Write to us at the Malvern Observer, Webb House, Church Green East, Redditch, B98 8BP or email [email protected]
Letters are welcome on most subjects but please do try to keep them brief and preferably no more than 350 words. Letters may be cut for reasons of space, decency and the law.
Editor’s Comment
THIS weekend the nation will fall silent to remember our war heroes.
As time passes and fewer veterans of the world wars are here to mark Remembrance Day with us, it is more important than ever for the tradition to be continued.
All young people should be taught the message behind the day, not just taught to be silent for a few moments. While we can never imagine the horrors of those who gave up their lives in battle during both the world wars and all conflicts since, those couple of minutes enable us to start to reflect on the enormity of their sacrifice.
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I WOULD like to respond to some of the points raised by Mr Young, the proponent of a cable car for Malvern (Observer, October 22).
For many of us the idea of building towers and running cables up the side of our beautiful hill is to create a scar on the landscape. All this talk of sensitivity to the environment is just hogwash. There is no such thing as an environmentally friendly scar.
Employment. Yes well the Second World War provided plenty of employment. Concreting over Blackpool beach would create endless jobs. Hardly an argument for destroying the beauty of the Beacon, and the wonderful view of the hills from Great Malvern.
I suspect a cable car would attract many who are far more interested in the ride than the countryside that Elgar loved. What will be needed next to keep them amused? A café of course, a visitors’ centre, a souvenir shop… We could go the whole hog and turn Malvern into a mini-Disneyland. If you think this is hyperbole take a look at what’s been done to Matlock Bath with its array of giant plastic creatures. Illuminated by night too!
I can’t believe this philistine proposal is being seriously discussed by anyone. Please leave our glorious hills alone for our grandchildren to enjoy and don’t make them over into another branch of the tawdry entertainment industry.
Martin Reed
Malvern
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CONGRATULATIONS on your first year of publication. You marked it by publishing what must be the oddest letter received during that year, from D Wood of Malvern Wells.
Its author accuses both Councillor David Harrison and I of being ‘obsessed with service provision’. Indeed we are. The point of the council is to provide services, such as development control or waste collection, for the people of this district and in a manner they prefer. A councillor’s job is to ‘represent’ the electorate by articulating what local people tell him or her. Councillors should tell the council’s employees how things are to be, not the other way around.
‘Democracy’ is a form of government in which power is exercised by the people, collectively, for practical purposes through the ballot box. ‘Democrats’ are those who believe in this principle and insist upon equal rights for all. No one should be in any doubt that David Harrison and I are both ‘democrats’. That means, amongst other things, supporting the wishes of local people in respect of unwanted and unnecessary housing development, seeking open and honest debate about proposed changes to waste collection, resisting obscene golden handshakes for under-occupied council managers and, above all, maintaining the independence of our own Malvern Hills District Council. No Wychavon takeover, thank you, no matter how much it appeals to the Conservative Party.
D Wood prefers that we ‘represent their electorate and their communities’, but precisely how and in what forum if MHDC is reduced to just a shell, with the decisions being taken elsewhere by others who do not live here?
In all an entirely vacuous letter from someone who demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of what local councils are for and how they ought to work. Perhaps he or she might stand for election, next May, and let’s see how far he or she gets.
Coun Anthony Warburton
Malvern Hills District Council
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I WAS so pleased to read the letter from Mr Knight in Malvern Observer (October 29).
I have heard from the occasional Tory spokesperson over the past ten years how the Labour government caused the collapse of the banking system in the United States, France, Greece, Italy and well, I had better not list every country had I but it was good to have this confirmed by Mr Knight.
However I am old enough to remember a certain pledge card issued by the Labour party prior to winning the ’97 election. Each of the pledges on that card was more than fulfilled so the statement that no party keeps its promises is not true.
Is it? However I look forward to a UKIP government where our empire will be reclaimed, the pound will once again be the most trusted currency, women will be restored to their proper role and we shall all be returned to our place of birth. Having only lived in Malvern for the past 12 years should I start packing?
Gren Gaskell
Blackmore Road, Malvern
