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
Send Royal Navy into the Channel
We are fast becoming a laughing stock with our inability to stop the illegal Channel crossings.
Why can’t Royal Navy vessels be put to good use in patrolling the water and turning these boats around?
Our Border Force seem unable to cope and, in fact, at times help them ashore.
Those coming over on these over-crowded boats pay a lot of money.
Why don’t they buy a cross-Channel ferry ticket and come through passport control?
We are fast becoming over-crowded with persons who have no right to be here. It has to stop.
Common sense tells me two into one won’t go.
You cant squeeze a quart into a pint pot.
Richard Mummery
Generation pain for UK’s future
The older generation of people who live in Britain still adhere to the basic values they hold dear despite the changes and upheavals of the 21st century.
They might be in for a shock, however, when they read about the latest survey run by The Times and the pollster, You Gov.
It reveals that large numbers of 18 to 29-year-olds, known as ‘Generation Z’, no longer believe in those values and, in fact, their feelings are antithetical to them.
Twenty years ago when a similar survey was carried out, young Britons then, the first Millennials, were mostly optimistic about the future and 80% said they were proud of their country.
But today in the Generation Z group, this number has fallen to 41%.
A closer look at the figures reveals in 2004, a total of 21% of young adults said they would fight for their country and a further 57% qualified this by saying, only if they agreed with the reasons and 19% said they wouldn’t fight.
Today, 41% say they wouldn’t fight, 11% say they would and 37% said they would fight only if they believed in the cause.
Given the fact we have moved from a post-war world to a pre-war world, with the possible escalation of the present war in Ukraine and in view of the findings of the survey, the former head of the British Army, Sir Patrick Sanders spoke.
He said: “If we aren’t prepared to fight for our freedom and way of life as we have always done, then we will become prey in a world of predators.”
To remedy this situation he suggested: “A concerted effort to change attitudes in a way that the next generation appreciates the reality of the challenges we now face as a country.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the findings were very worrying and: “Too many young people do not believe they have a stake in the future.”
They recognise the seriousness of the position we find ourselves in as a nation with the prospect of the call up of Generation Z into our armed forces in the event of conflict.
But neither the general, nor the politician have a clue as to how to deal with the potential problem of a large number of conscripts, who have said they are not prepared to fight for their country
The reasons for this situation are clearly complex and it is not a question of blaming anything or anybody, but rather explaining how and why this potentially dangerous state of affairs has come about.
Generation Z are clearly a neglected generation, many disenchanted with this country with 50% thinking it is stuck in its past and uncertain about their future with it and saddled with financial constraints their parents and grandparents didn’t have.
Many are disillusioned with our politicians and political system and would support a dilution of our democracy and a more authoritarian government.
None of this bodes well for Britain and it is difficult to see what, if anything, can be done within a limited timespan to assuage them and give them a more positive view of this country and their future within it and help them change their minds.
One things for sure : they have been transformed, almost overnight, from being our most neglected generation into our most important generation, upon which our future might well depend.
John Cooper
We need to stand up to Trump
Surely I cannot be alone in feeling thoroughly ashamed of the almost total lack of response by OUR government to the actions of the malignant narcissist who now rules the USA, having granted himself the powers akin to those of the worst of history’s absolute monarchs?
Mexico’s President, Claudia Sheinbaum, Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau and EU President, Ursula von der Leyen have all spoken out very strongly against the, arguably insane criminal squatting in the White House.
Yet the response of the UK government and its new ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, has been almost placatory.
Donald Trump says he wants world peace and his way of achieving that has been to declare war on the world!
Shame on Starmer and his ministers!
Bob Readman
Parking warden was ‘jobsworth’
I like to think I’m a reasonable sort of person, and like to give people the benefit of the doubt whenever I can, but somehow I don’t seem to think this applies to traffic wardens.
Yesterday, I took my little dog down for his mid-morning walk.
After checking the time, I set my clock on the disabled badge and placed it in the windscreen as the rules state.
About 15 minutes later I came back to my car and noticed the nice traffic warden had put a penalty sticker on my screen.
