Dear Editor,

The letter from Mark Dyer (Postbag, September 26) includes words that should send shivers down the spine of anyone who believes in democracy. He says we must “compel our globalist King to have to summon Mr Nigel Farage to form a government in his name”. That echoes the call to overthrow our government made by Elon Musk during his message to the recent demonstration in London. Perhaps Musk and Trump should be working on a solution to gun violence and the plethora of school shootings (53 so far in 2025, 19 deaths) or the fact that more than 2,000 children were killed by guns in one year in the USA? Not a happy country.

We may not like it but our present government was elected fairly and inciting civil unrest is madness.

Sir Ed Davey’s clowning was mentioned but he isn’t the problem. An invited speaker at Reform’s Party Conference suggested the King’s cancer may have resulted from Covid vaccinations and Farage has refused to condemn Trump’s similarly unproven link between paracetamol and autism. Farage apes Trump……who childishly demands his judiciary pursue anyone who ever offended him and cooks up new ways to insult President Biden e.g. replacing his portrait with a picture of an automatic pen. This does not suggest sane, stable government. It is a blessing that the British people have four years to get the full measure of Farage and his motley crew of defectors. Familiarity may breed contempt but it could also reveal the likelihood of an autocracy based on dangerous lies.

Yours sincerely,

Sandra Jones

Old Cleeve

Dear Editor,

The last event to be organised by the Coleridge Committee of Macmillan Cancer Support was a great success.

An evening with The Stoggymen at Bicknoller Village Hall on Saturday, September 27, was thoroughly enjoyed by a hall full of people and we raised £489 for the charity.

Our thanks to all who came, and to all who helped either with setting up, serving or clearing away. And thanks to The Stoggymen for a wonderful evening of entertainment.

Maggie Pumphrey

Chair, Coleridge committee of Macmillan Cancer Support

Dear Editor,

Never mind Minehead's removal of the flags being considered "unpatriotic".

What was not so much unpatriotic as careless was the flying of at least half of the Union flags upside down!

An upside down Union flag is a distress signal and considered "improper"

However given the current state of the UK maybe they were intended as a distress signal!

Keep the UK flags flying high, in the correct place, and be proud of our English, Welsh and Scottish heritage.

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Dowding

Bicknoller

Dear Editor,

We would like to extend our thanks to everyone who attended the screening of David Attenborough’s film, “Ocean”, at the Regal Cinema on Thursday, September 25.

The event was a great success, drawing an audience of 242 people.

The film provided viewers with a remarkable journey through the world’s oceans, highlighting their stunning beauty and the significant threats they currently face. Importantly, it also emphasised the oceans’ resilience and their ability to recover, provided we offer them the necessary support and opportunities.

Thank you to the Regal Film Society, without whose support the screening would not have been possible.

Kind regards,

Keith Hunt (Our Precious Earth) and Peter Hoyland (Plastic Free Exmoor)

Dear Editor,

Congratulations to Matt, Paul, Marc, Duncan, Adam, James, Micheal and Kirk [of Minehead Town Council’s Open Spaces Team], for winning a Green Flag Award for Environmental Elegance.

This is the fifth year that this has been awarded to them for all their hard work in Blenhiem Gardens which are so beautiful and peaceful to walk around and sit quietly and around the town centre, the railway station and also Alcombe as always for the vibrant lush fantastic flower displays.

We are so lucky to have the expertise of this team and thank them for all their hard work.

Daphne Gates, Pearl Jones Phill Barclay, and many many others

Dear Editor,

Somerset Sight is a local charity established in 1919 which has a number of services in place for people with sight loss.

We are currently looking for befriending volunteers to visit people with sight impairment in West Somerset. As a volunteer you are matched individually by us and need no special skills other than an interest in people and the willingness to visit someone once a fortnight for company, conversation and maybe help with reading or correspondence.

We have 250 wonderful volunteers who visit people, one volunteer, Tony, recently said: “I love my visits to the people I am matched with, it feels so good to help someone locally and I very much enjoy the company too! Somerset Sight provides excellent support for volunteers when we need it, volunteering helps me as well as the people I visit.”

Please get in touch for an informal chat about volunteering with no commitment on [email protected] or leave a message on 01643 842972 and I will telephone you back.

Thank you so much.

Claire Packwood

Somerset Sight

Dear Editor, 

World Mental Health Day is marked every year on October 10 and is a reminder to us all of the importance of good mental health.

The Mental Health Foundation have created tips and resources specifically to support those feelings of overwhelm, when engaging with bad news all gets a bit too much which can be found on our website: mentalhealth.org.uk/WorldMentalHealthDay

Yours, 

Alexa Knight

Director for policy and influence at the Mental  Health  Foundation