'What's going on in our shire counties is disturbing' - Your Letters plus an ice cream rush brings extra jobs in 1992 heatwave, in our picture from the archives
Today we hear from a concerned reader who is disturbed by what is happening to our shire counties, women living without fear, and a Shropshire hero...
Debate needed on our region
What's going on in our shire counties is disturbing. Behind closed doors party political groups are squabbling about how to carve up county areas into large unitary mayor led local authorities as required by the UK Government. There does not appear to be much if any engagement of voters or MPs and the emerging options reflect what will be of party political rather than economic and democratic advantage.
All this is driven by what the government argues is the need to establish regional authorities with the scale and resources to drive economic growth. It is concerning that there does not appear any consensus of what are the regions or how local democratic accountability is to be delivered.
The whole exercise excludes the metropolitan area and its relation with the shires which surely defines our region.
Let's have a real debate on what our region needs.
George Morran, Midlands
Women’s right to be themselves
A young woman should be able to walk across Shrewsbury or Telford late at night scantily dressed, if that’s her choice, without the fear of being attacked. She should not have to be covered in robes to hide her body from the attention of men. That’s the fundamental difference in the settled British culture I was brought up in.
Men should be able to control themselves and women should be free from fear. I guess I’m old fashioned.
Mike Avery, Minsterley
