Your letters: No scientific basis for town green mast fears

No scientific basis for fears

Sir, — I read with dismay and disappointment that you have allowed your wonderful publication to be polluted with unsubstantiated pseudo-scientific nonsense and disinformation.

I am referring to the letter submitted by ND Myer in your February 13 edition, “Town Green No Place for Mast”.

Let me be clear on this: there is zero evidence whatsoever for any health problems deriving from 5G phone masts.

This is not up for debate any more than 2+2=4 is up for debate.

You may say that author ND Myer has a right to voice his or her opinion, but this opinion is no more valid than that of a flat-earther or anti-vaxxer.

Just because someone believes something does not mean it is true.

I have no vested interest in telecommunications. I am simply a person who understands and takes pleasure in the scientific method and does not like ignorance, prejudice and rumour to be perpetuated in our society.

Your newspaper is an excellent source of local information and entertainment and the standard is high.

Please, please, please do not lower your standards by giving oxygen to quack pseudo-science that can so adversely affect public opinion.

Nonsense like this belongs in the minds of dubious conspiracy theorists, and there it should stay. — Yours faithfully,

GN Short BSc

Henley

Fed up of dog mess and litter

Dear Sir, — I have just been out for a walk and it is really depressing to see copious amounts of dog mess lining the pavements.

Also, the amount of litter obviously chucked out of cars belonging to the college students.

Are they so used to being waited on hand and foot that they assume some other mug will clear up after them?

As for the dog walkers, just let your dog do their business in your garden, if not at least have the decency to bag it up, and don't hang it on a bush or chuck it in the hedgerows.

I still don’t understand why people take their dogs into cafés and shops. I am sure the poor dogs don’t enjoy it. They are not an accessory like a handbag, leave them at home. —Yours faithfully,

Mrs Hadley

Leaver Road, Henley

Blooming marvellous

Dear Sirs, — I just read, with joy, your article about the proposal to decorate Henley with sunflowers (Standard, February 6). Fabulous!

As one of the owners of the Flower Tap, the pick-your-own flower farm at the Rising Sun pub in Witheridge Hill, we would be very happy to host a morning in Easter to help everyone sow their sunflowers, or conduct one in the Market Place.

And happy within reason to provide some seeds and pots for such a great cause. We will reach out to Henley in Bloom and offer. Can’t wait to see it! — Yours faithfully,

Selina Craig

Highmoor

Waiting for Godot?

Sir, — Reading Borough Council is now almost a month behind schedule on emptying green bins in our area. It feels like Waiting for Godot.

What particularly hacks me off is the tendency to issue messages on the website which purport to be reassuring but merely reinforce the suspicion that the repeated “rescheduling” is a feeble attempt to fob people off. We pay extra for this performance as do those who watch Beckett’s play.

The difference? Ours is more of a farce. — Yours faithfully,

Michael Smith

Kidmore End Road, Emmer Green

Democracy under threat

Sir, — Going, going, still here. Like me, has anyone been turning to the news and wondering — has he gone yet?

We live in hope, don’t we? Those awful creatures that no longer hide their contempt for ordinary people.

They blatantly lie, cheat and steal. Morally depraved and bankrupt, they are dragging this once green and pleasant land into a cesspit.

I do hope their Sodom and Gomorrah fall apart soon, but history tells a different story.

The dictators of the USSR and satellites of the Eastern Bloc upon which our current Labour incumbents have modelled themselves ignored rights, abolished the processes and clung on to power, even resorting to tyranny and murder.

Starmer and his cabinet are on a very similar trajectory; vote manipulation or denial, legislative oppression, silencing dissenting voices, denying free speech, movement and communication. There were opportunities for good people to stop the process, but none would step forward.

None of the Labour cohort, trousering an MP’s substantial wage and benefits, is employable in the workplace.

So it’s all the rats working together, appropriately thick as thieves.

Like the dictators they model themselves on, they will cling to power and money until the bitter end.

It doesn’t matter to them anymore that we see the corruption.

If they don’t rig or cancel elections, we have a rough ride ahead of us until 2029. Even then the process of recovery will be an uphill struggle.

Till such time, keep wishing and praying. — Yours faithfully,

Edward Sierpowski

Henley

On your bike to Aldi

Sir, — Aldi’s plan for yet another car park with a shop makes me think Henley should be careful what it wishes for.

Be prepared for more “convenience” stores, chicken takeaways and vape shops, and less friendly shop service as it sucks life out of the town centre.

How about Aldi taking a proper community attitude for a change?

How outrageous would it be to build homes instead of a car park and run shuttle buses from outlying parts, oh! and, install ample cycle stands? After all, it likes to sell enough cheap cycle clothing and gadgets to cyclists but has no proper place they can park their bikes.

Graham Bates

Caversham

Nothing but panto version

Sir, — Your article covering Mr Richardson and my presentation to the Phyllis Court Ladies Luncheon Club claims that we exhibited “a pantomime version” of ourselves (Standard, January 23).

We would like to make it clear to your readers that there is no other version.

Oh no there’s not. —Yours faithfully,

Dr Bill Pollard

Deanfield Road, Henley

Thanks to surgery nurses

Sir, — I would like for your paper to pass on my heartfelt thanks to the nurses who have been treating me at the Hart Surgery for the past three months.

I have had a venous ulcer on my ankle which has been an extremely difficult wound to treat.

In particular, I would like to thank Jenny, Katy and Ann as without their dedication and expert care the wound would not have healed.

So, many thanks it is much appreciated. Yours faithfully,

Bill Dowling

Swiss Farm