OPINION: Letters to the editor of the Newbury Weekly News
Pedestrianisation fiasco is clear to see
What a telling picture in last week’s NWN on page 29, the then and now scenario.
1982 and a busy Northbrook Street full of good shops and with people being able to park free and conveniently right outside to visit them.
Contrast that with the ‘now’ picture underneath.
One lady on a bench, seven pedestrians and a cyclist (hopefully riding through responsibly, unlike many).
Hardly the image of a thriving metropolis!
I was down the town recently and there was a gazebo with people surveying shoppers about how they thought the town centre was doing and the extension to pedestrianisation.
It was pretty obvious that they were getting an overwhelmingly negative response to what’s been done.
Ah yes, I immediately thought, yet another consultation to be ignored.
Strikes me that if the Lib Dems were so confident about this pedestrianisation, why are they constantly asking people’s opinion?
In the forlorn hope that they might eventually get the answer they want to hear presumably.
I have little confidence in just about everything the Lib Dems tell us, or that they are listening to people’s opinions.
I just hope they do eventually listen and end this pedestrianisation fiasco before Newbury town centre is irreparably damaged.
Dave Shields
Wash Common
Please don’t stop the vital 7/7a bus service
I am dismayed to read that Hampshire County Council has decided to cut the 7/7a bus services into Newbury/Andover.
It is the only method that I (and many others) have by which we are able to get into either town; and we rely on this bus service.
Many of us no longer drive and if this goes ahead, we will have to rely on taxis.
I hope that you will encourage the council to think again and continue that much-used bus service.
Margaret McGuire
Penwood Heights, Penwood
So much to learn from VJ Day commemorations
As VJ80 week ended I reflected on what I’d learned from it.
In particular, because as chairman of West Berkshire Council, I sponsored an event to reflect on what happens after war ends, I am now thinking about what happens after all the TV and radio programmes and news articles on the World War fought so far away themselves become memories.
Spurred on by my father’s story as a survivor of the Burma Campaign, I had focused on that jungle warfare; retreating and then advancing to a sudden victory days after the atom bombs were dropped.
Research in recent weeks had led me to a webinar organised by the Kohima Educational Trust.
From that I learned that, although we were at peace, the repercussions of the war against Japan were loud and fatal for European colonial powers – and many troops continued to die in Asia for months before repatriation was possible.
The enemy now were fighting for independence from British, French and Dutch rule.
It was the beginning of a bloody two decades in places like Malaya, Borneo, Vietnam and, of course, Korea – which Russia, China and Japan had designs on.
Rule from Europe for these nations had often been exploitative, cruel and demeaning to varying degrees.
No wonder they now wanted independence; colonial rule had failed to keep them safe from an even worse fate at the hands of Imperial Japan.
But the peace that followed conflict against Japan itself was well managed, as it was in Europe.
This was thanks to far-sighted American leadership, of a very different kind than we see today.
The Marshall Plan ensured our destroyed cities in Europe could be rebuilt without crippling our economies.
General MacArthur effectively wrote a new Japanese Constitution that has made it their most reliable ally facing Chinese communism across the Pacific.
The lives lost by our brave soldiers, sailors and airmen and those of our commonwealth allies in the Far East were not lost in vain, thanks to post-war rulers who had personal experience of the harm that modern warfare does.
If only our leaders matched their courage as decision makers on our behalf today, with conflicts raging in the Middle East, Africa and eastern Europe.
But in democracies, there are few votes for rearmament.
The most uplifting thing I learned was how powerful forgiveness and personal reconciliation can be.
Many veterans and their family members have come to realise that we are all victims of the actions of our rulers in failing to secure and maintain peace.
There no winners from war except the autocrats, liars and evil men – yes almost always men – who bring war to our communities.
We must hang on to truth and faith in the potential for good of humankind – and vote for it when we can.
The most shocking thing I learned was that surviving veterans of the Forgotten War were ordered not to speak of their experiences, apparently because it might upset the families of those who did not survive.
We know now that the price of not speaking about war experiences is often terrible personally to those unable to share memories and feelings with even their nearest and dearest.
But it is also true that unless whole societies remain vigilant, warlike leaders will rise again.
The price of lasting peace is eternal vigilance and preparedness for war – in Britain as elsewhere.
Dr Tony Vickers
Liberal Democrat councillor for Hungerford and Kintbury ward, chairman of West Berkshire Council 2025/26
Please write to peers on assisted dying bill
On June 20, a historic milestone was reached.
After over 100 hours of detailed scrutiny – more than any other government Bill – MPs in the House of Commons voted to advance MP Kim Leadbeater’s Private Member’s Bill, The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, to the House of Lords, where it will be guided by Lord Charlie Falconer.
If enacted, this bill would give mentally competent, terminally-ill adults – those with a prognosis of less than six months – the legal right to request a physician-assisted death, of their own volition, should their pain be unbearable.
Palliative care must still be offered alongside the option of assisted dying.
This is about shortening a bad death, not shortening life.
Crucially, the bill includes many safeguards, making it the safest assisted dying bill in the world.
Currently, the law forces around 650 terminally-ill people each year to take their own lives, often alone.
Others feel compelled to travel to Switzerland for an assisted death, with the added trauma of their loved ones facing possible prosecution for accompanying them.
The West Berkshire Dignity in Dying campaign group is writing to Members of the House of Lords to ask for their support at the second reading on September 12.
After further scrutiny, a third reading would follow, and, if the bill progresses, Royal Assent is expected by spring next year.
Full implementation of the bill would take up to four years.
You can support this campaign by writing to a peer using this letter-writing tool: https://action.dignityindying.org.uk/page/171285/data/1?ea.tracking.id=homecta
Sara Fenton
Lead campaigner West Berks Dignity in Dying
Can you help us with our murder mystery?
The Friends of Newtown Road Cemetery are delighted to have been asked to contribute to the Wash Common Festival on September 27.
We are creating a murder mystery activity based on a real event at The Gun pub in 1870.
Participants will be asked to question the many ghosts wandering around to help the coroner gather his evidence.
But we do need some help. Could you help with sewing costumes, eg aprons, ladies’ hats, long skirts, scruffy shirts and trousers?
Also, we need to recruit someone who enjoys creating displays of photographs and information.
None of us are very good at it!
Ros Clow
Leader, history group, Friends of Newtown Road Cemetery
