'A perspective on crime, benefits and immigration' - your letters, plus a throwback picture of St Paul’s Choir, Knowbury

​We need to be able to speak

We are now living in a country where if you tell the truth and it is uncomfortable for some people to hear there is a tendency for certain people and certain groups to come together to condemn that person.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has spoken out about what he sees as the real situation in this country. 

He may have been a little clumsy in his choice of words but what he was putting forward for a great many people in this country is fundamentally correct. 

Everything is going wrong, for example wicked crimes are being carried out and ridiculously lenient sentences are being handed out.

We are facing a period of enormous tax rises and a lot of this money is being spent on totally the wrong thing. As far as Sir Jim's remarks on immigration nobody can argue he is right. The numbers are too high and that includes legal and illegal immigration.

He is also right about the welfare bill, we now have a country where so many people have chosen a life living on benefits. 

They have chosen this because benefits are so high in some cases people working are getting less than some people on benefits.

John Green, Shropshire

My poem about a lonely day

This is a poem written by myself describing what it's like to be lonely. It is called Day in the Life of a Pensioner:

Looking through windows,

Sat by the phone,

It never rings,

No message has flown,

People dogs and cars,

Go sailing by,

I sit here again,

And have a good cry,

One day it will happen,

I will be gone,

The empty house standing,

Where I was from,

Curtains all closed,

Garden a mock,

Bills piling up oh what a shock,

The neighbours are here,

Who never did speak,

Until all the contents,

Arrived on the street,

They fight for the bargains,

And flee on their feet,

From the elderly home,

Left empty on their street,

The doctor arrived,

The only visitor I have,

Pity the children we never did have,

Funeral day is here,

But no one will come,

No flowers on coffin,

No blessing is done,

So thanks to you all,

My friends which are none,

Into the ground and I will be gone.

C Lloyd, Midlands

Council should sell its debt

As the great debt inducing purchase of shopping centres comes back to haunt the wallet of Shropshire council tax payers and leads us to threats of a nine per cent rise, those responsible for the purchase and other financial blunders have do doubt slinked off to more stable financial situations, having been well paid for their "expertise."

Here's a thought. Why not collect all the outstanding council tax owed or sell the debt to a debt collecting agency for whatever you can get.

Peter Steggles, Rushbury

Happy memories and tall stories

I have many happy memories of my childhood, and having been born in the early 1950s I was lucky enough to enjoy the talents of many musical stars, some of which also appeared in films from that era. My list of names is endless, but among my favourites were Grace Fields, Hilda Baker, George Formby and Stanley Holloway, who was also a great storyteller.

I remember a story he told where he was appearing in the West End with Rex Harrison. After their performance they were approached by a fan of Harrison's, and he was quite rude to him, so the fan struck him. Stanley said “That was the first time I saw a fan hitting the ****”!’

Martin Eddies, Shrewsbury

Let us ask the King a question

How uplifting that in vibrant, forward-looking 21st-century Britain a passer-by can’t even ask Charlie Windsor what he might have known about his brother’s charming résumé, befriending a paedophile, staying loyal after the conviction, allegedly exploiting a trafficked girl, and swapping cosy financial confidences with the same monster, without the royal cheer squad hustling the questioner away like a dangerous revolutionary. Nothing says “modern democracy” quite like treating an awkward question like a lit firework at a garden party.

Bob Wiggin, Staffs

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