Dear Editor,

Peter Scott's letter (Who gets rich?, Friday, July 4) seems another left-wing rant at probably, the only politician who cares for this country.

[Nigel] Farage may turn out no good - if Reform UK manages to overcome the worst political system in the world, outside of a dictatorship. Although it remains ironic that the man who so hates the EU, has won twice with two different parties, against the Labour and Tories, using the fair proportional represented Euro system.

Conversely, our first-past-the-post allows for far more vitriol from the two main parties, who hate the sight of each other - much to the detriment of our country.

A lot has been said about how bad the Tories have been over nine years (there was a coalition between 2010-15); and they were absolutely awful.

However, we cannot forget that Tony Blair came into power with the best set of economic figures - ever - for an incoming administration. Every economist has agreed this. However, he wasted it on illegal middle-east wars - which has been proven to be lies, and which has cost our country so many problems with terrorism since.

Moreover, Blair's early for EU nationals entry to work in Britain was going to be "13,000 per annum"; in reality it became 10 times that amount. Allowing individuals from less wealthy countries, obviously drives down wages for our own skilled people. And let's not forget the note in 2010 from Chief Secretary to The Treasury, Liam Byrne - "there's no money left, good luck". This started the 'austerity' claim from Labour.

As aforementioned the coalition and Tory administrations merely sought to copy Labour with uncontrolled immigration - and were worse than Labour ever were.

For those who consistently claim that European countries take in more migrants than the UK, I can confirm that the official figures taken from populations of the three largest EU nations between 2005 and mid-2024, clearly show that Germany +2.01-million, France +1.69-million, Italy +1.34-million, are dwarfed by the UK's +8.73-million.

Our freebies given to Channel migrants, accommodation, money, smartphone, healthcare etcetera, costing us an estimated £8-billion per annum; our overseas aid is still £7-billion per annum after the go-it-alone Boris Johnson and latterly Sir Keir Starmer both pledged more money to Ukraine than the EU nations.

Furthermore, our Oxbridge educated elite - straight out of university, often becoming SPADs (like David Cameron) but without a clue how to run a business, have let us all down badly.

I expect Peter may be one of those critics who believes Farage's idea of no-one paying tax below £20,000 a year would be tax exempt, is financial madness. Alternatively, they would be working - and some actually paying tax.

Additionally, after reports that those on maximum benefits are currently receiving similar payments to a working employee on £40,000, it actually sounds a good idea.

We just have to accept that the growing benefit bill is out of control. If we do not try policies differing from the ineptitude of those the two major parties have dished up - there will be the ignominy of the IMF waiting for us, come 2030.

Regards,

Jim Sokol, via email

Dear Editor,

Whilst I sympathise with Sally Bainbridge (Letters - July 4) over the desire to utilise empty historic buildings in the town, I was somewhat surprised to find the Conservation Society advocating relegating the highly successful Minehead Museum to the upstairs of the old Town Hall, a building without a lift and no obvious way of installing one.

I realise this was offered as an example of alternative usage. However, as an organisation that lists protecting the heritage of the town as an objective, one would have hoped that the society would have recognised that a thriving and expanded museum would be a benefit both to residents and visitors alike. It would be nice to think that we could both be working together to secure improvements in the town.

Your readers will be pleased to learn that the museum trustees have a much more positive view of the development of the museum, rather than trying to fit square pegs into round holes. The museum has been raising funds to ensure a long term home for the wonderful growing collection of items relating to Minehead's culture and heritage.

Our stated aim has always been to secure space that would at least double our existing display area and provide storage and workspace - all on the ground floor - accessible to all. We are now very close to delivering on this and hope to be able to publicise our development plan in the next couple of weeks. I do hope all those that can see the benefit of a thriving museum, able to cater for class and group visits, in an enlarged and welcoming setting, will support these proposals.

Julian Luke

Chair of trustees

Minehead Museum

Dear Editor,

Summer has arrived in a big way, and here at the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), we’re delighted to say it’s time to launch our fantastic library events for children as part of this year’s Summer Reading Challenge.

Developed by The Reading Agency, the annual Summer Reading Challenge encourages children aged four to 11 to sign up at their local library or online at summerreadingchallenge.org.uk. They’ll set a reading goal and collect rewards for their reading, including a certificate when they reach their Challenge goal.

The theme of this year’s challenge is Story Garden – Adventure in Nature and the Great Outdoors, brought to life with artwork by award-winning illustrator Dapo Adeola.

Lara Marshall, via email