DCSIMG

April 23: Ashamed to show visitor dirty town


Published on Tuesday 28 April 2009 12:41

I have just come back from a holiday in Vienna where everything is spotlessly clean, the people so friendly and appropriately behaved.

My Austrian friend asked if she could come to Northampton for a visit. My heart sank as I had my reservations and felt badly that I felt so ashamed of the town that I love.

As I walked down Wellingborough Road this week, on my way to town, I realised that I had every reason to feel ashamed and shall definitely keep my friend as far away from Northampton as I can.

I could not possibly let her see the cigarette ends, Coke bottles, drinks cans and cartons, cigarette packets, chewing gum, plastic bags, crisp wrappers, fast food debris and spittle, rubbish bags lining the pavement the whole length of the way, people shouting and swearing, spitting, riding cycles on the pavement, head-thumping music coming from cars.

The bus station . . . I shall not even go there

. . . and last, but not least, a mountain of fly-ridden and rotting rubbish that has not been collected for three weeks and we have been informed that it is not likely to be collected in the immediate future.

Will we ever be proud of our town again or will we sink further into the mire?

H Kuger-Langer,

Vernon Walk, Northampton.

Use 'terrorist' cash for all of us

Time and again, we question the role of the "silent majority" on the pressing issues of the day. The majority of Muslims in Northampton certainly didn't remain silent recently when we condemned all those who perpetrate criminal acts against others and especially in the name of Islam.

The press briefing, covered by the Chron's report Muslims anger at terror money for town (April 4) was to get across two very simple points.

The first is that everyone unanimously agrees there are no terrorists in the town nor is it breeding or harbouring any such persons.

Secondly, the Government has given the borough council 315,000 to work with Muslims to make sure we don't produce terrorists in the town.

If there isn't a problem and if the issues that give rise to the problem have not been identified, what is proposed we do to stop it?

We are making the simple point that since the money is here, we should use it for a good cause in the town. Let the town's people decide what that good cause is.

Among the ideas being promoted by the Northampton Preventing Terrorism programme (tested and which have failed spectacularly by dividing communities elsewhere) are community football games, festive lights and coffee mornings for Muslims.

Are we seriously suggesting that these are the worthy causes we want to spend 310,000 on to deter people from engaging in acts of terror?

This is gross misuse of public money. The country is going through the worst financial crisis in living memory and the Government wants to waste public funds to antagonise and divide communities.

We made the simple plea to the borough council, "use the money for the benefit of the whole town".

There are hundreds of good causes that could really benefit from it. I am thinking of old folks' homes and hospices, services that every one of us benefits from irrespective of our race, religion, colour or creed.

The Government can experiment and speculate on the causes of terrorism while Northampton's people continue to do the everyday things that maintain and strengthen the relationships between the town's diverse people without wasting vast sums of money.

Yousuf Miah,

Norman Road, Northampton.

This is how to spend the money

This town doesn't have a town show, the balloon festival is no more, the carnival is at risk and we can't afford Christmas lights but it does have 315,000 the Muslim community feels it doesn't need because everyone accepts there is no threat of extremism in the town.

Why don't we use the money to help the many voluntary groups working their socks off to bring communities together? How about some money for the Cynthia Spencer Hospice or charities working with the elderly in the town? It will be money well spent.

Zafir Bhatti,

St Matthew's Parade, Kingsley, Northampton.

Paying more for worse service

It is fitting to see Councillor Woods, our esteemed leader, taking up the cause of the common folk over recycling in the Chron, one of the Lib Dems' flagship policies nationally. Pity we're still in the red financially at the town hall and sinking under the pressure of poor leadership though.

So, with that in mind, can Councillor Woods, as head supremo and keeper of the millions in the red purse strings, along with his keystone cops colleagues Sally Beardsworth and Richard Church – both Lib Dem recycling boff councillors for Kingsthorpe – tell me when those who live in the village of Kingsthorpe will get their brown garden recycling bins?

I understand that the terraced houses might not be suitable for such a scheme but there are a fair few houses that could accommodate such a scheme, as I was only being told the other day by two older residents within the village, whom I happened to be having a relaxing coffee with during my travels prior to the looming elections.

The said couple made some interesting comments and had some very interesting ideas.

If Dick, Sall and Woodsy had taken up the challenge of their national leaders to "knock on a million doors" (or has that been scrapped, or should I say recycled?), they might have just been given some pearls of wisdom if they had knocked on the said door.

The couple, both Northamptonians, were disgusted with the demise of their beloved town and the poor and lacking leadership at the Guildhall, along with higher council tax bills but diminishing services.

With the county council elections looming, it appears so far to not bode well for the mainstream parties, Lib Dems killing off the borough, the Tories strangling the county council, and the Labour Party pushing us further into recession.

All parties appear to show mismanagement of public funds and provide second class services but at a higher financial liability on the tax paying people, especially here in Northampton.

Peter Evans,

Former Labour councillor, Stanley Street, Semilong, Northampton.

Forget the CCTV, just lock him up!

I was aghast to read your article about how the MAPPA are keeping us all safe. Mr Shipman, of Northamptonshire Police, tells us that we are better off having these miscreants wandering around among us being (possibly) watched via a myriad of cameras rather than being banged away for the next six years as the judge said he should. Looking at the picture in your paper, I counted over 30 monitor screens and three men watching them. Can you watch more than 10 screens with a 100 per cent concentration for an eight-hour shift?

Further to this is the cost. It must have cost us a fortune for the three year operation to catch this man, then we spend another fortune paying three men 24/7 and all that technology to let him rejoin our society.

How about putting these men back inside where they belong and spending that money on people who deserve some better treatment, the old and the infirm for instance?

Paul B Dendy,

Lynton Avenue, Whitehills, Northampton.

I was touched

I would like to say a huge thank you to the very kind young men who helped my 85-year-old mother when she fell outside the Grosvenor Centre last week. They very kindly helped her up and looked after her until the ambulance came.

Also thanks to her very kind neighbour who took her shopping home and to the thoughtful lady who offered to stay with her at the hospital until family members arrived.

I was very touched by everyone's concern and it just shows there are nice people in the world.

Sue Dendy,

Lynton Avenue, Northampton.


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