Letters - January 25, 2019

Support for public libraries long overdue
Since the start of austerity, there have been hundreds of libraries and thousands of library staff lost across the UK, says Matthew SmithSince the start of austerity, there have been hundreds of libraries and thousands of library staff lost across the UK, says Matthew Smith
Since the start of austerity, there have been hundreds of libraries and thousands of library staff lost across the UK, says Matthew Smith

Libraries are a valuable resource for all of us, valuable for our communities for education, entertainment and enlightenment.

They are also often the only place for those without the resource of a computer to access the internet.

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Libraries are access to knowledge, and knowledge is power. The library books I have read have entertained me, moved me and changed my life.

Libraries are unarguably a bastion of civilisation.

Since the start of austerity, there have been hundreds of libraries and thousands of library staff lost across the UK.

It doesn’t have to be like this. There is a petition calling on the Government to protect library services by ringfencing government funding for libraries.

The petition can be found at https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/228742.

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Support for libraries is like the library books I forgot to return on time – overdue.

Matthew Smith

via email

Brexit

Politics is certainly a funny old game

Funny old game this politics. The conduct of all our members of parliament shows just the complete contempt they have for the electorate.

We had a referendum re. our EU membership, 17.4m of us voted leave.

Now it all boils down to around 650 of our MPs to decide how we leave, that is, if over half of them can actually agree on something.

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Obviously we will not get the leave we voted for as most of our MPs want us to remain.

Oh by the way, we would not be crashing out .With or without a deal, we voted out! There are those clamouring for another referendum. How could we have a fair referendum when we have had two and a half years of daily doses of Brexit negatives from the BBC ?

Now consider this. The Labour party will now keep pressing for a general election and should there be one, hope to win it.

Should Labour win, we would then have a prime minister, Mr Corbyn , leading our country when his own MPs didn’t want him leading his own Labour party...

Yes, it’s a funny old game ‘init’.

B. Robinson.

Blackpool

Brexit

Democracy is all about compromise

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The word democracy is being bandied about during the current arguments over Brexit.

Contrary to popular belief, the heart of democracy is not the rule of law or representative government.

Important though those and other features are, the kernel of democracy is compromise.

As the ancient Greeks pointed out, without the willingness to compromise there can be no true democracy.

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Sadly, that willingness is not prevalent today among certain individual politicians. They are clearly more concerned with self than nation, with ingrained, biased opinions than a willingness to see the validity of opposing arguments, and with playing party politics.

That Jeremy Corbyn should be a prominent member of this clique should not surprise anyone who has read and studied Marxist and Leninist doctrines. After all, as Marx said in a 1846 letter to Engels: “Those who waste their time studying the opinions of others are pitiful creatures”.

Lenin in 1916 said at a Bolshevik rally: “Shoot anyone who talks of compromise. We will only get what we want by force and pouring scorn and hate on all who oppose our views”.

Corbynisters speak the code of direct action.

Those who doubt that such undemocratic views still persist should read what Corbyn and his shadow chancellor have said publicly over the past few years. It echoes the quotes above.

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Corbynisters thrive on chaos. That is why they want to see any sensible plan for a withdrawal from the EU fail.

Hence, the leader of what used to be the Labour Party has willingly attended talks with terrorist leaders and communists in Cuba, Palestine and Venezuela but refused to discuss compromise talks over an issue of vital importance with our Prime Minister.

His true beliefs and intentions are very transparent to all but the deluded.

Dr Barry Clayton

Thornton Cleveleys