Dear Editor,

I would like to add to Lucy Edwards comments August 6 regarding the build up of silt in the "river" that gives the town its name.

Following the building of Somer bypass tunnel a small channel was built to provide the stream that now flows through the old river Channel, hence the silt build up due to weak flow.

This could surely be increased to an average winter flow obviously not storm level.

That was the level that the old river authorities failed to consider when they built culverts either end of the high street. It would surely not take a genius to work out a stronger rate of flow that would reduce silting and the culvers could easily cope with.

Let's get a river back.

Peter Rutter

Midsomer Norton

Dear Editor,

Cub Hunting with dogs is well under way in the countryside, and there have been a massive 18 hunting related convictions in the courts during the first half of 2025, yet the cub hunting season largely quite often begins in July.

A huntsman of the Weston Harriers with West Somerset Vale Hunt appeared at Taunton Magistrates Court on May 19 and found guilty of cub hunting, thanks to surveillance work by the Mendip Hunt Sabs and Somerset Hunt Sabs.

Should you see horse riders wearing green or tweed jackets, people on quadbikes, running foxes or blood-covered hunt hounds, hear hunt dogs in cry, horn and voice calls encouraging the dogs and shouts from hunt supporters showing riders where some of the baby foxes are hiding, please call the police or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 11.

Note the location, date and time and ask for an incident number. If you can, photograph those involved and take down lorry, car or quad registration numbers as this would be very helpful.

Sometimes the quad bikes registration plates are not visible or covered over, in which case, if they are in the highway this is not legal and should be reported immediately to the police.

This isn’t just about wildlife as these activities also involve cruelty to horses, and hounds mistreated and cast aside by hunts, as well as cause widespread harm to rural communities causing emotional and psychological upset, damage to property, injuring or killing of livestock or pets, road blockages and intimidation.

Also, packs of hounds should not be lose on the public highway and if exercising should be on a lead and under control at all times. If you witness hunts causing chaos on public roads report this to the following: health and safety executive; police 101 or online; local authority and search for "Report Anti Social Behaviour".

If you are affected, please get in touch with your MP, asking for a proper ban on trail hunting (smokescreen for fox hunting), as it is is clear that the existing legislation is not fit for purpose, and delays to reform only prolong suffering.

The government has promised to bring forward legislation to ban trail hunting and bring about a fully watertight hunting ban, leaving no wriggle room for hunts to invent a new smokescreen.

Ministers need to be pressed for a clear timeline on when Parliamentary time will be allocated for this.

In the meantime, please be vigilant in your area and help the Police and Saboteur groups with accurate information in the hope this will lead to more court prosecutions.

Delyth Morris

AAF (Action Against Foxhunting)

Peasedown St John

Dear Editor,

I am replying to a previous letter from Sandra Jones. However, not wanting to subject your readers to an ongoing saga, this will be my last word on the topic.

It is fairly obvious that Sandra Jones detests both Donald Trump and Nigel Farage. Nothing new there - they are both 'marmite' figures. Fifty per cent of Americans love Trump; the remainder consider him abhorrent. Likewise, I would suggest that more than half of our citizens now support Nigel Farage. Whilst the rest - wrongly in my view - consider him a fascist.

I compared Donald Trump - probably the most hated US president in the western world - to JFK as the most revered of the 20th century. Yes, we know Trump has a macho opinion of women and has visited the Jeffrey Epstein parties alongside many of the rich and famous - including Bill Clinton. However, JFK treated women appallingly. And my line about Marilyn Monroe's death being very suspicious, the rumour is because she wanted to replace Jackie to be his First Lady. If true, the powers-that-be would not have allowed this.

Moreover, as someone born and living very close to USAF Upper Heyford for a large part of my life, I can assure Sandra that many of the servicemen and women who resided off-base and drank in my local pub, agreed with the above sentiment.

Regarding Farage, I will agree that the unfair first-past-the-post system which is so advantageous to the Labour/Tory political duopoly, has forever stopped smaller parties. Yet, Farage has won with two parties in the proportional represented Euros; with UKIP in 2014 and Brexit Party in 2019. We also know that he was cheated in the South Thanet seat in 2015, where following Craig Mackinlay's victory, a Tory electoral official was handed a nine-month suspended prison sentence. Although Mackinlay, himself was cleared!

Sandra Jones asks how a party with no experience could handle multi-million pound budgets. Well, has she made a similar enquiry to the Starmer government? Because - and I stand to be corrected - that no member in the current Cabinet has any business experience. And I include Rachel Reeves with her self-inflated position of herself at the Bank of England.

Furthermore, the Conservatives have made such a mess of our country - who could trust them? David Cameron (whose former constituency I resided in for 45 years) left Oxford to be a SPAD; one of his own politicians stated that he and his Chancellor, George Osborne, were "two rich boys, who couldn't tell you the price of a bottle of milk". And Rishi Sunak's did not need business knowledge; his in-laws' saw to his wealth requirements.

As for Reform UK; DOGE leader, Zia Yusuf, ran and sold his successful business; Nigel Farage and Deputy leader, Richard Tice still run their businesses.

There are four years until the next general election. I suspect that Sir Keir Starmer by then, will be NATO General Secretary. If Reform UK are large enough at that precise time to make first-past-the-post irrelevant - and win, perhaps we can begin to make this country better.

Regards,

Jim Sokol

via email