'Past inquiries ignored health data—Hixon must not repeat this' - your letters, plus a nostalgic snap of spring bulb planting, 1974

Concerns about new incinerator

Those concerned about adverse health effects from the proposed incinerator at Hixon should have no confidence in the proposed public hearing. If that hearing goes the same way as the public inquiries for which I was a Rule 6 Party objector in 2005 and 2011.

A 2005 inquiry was held for an incinerator at Belvedere in the London Borough of Bexley. My submission was wrongly dismissed but included unpublished ONS birth defect data released on the instruction of Rt Hon Ruth Kelly MP which showed a post-incinerator rise in Bexley’s birth defect rate after treated sewage sludge at the massive Crossness sewage works was incinerated instead of being dumped in the North Sea.

Michael Ryan, Clee Hill

Live your life without anxiety

We’re sacrificing life for longevity

And no my friend the two things aren’t the same!

Spending your days counting every calorie

Is not a life;

Savouring and enjoying your food is a life

Counting and regretting every calorie

Is just anxiety

So what’s the point of longevity

That’s filled with anxiety?

Counting and monitoring every step you take:

‘I’ve done ten thousand steps today!’

Is not a life;

Walking and taking in the sights and the sounds around you is a life;

Counting and monitoring every step you take

Is just living life by rote

And missing every note

The blackbird sings

While you’re busy with your gadgets and the things

That are going to help you live forever— aren’t they!?

‘I’ll be counting every step when I’m ninety three!’

—yes, having never noticed a tree!

Too busy looking at your step counter

To notice anything about you!

Oh yeah, give me a forever of all that!

Alan Jones, Midlands

Big stakes for our surgeons

My heart goes out to the family of Yvonne Tolley from Dudley who died after an operation at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. They are rightly questioning what happened, but the whole episode shows the incredible pressure our surgeons work under.

Mark Smith, Shifnal

A new address

Please note we have a new address for Express & Star letters – you can find it in the ‘Contact us’ box below.

Have an opinion? Want to be heard? We want to hear your voice!

Write to Readers' letters at [email protected]

Letters to the editor must include the writer’s name and address and will only be published anonymously in exceptional circumstances. The editor reserves the right to condense or amend letters.

Do you have any pictures from the past you would like to share with us? 

Do need help recognising an old street, old faces? If so, send them to [email protected] including your name, where you are from, and as much information as you can about the photo(s) and we will publish as many as we can online and in print.