“The propaganda remains the same”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage(Image: Christopher Furlong/Getty)
Today’s featured reader letters in our sister print title The Herald.
Get in touch – tell us what you think. You can comment below or email yoursay@plymouthherald.co.uk to be featured.
Let’s pray we don’t get fooled again…
As I listen to the UK’s political voices of the fossil fuel corporations, Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch, I am reminded of the rock band The Who’s timeless warning, Won’t Get Fooled Again. As once again we are asked to believe in a new, shiny revolution, but scratch the surface, and the propaganda remains the same.
We were told that Brexit would bring an economic renaissance, yet we are left navigating broken supply chains, rising costs and falling living standards.
Now, the same voices that championed that disastrous disruption are arguing against the ‘Net Zero’ target to reduce polluting greenhouse gases and increase clean renewable energy.
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They are constructing a story that tackling climate change is somehow a poor financial decision that will damage the living standards of working people.
They use the same “take back control” rhetoric, attempting to weaponise energy bills to keep us locked into fossil fuel reliance. They talk about how oil from the North Sea will benefit the “ordinary UK voter” and they ignore the real benefits of national security from cheaper renewable energy. And let’s not forget they have all received financial support either directly or indirectly from the fossil fuel corporations.
There is no doubt Farage is clever at tapping into the real concerns of the UK population such as the cost of living, but blaming economic stagnation on renewables is a false connection. They are using this playbook as a new political battleground to distract, for their own political profit.
They promise that abandoning our climate targets will fix the economy, just as they promised that leaving the EU would increase prosperity. It is a cynical manoeuvre, attacking renewables while offering no realistic solutions for our future.
The Who’s song warns us that “…the [economic] world will look just the same…”, if we allow the same voices that brought us Brexit to now damage a cleaner and cheaper green future. If we take note of these political sirens we will wake up to the same economic insecurity, but with a hotter and dangerously damaged planet.
“…And I’ll get on my knees and pray…We don’t get fooled again…Don’t get fooled again…”
J Shaw
Time to rethink USA visit by our King and Queen
Just as it was an ill-judged invitation for Donald J Trump to visit the UK some short time ago, it would, under the present offensive climate, be ill-advised for our King and Queen to visit the USA.
Washington’s ambassador to the UK may spout the dictat of Trump but relationships between a Nato nation of UK and that of an egotist warmonger who considers himself to be adjacent to The Almighty is somewhat inappropriate currently.
Trump initiated this conflict with Iran – it is far from over yet, by any stretch of the imagination! He might well have bitten off far more than he can chew! Iran will not forget easily, any more than Ukraine will forget Russia’s invasion.
Bob Gelder
Pink Ribbon Walks help to save lives
Breast cancer is an issue hugely close to my heart. It has touched my life and the lives of my family profoundly.
I lost my mum, Cath, to breast cancer when she was just 58 years old. In my acting career, I portrayed the experience of Mandy Dingle in Emmerdale, whose cousin, Chas Dingle is diagnosed with breast cancer.
As a proud ambassador of Breast Cancer Now, I am thrilled to be taking part in this year’s Pink Ribbon Walk at Chatsworth House on 17 May, where I will meet up with a fantastic community who have also been affected by the disease and walk for everyone who has been impacted by breast cancer.
The walks are taking place this year on Saturday 18 April at Hampton Court Palace, Saturday 9 May at Blenheim Palace in the Cotswolds, Sunday 17 May at Chatsworth House in the Peak District and Saturday 20 June in Edinburgh’s Holyrood Park.
This spring, we walk for science, support and solidarity. And we walk to remember the people we’ve lost.
When Breast Cancer Now first walked in 2005, eight in 10 women in the UK survived breast cancer for five or more years. Now, it’s nine in 10. That’s the power of science and support in action.
But breast cancer is still the most common cancer in women in the UK. So we’ve still got a long way to go.
The charity is working towards realising their bold vision that by 2050 everyone diagnosed with breast cancer will live and live well. But to make that happen, we need to act. Now.
So pull on your boots. Slather on your suncream. And meet us at the start line. Every step you take. Every mile you walk. It all helps fund life-saving science and life-changing support.
Join Breast Cancer Now’s Pink Ribbon Walk series this spring. And let’s change breast cancer, one step at a time: https://breastcancernow.org/prw
Lisa Riley (Breast Cancer Now ambassador)