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

Fears over new tax on farmers

I am concerned about the inheritance tax the farmers will have to pay.

I am also worried about our farms being done away with by solar farms and for us to have no farms at all, only cheap food imports.

This will affect me badly as I suffer from bad food allergies and high cholesterol. I can only eat fruit and veg that’s grown in Britain because of the way it’s grown. I will have no veg I can eat if they ruin our farmers by making them pay inheritance tax.

Why are our farmers being punished when they should be given all the help they need to feed us?

I don’t want to see empty shelves.

Please can something be done to stop this tax thing happening to our farmers. They should be helped more like the rail drivers and doctors, etc, were helped with more money. The farmers should not have to pay more for keeping food healthy.

Barbara Towes

War heroes betrayed by our politicians

It's that time of year again when the establishment grandees shuffle along to the Cenotaph to mouth weasel words and shed crocodile tears.

The fact is that these politicians have betrayed everything those servicemen fought and died for.

What would they say - and do - if they came back from the dead and saw the state those politicians have reduced this country to?

We are told that we are the good guys who fight for freedom and democracy but there's little sign of that now.

The reality is that in Stasi-state Britain, you go to prison for your beliefs or thoughts - just as in Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia. Freedom of speech and democracy are dead and it is the politicians who killed them.

Half a dozen or so prime ministers, past and present, stood there like a row of tailors' dummies.

None of them has served in uniform, yet all of them have used British soldiers as cannon fodder at one stage or another.

Not to defend Britain or its coastline but to send them round the world to fight other peoples’ wars. And for countries that are no friends of ours and for which we will get no thanks.

Meanwhile, the wars in Ukraine and Palestine continue unabated. But instead of calling for peace and saving lives, the same politicians want to keep the pot boiling. That makes their hypocrisy all the more sickening.

John Helm

Another blow for pensioners

Keir Starmer stated that workers would not feel any nasty shocks in their pay packets, yet failed to mention the hike in everything else and now council tax, which will affect pensioners who don't get any benefits as well.

Naming him the tinman is apt, he has no heart.

Gaynor Trevett

Wrong time to cut defence

A correspondent suggests that defence spending is too high and some be redirected elsewhere, with there being no immediate threat of invasion.

This is a noble aspiration but we mustn’t lose sight of the grim reality.

I feel that defence is like an insurance policy which you fail to pay at your peril. You hope that its protection won’t be needed but it’s there if required.

And it has recently been shown to be easy for dictatorships around the world to put pressure or influence on countries they regard as weak - maybe by restricting food or power exports, for instance.

And there is the possibility of the UK maybe being even less able to support ourselves in these areas if, under current government policy, more farms close and we rely maybe too heavily on green energy, without sufficient back-up of nuclear or fossil.

I don’t feel that now is the time to reduce defence spending and thus likely give out the wrong signals, as happened in the 1930s.

As the saying goes, history ignored is likely to be repeated.

Malcolm Hayes

Wasted chance of a trade deal

The election of Donald Trump highlights the damage done by Rishi Sunak’s decision to call the general election months before it was necessary.

Not only have the economic indicators turned upwards but an Anglophile in the White House would have made a trade deal with America quite probable.

Now, however we have a PM who is besotted with the EU, so a golden opportunity will be wasted.

If the Conservatives wish to regain power they must cut the wets loose and concentrate on the kind of policies that the vast majority of the country actually want, otherwise they will see another two to three leaders come and go before their inevitable defeat at the next general election.

If they do not understand this then it is time that they were replaced by a party which does.

Colin Bullen

We need to work with Europe now

Geoffrey Brooking says we should appreciate Donald Trump who is returning to the US Presidency.

Perhaps Geoffrey agrees with Nigel Farage and others in saying we should go for a big trade deal with the United States. Oh, what short memories everyone has.

In the previous Trump administration, a condition of a UK-US trade deal was that the NHS was opened up to be devoured by big American financial and investment businesses. That was too much even for Boris Johnson and the Conservatives. The Trump camp has repeated this demand as well as making clear they will be placing tariffs on imports.

We can’t blame President-elect Trump for aggressively promoting his country’s businesses – that is, after all, his job. We have to hope that our own new government will be just as assertive in defending British interests.

