prepared to rule out Jerusalem and Land of Hope and Glory as alternatives. Iinstead, I would be open to inviting composers and lyricists of our native soil to revisit the anthem and fashion something that would embrace the values and attributes of being British. And to generate enough grandeur and passion to render pride in our nationality.

I must also point out, that each nation within the UK has its own anthem, Scotland has Flower of Scotland, whilst Wales has as its official anthem, Hen Wlad Fly Nhadau (Land of My Fathers).

And the national and royal anthem is God Save the King/Queen.

M. Smith

Bad parenting is to blame

I'm 89 years old and agree 100% with Sid Anning's letter on the subject of school children’s poverty.

Yes, it's down to bad parenting - sending kids to school with no breakfast, dirty clothes, etc.

Jack Denness MBE

We must listen to children’s concerns

Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner for England, has said that for the last year, because it’s an election year, she’s been round the country talking to children everywhere, in youth clubs, schools, mental health wards and youth prisons.

There she’d asked them: ”What do you want the next government to do for children?” She said that one of the really shocking findings was that only one in five said that this government and those in power were even listening to them.

When it came to politicians, her report suggested that every political party should commit itself to writing a manifesto for children, take part in a leaders’ debate about children and that MPs should hold surgeries in their constituencies for children.

Rachel de Souza said that her suggestions relating to politicians were just one of the steps to be taken to improve the lives of our children. She is adamant that children are ready to give their views and suggest solutions to their problems.

I, however, would ask are we as a society, not just our politicians, but all of us collectively, ready to listen and act upon their suggestions?

I agree with her when she said that this would be a better country if we did.

John Cooper

Net zero obsession puts us at risk

Of all the damaging campaigns afflicting us perhaps the worst is the obsession of the chattering classes with net zero emissions.

Most of the other absurdities of the woke could be easily reversed by any sensible government, as Acts of Parliament can be repealed and fanatics removed from influential positions, but reversing the physical effects of pursuing policies based on a theory of climate change would require a great deal of time and money.

Even if one were to accept that so-called greenhouse gases are the prime driver of global climate change, which is by no means certain, despite the assertions of those such as the BBC that the science is settled, this country is responsible for only about 1% of emissions.

Statistical surveys show that China produces 30.7%, India 7.6% and Russia 4%, while even countries such as Iran, Indonesia and Turkey pump out more than the UK. The most prolific are not making any attempt to reduce these figures, indeed are still building fossil fuel power stations at an accelerated rate.

New official statistics confirm UK has cut emissions by 50% between 1990 and 2022, and the UK is the first major economy to halve its emissions, while also growing its economy by 79%, yet this is not enough for the zealots of Just Stop Oil, who continue to block roads, attack works of art, and generally cause trouble, but not of course for those countries which are the major emitters.

We are sacrificing our industrial base and putting future energy supplies at great risk, thanks to politicians of all the main parties demanding further reduction of our production of such gases.

No doubt when the inevitable power cuts take place, hospitals cannot function, old people die in unheated homes and wealth-creating industries collapse, the vociferous activists now shouting for zero carbon will blame everyone except themselves.

A rational policy of allowing scientific advances to generate better means of power generation over a reasonable time could avoid all these dangers but setting ludicrously short targets for achieving low carbon production proves once again that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Colin Bullen

Public services need a name change

Is it not time to rebrand certain of our ‘services’ to reflect more accurately their real benefit to our society?

Royal Mail, for instance, should be rebranded as simply ‘Mail’ - the word Royal implies a high level of service and value and today’s postal service is worthy of neither.

The Police Force and UK Border Force should be rebranded as the Police Farce and UK Border Farce. The integrity of the former, particularly The Met, is being increasingly compromised and our border controls are no more effective in controlling immigration than a colander is in retaining water.

As for the Civil Service, anyone who has tried to contact any government department in recent years soon discovers that most of the jobsworths working in the public sector are far from civil and offer very little in the way of service.

Bob Readman

Defence should be a cause for concern

At my time of life, I should not be worried about the weak defences of the country, as I probably won’t be around to see our country being attacked.

But it’s the future generations that I care about, who go about their business in ‘cloud nine’ and not caring what may happen tomorrow.

Believe me, this is as serious as it gets and there hasn’t been this sort of dangerous situation since before the last war, even though then we had a huge defence forces comparable with most.

We cannot continue to rely on the Americans if another war comes to our shores, as Donald Trump has already stated, and we must increase our defence spending - and rightly so.

But unfortunately people in Britain are more concerned about woke matters and things closer to home rather than the threat from Russia. We really have got to wisen up before the Russians start invading us, but I must say that if we cannot cope with rubber boats coming across the Channel, what chance have we got against the might of Russia.

It’s not so much in some cases that there isn’t enough money going into the forces, but how it’s spent on procurement. I know from experience that the wastage in the military is criminal, as indeed it is in the NHS, and it’s time we got a bigger bang for our buck and start increasing our percentage of GDP as soon as possible.

If we got Russians on our shores, what good is it worrying about the cost of living?

Sid Anning

Memories of charity plane-pull

Many thanks for publishing that memorable photo of the US Air Force's Flying Fortress, nicknamed Memphis Belle, and the star of the Hollywood World War Two film being pulled along the now defunct runway at the old West Malling airfield (Decades last week).

I'm somewhere at the back of the photo close to the aircraft with colleagues and friends from Frederic Hall Solicitors in Folkestone. It was a Bank Holiday Monday in May 1989 and an event organised by solicitors from Kent Law Society (I was President in 2017) with contributions from many law firms around Kent who sent along volunteers including family members.

From memory, it was a cold, blustery, grey day but great fun and for a fantastic cause as we raised lots of money for ChildLine from the firms themselves as well as our clients who chipped in too. Well worth the effort!

Edward Lewis

Video games are not reality

Concerning our increase in knife crime, it is about time to change the outdated law that no one under the age of 18 can be named after stabbing someone.

Surely it is obvious to anyone that if you carry a knife there is only one reason and that is to either threaten or stab someone and therefore should be named, whatever their age no exceptions.

I suppose the next stage will be guns, with the excuse it is for defence. I wonder if some of the video games where you can stab or shoot someone and they just jump up and carry on is to blame as, to some people, these games are reality.

A. Kontozi

Are your true colours showing?

I take exception to the Editors’ comment with the letter from Bob Readman.

I talk from experience as I was in all Westminster departments at the time and a major supplier to the government and it was absolutely true that there was no money left, as we were worried about getting our invoices paid.

I think that he has exposed himself as a Labour supporter!

Michael Carr