This week's letters to the editor - The Malvern Observer

This week's letters to the editor

Malvern Editorial 17th Oct, 2014 Updated: 20th Oct, 2016   0

Diabetes UK is recommending everyone with diabetes takes up the offer of a free flu jab from their GP as soon as possible.

People with diabetes are categorised as a ‘high-risk group’ when it comes to getting flu, which means they are entitled to receive a free immunisation – aged six months and up. But nearly a third of people with diabetes under the age of 65 are still not getting the jab.

Having flu can really upset diabetes control and cause blood glucose levels to fluctuate. This can leave people with diabetes open to many health problems, including complications of flu such as pneumonia and bronchitis. We know that people with diabetes under the age of 65 are about five times more likely to die from the flu than those who don’t have the condition in this age group.

It really is vital to have the flu jab every year as the vaccine protects against different strains of flu which evolve each year.




So if you have diabetes and you haven’t already been invited for a free flu jab, please take the time to contact your GP surgery to find out when they are holding clinics.

Pete Shorrick


Diabetes UK Regional Manager in the Midlands

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WELL episode two of carry on up the council was more like the sinking of the Titanic.

Two years ago I sat whilst the Tory administration extolled the virtues of the SWDP.

Last Tuesday I sat as they said we had to move forward with it as it was the only way to ‘stop rampaging developers’ , to quote Coun Baker.

The focus was not the benefits of the plan but the desperate need to paper over the cracks of the disaster that MHDC planning control has become. Coun Baker stated that it was the only way to stop the unplanned, ill conceived and unsuitable developments and close the door on speculative developers’.

Deputy leader Coun Swinburn said it was the only chance to ‘choke off the unwelcome developers’.

So as usual the irony that the council leader, the vice chair of the council and the localism (don’t laugh) portfolio holder were excluded from voting because they are rampaging developers forcing through unsuitable developments that neither the locals or the MHDC officers approve of, was not lost on me.

That said I do hope that now they have the plan moving forward we are not still left without a five year housing supply until winter 2015 when it is possible this plan could allegedly be adopted.

Or like the Titanic could as Coun Hall Jones said crash and sink.

Sarah Rouse

Leigh Sinton

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IS SOMEONE claiming to have a “mandate” to speak and vote on your behalf?

Approximately 70 per cent of the 60,208 residents in Malvern Hills District never vote, that makes 42,145 that allow these people to spend on our behalf, yet we cover up when entering our pin at the till when shopping!

Eight district councillors elected unopposed ‘mandate assumed’ then.

One councillor can ‘call the vote’ that will guillotine further debate altogether, if the balance of votes is precisely balanced the chairman will likely back his party colleagues, hey-presto your ‘representative’ is gagged!

Democracy is being stolen in broad daylight, debates guillotined, decisions made behind closed doors by the leadership; a principled few traditional conservative Councillors have, with heavy heart, jumped ship in disgust.

As a Neighbourhood Watch Group Co-ordinator I call upon residents to safeguard their ‘mandate’ ballot papers in May 2015.

Coun Martin Lawrence

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WE HOPE your readers enjoyed the final of the Great British Bake Off and seeing Nancy win was just the icing on the cake! The competition has taken the nation by storm but now it’s over your readers might need a little something to fill that missing slice in their lives – fear not, Bake Off can live on with the Asthma UK Tea-riffic Party.

Asthma UK supports the one in 11 people with asthma in the UK, providing support and advice, as well as funding exciting research into new treatments, and ultimately a cure for this complex and debilitating condition.

Every ten seconds someone is having a potentially life threatening asthma attack in the UK and tragically every single day three people die. We want to change this but as a charity we need your help to raise vital fund. And what better way to put the fun into fund-raising by raising some dough for charitea!

Whether it’s a cup of tea and cake at the local school or champagne and strawberries with the girls, the possibili-teas are endless!

For more information please go to www.asthma.org.uk/fundraise-tea-riffic or call the Asthma UK Helpline on 0800 121 62 44.

Kerry Johns

Head of events and community fund-raising

Asthma UK

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