Dear Editor,

May I take this opportunity to thank Sheila and Steve Edgell who run our Tuesday afternoon bingo, as well as Chris Meadows who runs our Friday evening bingo, alongside having just started a Friday morning coffee morning for all to enjoy.

These activities do help the people of Writhlington enjoy each others company. Once again thank you to all concerned and there assistants.

Jean Auckland

Dear Editor,

[In response to the story on page 3] We’ve all seen rubbish bags that have been ripped apart by gulls after not being collected promptly. This pilot scheme is about tackling that unsanitary mess and keeping Bath city centre cleaner and safer.

The revised collection window will match the opening times of the city centre security barriers – meaning refuse vehicles won’t have to queue – and the early morning collection times aren’t changing.

Additionally, rubbish bags will have to be labelled and put out in gull-proof containers, so we can take action against any business that may act irresponsibly.

It’s no use criticising an attempt to improve things without offering any alternative answers. Indeed, many of those critical of this scheme will also be those who complain about the mess from gulls.

The Lib Dem administration is getting things done – taking concrete action to improve the public realm for residents, businesses and visitors in the city centre and proactively reduce the gull problem.”

Mark Elliott, Liberal Democrat cabinet member for resources

Bath and North East Somerset Council Liberal Democrats

Dear Editor,

Nigel Farage’s new ‘Britannia Card’ is being sold as taking from the rich to give to the poor, Robin Hood-style. But is it? To me it looks more like a massive tax break for wealthy foreigners, not available to British citizens. The Brits in this scheme have to make do with a few quid a year to trick them into selling out their own interests.

Under the plan, rich foreigners can pay £250,000 up front and avoid inheritance tax and tax on overseas income for ten years. That one-off payment might fund around £600 a year for some low-income Brits – crumbs, while the ultra-rich save millions.

This is from a party promising zero net migration. Yet it actively invites rich foreigners to settle here tax-free. It’s a reversal of Labour’s effort to scrap non-dom loopholes and a slap in the face to British taxpayers.

The estimated hole in public finances? £34 billion. That’s money lost to the NHS, potholes not repaired, schools crumbling. And who would have their taxes raised to compensate? Why British taxpayers of course?

How does this help ordinary Brits? It doesn’t.

Farage claims to stand up for Britain and British workers, but this policy sells both out. Did he create it on the back of a fag packet after a boozy lunch? Reform voters (now at 34 per cent in the polls – the same as what produced Labour's landslide): are you really buying this? Is this really the kind of PM you want?

Peter Scott, via email

Dear Editor,

Each year, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) publishes a report of the world’s most neglected displacement crises. It considers levels of humanitarian funding, media attention, and political engagement to end conflict. For the first time, Cameroon topped the list, followed by Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Burkina Faso.

At the international disaster relief charity ShelterBox, we specialise in emergency shelter for people who’ve been uprooted by conflict or disaster. We are responding to the four most neglected crises. Raising awareness and funds is difficult but crucial.

In 2024, humanitarian funding for the crisis was less than half what was needed.

Claire Leeson , via email

Recent trustworthy scientific research shows the Earth heating far faster than previously predicted, causing more heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, extreme weather, floods and crop failures. Moving forward these will worsen, along with rising seas threatening cities like London. The increasing risk is a societal breakdown and an increasingly uninhabitable future - Hell on Earth eventually!

Vital insect populations have already declined by up to 80% since the 1970s, disrupting food chains and hastening biodiversity loss. Scientists have been warning for decades of a Sixth Mass Extinction, severely threatening the survival of all species, including humanity. It is now well underway.

Yet this outcome is not inevitable.

As David Attenborough recently demonstrated in his latest epic film ‘Ocean’, even oceans pushed to the brink can ‘recover faster than we had ever imagined’ - just as blue whale numbers recovered well from the edge of extinction after the ban on commercial whaling in 1986.

The Knepp Estate’s re-wilding success and Costa Rica’s forest revival in the 1980s show how nature on land can regenerate quickly when given a chance. Covid demonstrated reduced emissions. However rethinking and real action are needed, not just talk and pretence!

We face a clear choice: continue prioritising industrial expansion and short-term profits for rich corporations (very often not our friends) or stop destructive practices and allow nature to re-wild, recover and rejuvenate, which could transform and dramatically increase humanity’s ability to survive in the decades to come.

Right now, we are accelerating down the destructive path. Instead, for regeneration to take off, it must inspire hearts, minds and policy, starting with you and me simply caring. It must shape all our actions! Politics must focus on restoration and defend against those who profit from destruction and cause devastation in return for an income stream. Please - let’s choose life!

Dilys Morgan, via email