Your Views on National Issues
Here I will paste a selection comments and questions from constituents onto the site. This is just to give you a taste of the wide variety of views and issues raised by constituents.Maybe you want to react to what people are saying. Why not start a discussion and have your views posted onto the site too?
Hello,
Flouridisation are you for or against ? I am against as I feel it is a mass medication when individuals should be in control of their own dental health. The long term effects are not known! It takes away individuals choice.
July 2003
Dear Mr Reed,
As an English pensioner, I would be interested to know your views on the disparity that exists within Great Britain regarding concessionary travel for elderly people and what efforts you would make to cancel out these anomalies. I have copied an extract from one of the many websites that focus on this issue and would be pleased to see your comments.
If this is truly a democracy that I am living in, then I would consider that fairness to all is an endeavour for all in politics to pursue, perhaps restoring some of the profession's credibility.
On another matter but still to do with transport. I note that disabled people within the county have been issued with a swipe card to enable them to freely access three county parks, one for example being Beacon Hill. These new barriers are, according to County Hall, intended to make these sites work more efficiently by releasing wardens for other duties. I raised the question with County Hall via email: Would such a system exclude disabled people from beyond the county? I have received no answer to this.
I would construe from this lack of response that: Yes it would exclude and if that is so, it is yet another example of the lack of fairness in our society, brought on, sadly, by action instead of inaction.
P.J.Matthews (Mr.)
Dear Mr Reed,
Have you a view on the proposed demolition of
the Blue Boar Public House in the Rushes? I find it disappointing
that the developers of the Metrobrook Monolith feel that
they must level a piece of architecture to make way for 2
more retail units. Surely this building is something different
and a feature of a bygone Loughborough, that should be
remembered and respected, rather than flattened and developed
into more sales space. Have you a view? Regards
Dear Mr. Reed,
I understand you are looking for views regarding mandatory cycle helmet use for under 16 yr, olds.I would suggest that it is wrong to make it compulsory for kids to wear them.The first reason is that it `formalises` riding a bike,and takes out any spontaneous decision to jump on a bike.When govt. is looking for ways to combat obesity in kids,helmet laws would be a retrograde step.Go to holland and see how many cyclists wear helmets.NONE!They are an alien idea to the Dutch.In australia where it is law to use a helmet,cycle use has fallen.I do not use a helmet,nor my kids.I ride in excess of 100 miles a week ,and i would say the greatest risk to cyclists is speeding cars.Wearing a piece of polystyrene on top of your head will not stop you being run over by a car!Kids have to learn rik assessment,they cannot be wrapped in cottonwool.Nor should the govt.try.The govt. cannot legislate out all the risks in life,and to try in this case would make it appear that cyclin! g is dangerous.By making helmets compulsory ,govt.is saying that bicycles are DANGEROUS.I could go on for hours,but i hope you will vote against helmets becoming law.
Hi,
with the 3rd reading of the Education Bill due, you may be intereted in a piece in the Guardian about the Science Select Committee taking on HEFCE. contains an interesting line that the head of DoES doesn't think variable fees will make any difference to preserving science and engineering courses. Who are we to believe, someone who works in HE, or Charles Clarke?
Dear Andy
The Department for Education and Skills recently published a booklet 'Student loans: A guide to terms and conditions' (PPD21/PBEL/104/145). It informs that "to make sure that all borrowers pay back the same amount they borrowed, the Government has to keep the value of what is owed in line with the general rate of inflation. This is done by working out the rate of inflation each year as defined by the Retail Price Index (RPI) and fixing the interest charged to that rate. This means that however long it takes you to repay your loan, you will repay no more, in real terms, than you actually borrowed." (p.18)
In last week's budget speech, the Chancellor said that inflation would remain well below its 2% target this year. However, the Student Loans Company Limited (100 Bothwell Street. Glasgow G2 7JD, tel: 0870 240 6298) is currently charging my son David a rate of interest of 3.1% on his student loan, more than double the previous year's charge of 1.3%. (Source: Annual Statement issued by the Student Loans Company Limited to David Tattersall, September 2003)
Can you explain this anomaly?
Hello,
I have just read a very worrying headline - that Gordon Brown is relaxing restrictions on out-of-town shopping centres, and thereby bowing to pressure from Tescos, Ikea etc.
Firstly, is this true, and if so what on earth is the Government now doing for sustainable development, if it continues to renegue on previously positive measures?