To stand up to Trump, and increase trade, business and jobs, the UK and the European states need to work together. The ideal solution would be for the UK to rejoin the single market and scrap barriers, costs and red tape, but, if not, then some sort of large trade deal where – unlike a deal with the US – the UK would be a major player.

Of course, the Brexiters would be furious if someone as much as waved across the channel, but I hope that even they would agree that the NHS, the British economy, and British jobs are much more important than hatred of all things European.

Keith Nevols

Trump’s return a threat to our future

In Geoffrey Brooking’s letter, headlined ‘Calm down and embrace Trump’ he said that he couldn’t wait to see what Donald Trump’s second term will bring.

I must say and with good reason, that I dread the prospect of what this President will bring, not just to his own country, but also us in Europe and the rest of the world.

His stated policy of placing tariffs on imported goods from the USA’s trading partners, will, in all likelihood, provoke tit for tat retaliation from other countries and in the process do untold damage to the stability of the world economy.

Then there is the very real possibility that he will jeopardise our security in Europe by reducing financial and military support to Ukraine in its war with Russia by giving Putin a tacit green light to his aggression. There is even the possibility that he will pull out of NATO altogether, a military alliance which has guaranteed the safety of European states. Either way, it brings us closer to the possibility of a wider war in Europe.

Trump’s intention to stop the USA’s effort to reduce carbon emissions is equally worrying, given the fact that they are clearly contributing to climate change which poses an existential threat to our species on this planet.

Trump is notoriously unpredictable and is just the leader that we in the Western World do not need at this present dangerous moment in time. We should regret, rather than celebrate, his coming to power.

John Cooper

Resigning Welby didn’t ‘do the right thing’

Justin Welby’s resignation comes far too late for him to salvage his reputation and I have little respect for other senior church leaders who are applauding him for ‘doing the right thing’.

Welby didn’t choose to resign, he clung on to his post until he was finally pressured into doing so.

The Anglican lay preacher John Smyth QC’s prolific abuse of young boys and men over a 40-year-long period, was finally exposed to the public in 2013 - despite Smyth’s vile activities having been known to senior Church of England figures for decades.

Welby and many of his high-ranking colleagues closed ranks to protect the church, instead of acting to ensure that Smyth’s activities were brought to an end.

We will never know how many victims would have been saved from abuse.

The chief executive of any organisation worth his salt would ensure that he kept himself informed of the outcome if someone within that organisation were accused of a serious crime.

Welby et al showed the same mentality of self-preservation as that shown by Post Office chiefs in the Horizon scandal.

As for the sorrow expressed by him and other senior churchmen involved in trying to sweep the Smyth scandal under the carpet, I suspect that much, if not most, of their remorse is for themselves.

Bob Readman

We should lead the way on net zero

I read with interest Bob Britnell’s letter in last week’s KM proposing that we stop trying to halt global warming and use our resources instead to cope with the effects of the changing weather, which he feels is a natural phenomenon that occurs regularly across eons anyway.

I respect Mr Britnell’s view and agree that more defences are required but I believe that the consequences of doing nothing to halt climate change will far surpass any mitigation measures we are able to come up with.

In the past year we have seen intense floods, hurricanes and wildfires and whilst in richer countries we may be able to prepare our properties somewhat to withstand damage or even divert these events away from larger towns and cities, there are vast populations where people are already suffering the effects of climate change and their suffering will only worsen if we do nothing.

Heatwaves too will become longer and more intense, putting more and more people at serious risk to their health.

The United Nations has warned that the Earth will heat up between 2.6C and 3.1C by the end of this century unless we all act together.

Of course, we are all entitled to our own views, and I accept that some people believe that climate change is inevitable and there is nothing we can do about it.

But I believe there is a lot that we can and should be doing as one of the richest countries on earth.

If we can lead the way to gaining net zero and showing other countries that it can be done; if we can develop the technology to help us live our comfortable lives without further contributing to the damage already caused, then it has to be worth the cost for the sake of future generations.

Whether we build massive defences against natural disasters or massive renewable energy resources to bring about net zero and reduce the rise in global temperature, it is still going to cost a vast amount of money.

Ruth Marsh