Retrieving my badges and the penalty sticker, I asked what the problem was as my blue discs were correct and in the right place.
However, I was informed I’d put on the wrong time on the time disc – I had apparently put a time prior to my actual arrival which was an error on my behalf.
But I was only gone 15 minutes or so, and seeing I can use the badges for three hours, it would still be legal – or so I thought.
Not a bit. Remonstrating with the traffic warden over this minor infringement, I explained I’m 82 and my wife is seriously unwell – I have a lot on my mind.
I expressed my views this was nit-picking, and a distortion of the rules.
I just wonder if there is any humanity left in this world, but after this I’m afraid to say there is not.
I hope the council enjoy the money which I worked all my life.
Sid Anning
Bus service not fit for purpose
KCC calls our bus network in Kent “fragile”. I call it broken.
Kent has no “commercial” bus services as they all rely on government funding to some degree, and until this is clearly understood by all parties, we will not fix the problem.
Government bus funding is meant to fund better services so new services are run to bring the network up to speed.
It’s not meant to guarantee profits for Stagecoach’s German owners.
Everywhere else we hear of new services, new buses, better bus stops with reliable electronic indicator boards and decent shelter, reliability, convenience, and forward thinking.
Here it remains firmly in the same miserable cutback mode, using very old vehicles, meaning unreliability, infrequency, and inconvenience.
The bus company blame game is to say passengers are not using the buses, well if services cease to exist or are reduced to a level of pointlessness, passengers will not use them.
As I have said so many times in the past, the current status quo will not deliver progress.
Change is needed and soon.
Richard Styles
America always looks after itself no matter what
We should not be surprised the US is in the process of selling out Ukraine and its NATO allies.
The US was born in betrayal and has continued on that path ever since.
In 1763, the British army defeated the French in North America to protect the American colonists and allow their expansion westward.
Soon after, to avoid paying for that war, the ungrateful colonists rebelled and successfully fought for their independence.
Later, in 1812, while the British were occupied with Napoleon in Europe, they tried unsuccessfully to invade Canada.
For a large part of the two world wars, the US sat on the fence and profited considerably.
It stabbed Britain in the back over the 1956 Suez Crisis and the 1982 Falklands War.
It is not just the British who have suffered from US perfidy.
There are also the Kurds in Syria, the Shia in Basra, the south Vietnamese, the Afghanis, the Shah of Iran…the list goes on.
The US has always been a most untrustworthy ally and now, with Donald Trump as president, things will only get worse.
Derek Wisdom
KCC future plan kept in check by good decision
What a relief the voters of Kent have not been robbed of their right to elect a new county council.
It was quite shocking to see Conservative-led Kent County Council (KCC) trying to rush into devolution without proper consideration or consultation.
Though maybe not that surprising – cancelling the upcoming May elections would have allowed sitting councillors to hold on to their jobs for an extra year or two.
Greens stood up strongly against the plans to rush Kent into a unitary authority which would take power away from local councils, allowing planning to be controlled by a single Mayor.
This would definitely be a change for the worse for our Garden of England.
We want changes to improve local government that are well-planned and give people more of a say, not less.
The Green Party is the fastest growing party in Kent by far.
Currently the Green and Independent group at KCC is the largest opposition group with seven councillors – Labour and the Lib Dems have six each and Reform just one.
Green councillor numbers in Kent grew massively between 2021 and 2024, and are now five times what they were.
There are 54 elected Greens on district councils in Kent and many more at town and parish level, all working hard to make our communities fairer and more resilient.
Christine Oliver, Green Party
Women and girls carrying knives
It’s a worrying fact the number of women and girls carrying knives in England and Wales has trebled in the last decade.
The brutal murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer in 2021, had only escalated the compulsion for women to arm themselves for their own protection.
With confidence in the police at an all time low, and the rise in attacks on women by men wielding knives, there seems little chance the situation is anywhere near being resolved.
And although it is illegal to carry a blade, the fear of becoming a victim, outweighed the risk of being arrested for breaking the law.
M Smith
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