Just a quick note. I was reading in the papers today about David Blunkett blaming piss-heads for all the increased violence in Enagland! Firstly, about 3 or 4 years ago me and my friends were the type of binge drinkers that he talks about and trust me, alcohol problems with youths are bad but they were just as bad then and have definately not gotten worse. Secondly, surely a simple solution to the problem would be to stop all pubs shutting at 11 and clubs at 2 to avoid the massive pile up of pissed people wanting to start fights, etc as they dont want their night to finished. Has Mr. Blunkett ever wondered why these problems are'nt as bad in europe?? It seems that the Labour government have been trying convince us that some really bad ideas are actually good for us without saying why (eg. stealth taxes, Iraq War, tuition fees,etc), a bit like the yanks trying to convince their people that the fact that guns are legal does not contribute to increased gun crime!! I would just like to say that i will not be voting for labour as i feel the have been lying to us on a number of key issues!
Yours Sincerely,
Dear Mr Reed,
I would like to visit the House of Commons to listen to a debate. I have never been before and I take an interest in politics. I decided to contact you after a friend of mine contacted her local MP and had an enjoyable time.
Andy
This an acknowledgement, not an enquiry! Thanks very much for forwarding my second enquiry (on behalf of Loughborough AI) about Colombia to Bill Ramell. Thanks also for sending me his reply - it addressed the concerns raised much more closely than his first reply did.
Dear Andy,
This topic really gets me going: Why is it that one ALLEGED incident attributed to the IRA gets headline treatment, but we rarely hear of the repeated breaches of the cease-fire by the Unionist side?
There are good reasons why mainland residents should fear the IRA, which has perpetrated many atrocities here, whereas the unionist terrorists have, I believe, only ever operated in the province. This is, I assume, the excuse the newspapers and the broadcast media use for not reporting the unionist atrocities, but I suggest that this must change, if, that is, we want any results from the talks.
If, like most mainland residents, you don't know of any recent atrocities attributable to the Unionists, for which there appear to be many witnesses, I suggest you subscribe to the republican news service at http:// republican-news.org ! Below are a couple of paragraphs from their latest
missive:
"Trimble had been threatening to pull out of the talks for several days. He is due to meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Downing Street tomorrow to discuss the Tohill incident and Sinn Fein's continued involvement in the review talks. Several people have been charged in connection with the alleged abduction bid which, within hours of it happening, PSNI police chief Hugh Orde blamed on the Provisional IRA. Unionists believe Sinn Fein is inextricably linked to the mainstream IRA. Last Wednesday, a source for the IRA said that it had not authorised the action. The Trimble withdrawal came as Irish and British ministers met the parties in Belfast in the latest round of review talks. The only issue on the agenda was the subject of continuing paramilitary activity. It is the single issue which has been overshadowing the review, launched with the aim of putting power back in the hands of the locally elected politicians."
"Sinn Fein assembly member Bairbre de Brun said the IRA posed no threat to the peace process. Her comments reflected those of PSNI chief Hugh Orde, who said today he did not believe the IRA intended to return to conflict. Ms de Brun accused the UUP leader of engaging in 'posturing without substance'. She said: "David Trimble signalled last week that he intended to leave the Review. This is part of Mr. Trimble's competition with the DUP. He is attempting to compete with the DUP on Ian Paisley's ground. It is the wrong approach. "Maybe if Mr Trimble had been so exercised about the recent murder of a young Catholic in Lisburn or the attack last week by unionist paramilitaries on a 105-year-old woman in North Belfast then people could take his action today more seriously."
Were these crimes, perpetrated by unionist terrorists, reported on the mainland news services? I don't remember hearing any such reports either on Radio 4 or BBC TV news, both of which I observe every day. I do remember hearing many reports on the day of the alleged attempted abduction and since. Is this an example of BBC bias?
You rightly point out, on your web-site, that " The Unionist Community have accepted many compromises along the way and this has to be about balance. ". You seem to have forgotten that the Republicans have also accepted compromises, including the expectation for a united Ireland, which was an important, if not the most importand, plank in their manifesto. There was balance, but the unionists are intent on upsetting this balance with more demands and an obsession with a few alleged (for none has been verified so far) breaches of the cease fire by the IRA, coupled with an irresponsible lack of concern over the continued breaches of the cease fire by their own terrorists. It appears that, having achieved a cessation of IRA activity, the unionists are now having second thoughts about the whole idea of home rule. There is a suspicion they may not have been sincere when they signed the Good Friday agreement. It is the unionist side that needs to be brought back into the negotiations and whom the British government must pressurise to conform to their commitments. In my view, the republicans have behaved, & are behaving, with commendable patience in their constant devotion to the peace process since the agreement was signed.