Readers' letters - March 7

I am old enough to recall the days when the House of Lords was very largely made up of hereditary peers and, in those far off days, it seemed to me that the ‘other Place’ could usually be relied upon to impart wisdom to the political scene.

What we have today in that once elite establishment is a motley collection of politicians, some well past their sell by date, aided by popinjays and toadies seemingly hell bent on making our Brexit negotiations more difficult.

They will do well to remember that they are all unelected and to try and frustrate the will of the people may not be in their future best interests.

At the moment Frau Merkel etc must be laughing all the way from Brussels to Berlin.

David E Warnes

via email

True cost of the Conservatives?

It seems clear that M Fletcher, in his/her letter headlined ‘Great Britain still envy of the world’ (Your Say, WEP, March 3), has never been a victim of policies promoted by the Conservatives who have dominated the Government since 2010.

Lucky person.

Never had an operation cancelled or been left on a trolley for hours, always gets to quickly see a GP.

Clearly, M Fletcher has never been exposed to the savaging of social care, especially of the elderly.

Nor the punitive treatment by the DWP of the disabled and otherwise vulnerable in order to force them into work. Nor the deportation of people who have lived here, and contributed positively to our society for decades.

Daily we read of crises in policing, prisons, care home provision, NHS staffing levels, teacher shortages and so on. Foolish and crude austerity is undermining local authorities. Meanwhile taxpayer money is squandered on vanity projects, inoperable IT systems and much else.

Nobody knows what Brexit will cost us. It will be a lot. It was a tiny majority that “had enough”.

Think for a minute.

If you want all the privileges of, say membership of a golf club, why should members who pay give you those privileges for nothing?

Mike Turner

via email

Support group for sufferers

A national cancer charity is encouraging people

who have been affected

by lymphatic cancer to attend a support group meeting.

The Wigan Lymphoma Association support group will hold the meeting on Monday March 13, from 2pm until 3.30pm at the community room in Tesco, Central Park Way.

The group is made up of individuals who are, or

have been, affected by lymphoma in some way including patients, family members, partners, friends and carers.

If you would like to attend the meeting, or would like further information about the group, please contact Karen (07710 393891) or the Lymphoma Association’s Freephone helpline on 0808 808 5555.

You can also visit www.lymphomas.org.uk.

Erika Murigi

Lymphoma Association