Your views on March street revamp, Wisbech tree festival and football club, plus politics

Here are the letters from this coming Wednesday's Fenland Citizen...

Money could have been used in better ways

So Fenland District Council is going ahead with a revamp of Broad Street in March. The proposed cosmetic changes will do nothing to improve the footfall in the town centre.

What are needed is retail shops, and had the council used some of the money by way of grants to use small businesses willing to set up and give it a go, it might have done some good.

At a time when foodbanks and charities are calling out for finance to help the needy and desperate, the public funds – some £8million, no less – being spent on this project, which was neither sort by local residents or is essential, is shameful. And in my opinion,the removal of our unique fountain from its historic and imposing position at the noth end of Broad Street to make way for a roundabout is tantamount to cultural vandalism.

Neil Cram

March

Your support made it all worth while

St Augustines Church Wisbech wants to say a big ‘thank you’ to those of you who came along to our Christmas Tree Festival.

Thank you for your support, your company and your lovely comments.

We had so many people say how beautiful the church looked that it made the hard work really worthwhile. We enjoyed sharing the weekend with you all.

Thank you too, to all those who contributed to the festival by decorating a tree, baking, donations of prizes, running a stall and giving up time to be there over the weekend.

A special thank you to Roy McManus for the Christmassy entertainment which greatly added to the atmosphere.

It was a successful weekend and raised more than £700

May we wish you all good health, happiness and a blessed 2023.

Babs Watts

Treasurer, St Augustines Church, Wisbech

Leave the hairdryer treatment in the past

I do not usually read the back pages of the Citizen but the edition of January 4 caught my eye for the wrong reasons.

I sense the frustration in Wisbech Town manger Leon Mettam’s voice but the whole of the piece is antediluvian,

These are young men who play for the love of playing football in all weathers;I can’t see the appeal myself but the hectoring style seems counter productive.

Surely the team would want to feel valued, supported and respected and not told to “man up” or have their performance castigated.

Perhaps this was the style at Lincoln , Tamworth and Frickley for example but the hairdryer treatment belongs in the past.

We all know the limited life span of managers in higher leagues – perhaps the Wisbech Town manager fears he may be looking for new opportunities in June or before?

Veronica Trubshaw

Elm

EDITOR: They do play for the love of the game... but they are also paid!

Big family and career dream dead

Sad statistics say more than 59% of ordinary people surveyed said that this country no longer works in all areas of society.

This is because of capitalism and the rich getting richer and the banking and finance sector, along with big business, trade and industry having the front door key to Downing Street.

Since Margaret Thatcher changed this country from a manufacturing economy to a financial sector economy of hedge funds, tax avoidance and the volatile stocks and shares market, we created the boom and bust, smash and grab economy.

Years ago, we had a boom and bust recession every 25 years, now its every five to 10 years, if not a continuous recession of austerity.

So, the Government’s idea now is to asset strip every penny out of the middle class earning between £24,000 and £46,000 a year.

Our children have no future to own their own home and have no aspiration to succeed in society because they are penniless.

Thats why single parents are on the increase. The big dream of starting a family and having a successful career guaranteed for life is dead.

Mark Burton

Chatteris

Death wish Tories have had second thoughts

The reaction to the toppling of first Boris Johnson and then Liz Truss has had several consequences.

Only Rishi Sunak or a significant chunk of Conservative MPs, alongside opposition parties, could bring about an early election.

Given Tory opinion poll ratings are in the gutter, as things stand, a party which, at points, appeared to have a death wish, has had second thoughts.

The widespread expectation is the Conservatives will run the clock down on this parliamentary term.

But it also radically altered the dynamic between our political parties.

As we look ahead to 2023, it’s the chaos of 2022 in the rear view mirror that moulds what appears to be the political road ahead.

The year gone by, with the political decapitation of two prime ministers, repeatedly changed how we are governed, and by whom.

A party which, at one points, appeared to have a death wish, has had second thoughts.

John White

Wisbech