Political views from Chatteris, March and Wisbech readers
It’s time for Boris Johnson to quit as PM
Prime Minister Boris Johnson carried out a mini-reshuffle of his cabinet as he attempts to reconnect with MPs questioning his future following revelations of parties held in Downing Street during Covid-19 lockdowns.
Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP and some of his own MPs are calling on him to resign. Preventing the tally of their letters calling for a vote of no confidence in his leadership reaching 54, the threshold that would tip into a contest, has been the focus. Tuesday’s nips and tucks to his ministerial team were the latest efforts to show that he is changing how things work, after multiple exits from No 10 late last week.
But there’s another important community, watching carefully what is going on – party donors, the group that pays the bills. Most of them rarely speak out, if at all. And beyond a few warning shots, they have mainly kept their counsel about the recent chaos.
But we still hear, his consistent droll daily and just will not resign. It’s time for him to go.
John White
Wisbech
Cost of living crisis is disgusting
The consequences of the rise in national insurance and energy and the general cost of living is plain and simple: ‘buy what you need and not what you want’.
In other words cut out the luxuries. This means less spending in the High Street, less fast food, less restaurants and cinemas.
The good news is that the Government has relaxed planning regulations so High Street shops can be reverted back to residential use, thus the end of the High Street.
Levelling up?
The town of Rhyl has spent millions on reviving its town centre and High Street retail experience, by giving millions in grants to landlords and retailers to repair their wooden window frames and give them a lick of paint.
However, just like the Tory party’s policy, none of this will be trickled down to the people in the street.That’s why the shops remain empty or are just fast food, estate agents or hair dressers.
Investment in infrastructure doesn’t put cash in people’s pockets to spend in the High Street.
HS2 is a farce. If 50% of the work force work from home and no longer commute, there is spare capacity on our network so why do we need HS2, unless its rewarding some crony business person who makes financial donations to the Tory Government and offer six figure revolving door jobs to MPs when they take time out.
This cost of living crisis is the biggest transfer of wealth from the poorest to the wealthiest, such as BP and Shell.
It is disgusting,downright inpertinent, insulting and offensive to intelligence.
Mark Burton
Chatteris
We would represent the people
Five Tory aides have quit. The Boris Johnson Government faces growing anger for partying in 10 Downing Street, as people were forced to stay at home or pay hefty fines for breaking lockdown rules.
The Tory party is riven by splits. And the row over ‘partygate’ is revealing this even more openly.
The public have not been satiated by pitiful apologies from Boris. He’s only ‘sorry’ because he got caught.
Tory MPs have angered constituents by defending Johnson. Peter Bone, Tory MP for Wellingborough, said that his constituents had “moved on”, and described Boris’s party as “accepting cake and eating it”.
Closer to home, our own North East Cambridgeshire Tory MP, Stephen Barclay, has shown his full support for the Prime Minister by becoming Boris’s new Chief of Staff.
In reality, Boris, and his cabinet broke numerous rules during the height of the lockdown. From Dominic Cummings “testing his eyesight” by driving to Barnard Castle, to Matt Hancock’s inability to socially distance himself from a Tory aide.
All this while people missed birthdays, weddings, funerals, and the chance to be by their loved ones side as they passed away.
It is unlikely that a new Tory prime minister will be able to put a lid on the growing frustration among the public. But with pro-austerity Sir Keir Starmer leading the Labour ‘opposition’, people are looking for another political alternative.
The working class deserves an electoral choice which represents their interests. That’s why socialists are standing candidates under the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) banner.
We’re ordinary working-class activists, who stand against cuts and privatisation, and if elected as MPs, like Dave Nellist who is standing in the Birmingham Erdington by-election, we would only take an average worker’s wage.
John Smithee
TUSC Supporter, Wisbech
Many of us just need to prioritise
After reading your regular contributor John Smithee’s letter in last week’s Citizen, I felt compelled to challenge part of his argument.
His opening paragraph stated: “While millions will have to choose between heating or eating”...
Really? Nobody that I know in my town.
Running parallel with the media’s doom and gloom energy headlines was the fact that UK travel agents have been inundated with overseas holiday bookings; some struggling to keep up with demand by all accounts. Millions looking for winter sunshine, and arguably these very same millions who obviously don’t give a jot about the cost of electric or gas.
Indeed, on the evening of February 9, Anglia News conducted a detailed piece about an intense recruitment drive by RyanAir, where they also stated that over 90,000 passengers were expected to pass through Stanstead airport that very weekend.
So, here’s yet another 90,000 that aren’t fazed about impending rising costs.
My point being, Mr Smithee, there are some people out there who have yet to really understand and grasp the difference between what is “essential” and what is “desirable”.
Holidays, plus numerous other things that I could list here, do NOT come before heating one’s home surely.
To summarise, I agree there will be some poor folk who will need financial support in the months ahead, and I’ve absolutely no issue with this. Equally, however, there are some amongst us who simply need to “prioritise”; the clue being in the word.
Brian Smudge Smith
March
Let’s hope the PM is right
With, in all likelihood, Boris Johnson releasing us from all Covid restrictions next Monday, is he once again playing a ‘blinder’ or playing into the hands of the virus?
Every man/woman and their dogs know that this isn’t all about the nation having defeated the virus, and from Boris having waved his hands around his crystal ball, but much, much more to do with Dominic Cummings’ incessant desire to topple the PM, with his leaking of photos of Downing Street’s lockdown rule breaking parties.
The only evidence the Met Police have are photographs, and they prove nothing, except for, for just a second, lockdown rules could have been broken, but that will be insufficient evidence to prove that he was at lockdown busting parties for any considerable duration.
But remembering a prediction, one of many concerning the coronavirus pandemic, in this paper, and on this page, on December 22, I did write, that with the infectiousness of the, then, new variant, that the UK could achieve a level of ‘herd-immunity’ by the middle of February.
Fast forward two months, and with Omicron A giving us its worst, and the nation has an immunity level of 98.7%, whether it be through past infection or vaccination.
So, we could be through the worst of it, but, there is, as there always is, a caveat, and that is Omicron ‘stealth’, or BA.2 as it is known in scientific terms, or any other Omicron derivatives, because, whilst Omi is less of a killer, it is more of a ‘beat you down into physical submission’ variant, and if ‘stealth’ Omi can re-infect those that have had Omi version 1.0?
A study came out last week that had evidence to show that those that have contracted Covid-19 are at an increased risk of cardiovascular problems for at least a year, and, if this variant doesn’t kill you so quickly, it may have off-shoots that are prepared to hit us by way of The Long Game!
Let’s just hope that Boris is right, that he’s the only one marching in step, and that his crystal ball serves him well in the next few weeks, or we will be searching for a new leader of the nation, different to all the rest, and to be quite frank, no-one else could do any better.It would be, all into the frying pan, but could we deal with the fire left after Bo-Jo’s exit as PM?
Ashley Smith
March
