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

Dear Editor

The immortal words of Brenda from Bristol on hearing of the 2017 general election are appropriate with Liberal Democrat Somerset Council’s plan to spend £20 million on consultants under the so-called Inspiring Innovation programme, in the hope of finding savings of £101 million in a single year and a further £89 million thereafter.

We have been here before. In 2007, the ill-fated Southwest One outsourcing deal promised £192 million in savings but ended up costing taxpayers an extra £69 million. The Liberal Democrats have repeatedly led questionable financial decisions: rejecting £200 million in unitary savings in 2007, accumulating £353 million in debt by 2008, and investing £289 million in loss-making properties after 2020. As a result, Somerset now faces about £1 billion in debt, with £60 million a year just to service the interest. The Liberal Democrats are mirroring the government which borrowed £20 billion in June and guess what, £16 billion was to pay debt interest.

What is most alarming is that the council admits it does not yet know how such huge savings can actually be achieved, yet plans to commit millions to consultants whose primary duty is to their shareholders. At the same time, the council has been issued two statutory recommendations to produce detailed savings plans and reform services urgently, but there is a real danger that Inspiring Innovation becomes nothing more than a smokescreen to satisfy these demands without solving the underlying issues.

Nearly half the members of the recent scrutiny committee raised concerns over the lack of concrete planning and the opaque approval process. There is also a looming risk if the council enter bankruptcy, government-appointed commissioners could step in to impose cuts, leaving the £20 million consultancy contract redundant.

Rather than repeating past mistakes and borrowing even more, Somerset Council would do far better to undertake a common-sense internal reorganisation, led by its own staff and elected members. The example of Wiltshire Council, which successfully merged five councils into one and reportedly saved £200 million over 15 years, shows that it can be done—without spending tens of millions on consultants.

I fear that without real change, we risk deeper debt and ever higher interest payments, leaving future generations to pay the price for short-sighted choices made today.

Chris Mann,

Taunton

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