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'Feeling ripped off for sticking with BT' - your letters, plus a nostalgic look at a 1950s trip to Trentham Gardens

From broadband rip-offs and water worries to council tax hikes and potholes, your views today...

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By Tania Taylor
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Supporting image for story: 'Feeling ripped off for sticking with BT' - your letters, plus a nostalgic look at a 1950s trip to Trentham Gardens
PICTURE FROM THE PAST: A fantastic picture from our archives, taken at Trentham Gardens near Stoke on Trent, sometime in the 1950s. The caption says it was an outing organised by Audley House, Newport, to the gardens near the Shropshire border, which remain a popular attraction today.

  • You can enjoy other pictures from the past and more with our weekly FREE Nostalgia Newsletter - with scores of archive pictures and exclusive features on the history of Shropshire and Mid Wales - all sent to your inbox every Friday. Sign up here.

Penalising the loyal customer

An email arrived from the company which provides my internet connection and - since I'm an old geezer - landline. BT - for it is they - have some special offers for me, with full-fibre broadband There are various offers, but the top, super-duper, ultra-high-speed 900 Mb possibility will set me back a mere £74.86 a month for 24 months, albeit with the slight catch that it goes up to £78.86 on 31 March 2026 and then another four quid in 2027.

Cue a quick chat with my younger (and more techy) brother, who thinks I'm being royally ripped off. Now I turn to everyone's financial friend, the Money Saving Expert, Martin Lewis. What's this I see before me? Not the cheapest option, but there it is: BT 900 Mb broadband and phone at £40.99 (£44.99 from March), and a £170 cashback "reward". The catch: new customers only. Is anybody - the toolmaker's son and civil rights lawyer Starmer, the working bloke's mate Farage - going to legislate to stop this penalty for disloyalty?

Alan Harrison, Midlands

Rain today, ban for tomorrow

Woke up this morning to go to work and it’s raining again, but I’d like to make a bet the come June or July the water companies will be putting out a message to save water and operate a hosepipe ban.