Free Press letters
How can I get my daughter to an NHS dentist?
I wanted to share my views on the 'Health chiefs in talks to bring NHS dentists to Spalding' article on Spalding Today's website and to express my disappointment at the two proposed NHS dentists in Spalding no longer going forward.
I have a 15-month-old and have been desperately trying to find a local NHS dentist for her. With so much pressure on parents to keep on top of children's dental hygiene, I wanted to get her regularly visiting a dentist as soon as possible.
After hearing that two new dentists were coming to Spalding in January 2019, I immediately put both our names down for both. You can imagine my disappointment at finding out very last minute that neither of these plans were going ahead.
I have since been in touch with the 'help' contact given in the email informing me that the plans had been halted, to be told my nearest NHS dentists are the far side of Peterborough or in Leicestershire. I live in a small village outside of Bourne and work full time, so as you can imagine, those options are really no help.
I'm now stuck with trying to figure out how to get my daughter to see an NHS dentist locally. It seems crazy to me that dental practices can refuse to take on children as patients. With the epidemic of poor infant dental hygiene that parents are constantly reminded about, it seems very counter-productive for it then to be made increasingly difficult to register a child with a dental surgery.
Sam Cooper
via email
People are to blame - not the council
Regarding your story about litter in Spalding (Free Press January 15), why are the council getting the blame?
Surely it's the people throwing the rubbish, who have no respect for the town.
I remember Sandra and Tony White collecting the rubbish before they moved away.
Carol Dixon
via email
Litter problem goes farther than Spalding
I agree with Ian Haynes that the litter problem in Spalding leaves a lot to be desired, but as Coun Porter says, this is a much wider problem than just the town.
The villages and countryside similarly suffer with litter being left and dumped where it then becomes the responsibility of South Holland District Council to clean up.
However, we must acknowledge that the cause is generally the thoughtless individuals who simply drop their litter or throw their litter out of the car window; or worse, fly-tip household and commercial waste in the countryside.
Allan Beal
Whaplode
Welland Ward is outstanding
What an outstanding facility the Welland Ward at the Johnson Hospital is.
My wife has just been there for four weeks, the staff without exception are dedicated and professional at all times, they do their best to answer any queries or concerns and the care given is of a high standard.
I would, on behalf of my wife and I, like to say a huge thank you.
Mick Ingamells
Whaplode
What happens after the 'Meaningful Vote'?
Recently in the Lincolnshire Free Press (Letters, January 8), I outlined my preferred approach to resolving the current deadlock around Brexit in Parliament and the lack of progress in terms of resolving huge issues affecting the day-to-day lives of people locally, notably our crises in housing, healthcare, social care, educational per-pupil funding, policing, prisons, local authority and other public services and the 'North-South divide.
Meanwhile, the 'Meaningful Vote' on Brexit held in the Commons delivered the greatest ever defeat for any government in the history of our Parliament. Indeed, many Brexiteers described Theresa May's deal as 'the worst of all possible worlds' - which, frankly, it is.
In the House of Commons, our elected MPs, hopefully all motivated to consider the very best interests of their constituents and the nation as a whole, voted on Theresa May's proposed 'deal' 432 votes against and only 202 votes in favour, hence creating the greatest ever proportional defeat in UK Parliamentary history.
Unfortunately, the fundamental problem remains that the Leave campaign created 'Project Fantasy' in 2016, a seductive concoction of fantasy promises, each undeliverable and contradictory but, collectively, hugely compelling – such as 'the sunlit uplands of prosperity', 'the easiest trade deal in human history', 'the exact same benefits', 'we can have our cake and eat it', 'they need us more than we need them', '£350 million a week extra for the NHS'. We now know all these fantasy promises were exactly what they were at the time, fantasy rubbish.
While I completely understand the frustrations that drove voters locally to vote Leave in 2016, spurred by 'Project Fantasy', the sad reality today is that leaving the EU will not only cripple our economy but also leave our country with exactly the same inept politicians and inept political system in Westminster that got us in this mess in the first place.
The UK deserves better than this.
We need to start making our voices heard and working together, or we'll all soon be in deep doo-doo.
Alan Meekings
via email
Churchill and Thatcher will be spinning in their graves
I am delighted that our MP John Hayes voted against Theresa May’s ghastly deal, honouring the pledges he made to his constituents to respect the outcome of the 2016 referendum, and Leave the EU.
It is timely that our Brexiteers in Parliament who are fighting this new ‘Battle of Britain’ to ‘Take Back Control’ of our country have reminded the PM of her own words that “no deal is better than a bad deal”.
As Tony Abbott, former Australian Prime Minister, said: “A negotiation that you’re not prepared to walk away from is not a negotiation — it’s surrender.”
I would add, to take ‘No Deal’ off the table altogether as Corbyn is suggesting, would be an abject capitulation. It would more than tie the hands of the Government, it would be akin to serving up Britain’s independence, freedoms and sovereignty on a silver platter to the un-elected and unaccountable Politburo in Brussels.
Mr Abbott also observes: “It’s pretty hard for Britain’s friends, here and across the world, to make sense of what is happening. The referendum result was the biggest-ever vote of confidence in Great Britain, its past and its future. But the establishment doesn’t seem to share that confidence and instead looks desperate to cut a deal, even if that means staying under the rule of Brussels. Looking at this from abroad, it’s baffling: the country that gifted democracy to the world and home to the ‘Mother of all Parliaments’ might yet throw away the chance to take charge of its own destiny.”
“The EU’s palpable desire to punish Britain for leaving completely vindicates the Brexit project. The EU seems to think that Britain will go along with this because it’s terrified of no deal. Or, to put it another way, terrified of the prospect of its own independence.”
Of course, I and the 17.5million people who voted to leave the EU in 2016 and 2017 are equally baffled as to why we are allowing GB to be cowed and bullied into submission. Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill will be spinning in their graves at this outrageous collapse in national self-confidence and the inability of our Parliamentarians to Believe in Britain and what we can achieve when we are freed from the shackles of the EU.
Craig Jackson
Vote Leave Constituency Co-Ordinator
South Holland & The Deepings
