Exeter City elections

it is with much regret that I have to announce that contrary to my earlier decision I just cannot stand as a candidate in the imminent City council elections. This decision is made with a heavy heart but I cannot stand before the electorate without being honest.The problem is the democratic process as I was brought up to believe in is in total failure. A council where all the political leaders are in favour of Exeter being a Unitary authority cannot be taken seriously. When anybody considers how succesful Exeter has been over the last ten years or so, coinciding almost with my arrival in the City, why destroy something which is working. Yes Exeter has a great and glorious past but don't be deluded by politicians who promise that things can only get better. We are entering into a period of great social unrest and I want the strength of Devon County Council to give a voice to the whole of Devon, the South West and England. What happens to your next door neighbour has implications on you so don't be selfish. Exeter must never go Unitary.Consider who really benefits from this, the councillors and senior officers and what have they been doing during the preparation of the bid, why working on the bid rather than pressing to have the pot holes fixed and give us decent public buildings. I know this is a little longer than my usual exocets but the truth needs to come out and nobody else seems to be able to bring it to your readers attention. Vote for none of the above in the May elections.

None of the Above

there is the real danger that this country will end up at war with Iran over the Royal Marines/Sailors who are currently held by the Iranians. In the meantime we are coming up to Easter when parliament will close down so that our MPs can have a break what with them having been so busy. Parliament must not break up, this is a crisis and unless wee are very careful somebody will do something really stupid.As for Blair how on earth can he announce that he is going to just hand over to Gordon Brown at this moment of crisis. If I was any foreign country I would immediately test out the credentials of Brown and I think that he will be found wantin. Never, in the great history of England have we had such second rate politicians acting on our behalf.The war in Iraq, the cash for peerages, the inaction over Zimbabwe, the Dafur fiasco, relationships with our European allies, the list is too long, but this is a shameful period and none of the political parties has the answer. When the time comes vote none of the above.

Exeter Post Office

further to your article on my view about some of the Exeter buildings may I say that I have been down to the new Princesshay development and see the wonderful restaurants which have now opened for business. However, and here is the rub which imbecile actually agreed to have the Post Office not on the ground floor. I can see the up escallator, the small lift and the down stairs but which councillors actually approved these plans., because this must surely have gone through the planning process and agreed by councillors. So who was it and did any, and I mean any of them consider the disabled, the young and elderly, because no matter what they may spout about caring for the community the design and construction of the Post Office in Princesshay confirms to this individual that they have shown little or no consideration for the public nor for the voters of Exeter.

Trident

how very interesting that a debate and vote has been held in Parliament relating to the expenditure on Trident. What amazes me is that tomorrow, Friday, Ben Bradshaw is taking part in a debate at Exeter library on , that's right Trident.Now what I fail to understand is that Trident is meant to be a deterrent so we would only use it in the event of us being attacked by another country using nuclear weapons. So we would not use it as a first strike. So we would already have suffered from an attack. So the only use would be revenge not protection. Only a mad person would wait until they were attacked and suffered huge losses so we must use it first, which is not a deterrent to anybody because they must defend their country by attacking us. This is absolute madness.In the meantime we know that Blair has taken us into a war and subsequent occupation and would we really want his finger on the button. Or anybody else for that matter. It could not go through Parliament before we fire because there is nothing like letting your enemy know what you are going to do so the whole expenditure on these weapons is wasted. We would be much better off giving up nuclear weapons altogether because if a terrorist group attacked us with a nuclear device who exactly would we attack and destroy.

Trrops out of Iraq

may I start by requesting that readers refer to the Daily Mail of March 13 page 5. The case against Colonel Mendonca apparently collapsed because 'prisoner abuses he was accused of failing to prevent were approved by his commanders'. In the words of a famous curmudgeon I don't believe it!Now, have we really sunk so low as to allow practices forbidden in the British Army because his commanders had approved it. Have we seriously forgotten the Nuremburg Principles where 'I was following orders' is no defence. What other crimes are being committed by the occupation forces in Iraq. As for the Geneva Convention well you can forget about that.In Zimbabwe the leader of the opposition to Mugabe was beaten up, shocking, terrible we all say. Yet British soldiers place a hood over a defenceless man and kick and punch him to death and that's alright? American soldiers rape a young girl and murder the witnesses!Through the courts the truth is coming out but too late because we have lost the battle over hearts and minds, all the Iraqis are now just waiting for us to go. Can we depend on Prince Harry to comply with human decency and report any misbehaviour if he actually goes to Iraq or will he follow loyalty to the regiment and remain silent.How much longer must our good name be dragged through the mud and how far up the chain of command does the fault lie, the generals, or even our soon to go Prime Ministerand the one who pays for it, the Chancellor. They are all guilty and they do have blood on their hands.As for investigations into illegal behaviour please don't forget the deaths of six military policemen while members of the Parachute Regiment were close by but could not be reached because of a fault in their communications systems. Has anybody been charged over their deaths or would it be inconvenient for some Iraqis to stand trial. We are all guilty, so come on tell me I am wrong. Just who is following orders in this Country, vote for Trident indeed!

Express & Echo

with the limits placed upon me I thought should I even contribute one letter this week but then I just cannot stay silent. So, should my subject be about the Exeter PFI schools, no! your reporter has done a magnificent job on that and cannot be improved on. What a farce, you couldn't make it up but I did tell you all a long time ago. Should it be Debenhams? No, just read the financial press and I think that something will happen on that one fairly soon. Should it be the airport where Flybe has taken over BA Connect with those repercussions for employment and number of flights, No! Could it be the salaries paid to Devon County Council Executives who have to get by on their miserable pay, or the head teachers 'earning' in excess of £100,000 whilst some employees have their wages cut! The occupation of Iraq? Police beating up a young female? No! How about the new incinerator planned for Exeter. You know the one where Devon County Council are incurring costs of about £500,000 to get the planning permission through so that Viridor can then build it without the risk of failing to get planning permission. Oh Mr Terry you have just run out of space so you will all have to wait until next week for my foolish efforts. Gag him at your peril. Miss you!!!

The First Peoples War

the Echo through their website asks Should we gag reader? The reader being me. This is on the same weekend when the BBC are gagged over an item that we are not to know about. At the same time MPs are deciding that there should be more 'investment' in Trident. Do we the people want to be in a position to help destroy the planet or most of the human beings on it.Yes you can gag me. However, nobody can stop me thinking, not unless they assassinate me that is. I am very moved by the comments of the grandfather who lost his grandson. What readers have to understand is that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and the rest of them are guilty over this young mans death. Just as culpable are the senior officers in the army who allow these deaths to continue. Who has trained the militia now killing our soldiers? Who armed them? Who pays them? How much longer will this needless slaughter continue. It is not only our soldiers it is innocent Iraqis as well.Torture houses are still being uncovered and illegally held prisoners released. What have we been doing for the last four years. Yes this war and occupation has lasted nearly as long as the Great War. The millions of have deaths have not yet been counted but just wait because we have not yet really had any World Wars, they have been wars fought by the so called great powers. We may soon see the first Peoples War.