Daily Mail Letters

Liz Payne of Preston gets things going:

I am reeling from the accusation that Preston is the race hate capital of Britain (Mail - unsurprisingly). It's simply not true.
To suggest that areas such as Deepdale are exclusively Asian is factually wrong - there might be a higher proportion of Asians than in other areas but there are plenty of white people living there too.
The references to 'Coronation Street-style houses' were condescending.

And you can apply all the emboldened phrases to any Mail story.

A faintly amusing story, though I can imagine certain people falling over themselves with laughter and gathering the family round to tell them. It's from Ewen Brenchley:

The plans for council tax snoopers reminded me of my cunning neighbour in the Midlands years ago. He wrote to the local council asking by how much his home's rateable value would be increased by if he erected a 6ftx4ft shed in his back garden. They told him this would warrant a £7 increase.
'Good,' he wrote back, 'So as I have just taken down a shed of those dimensions, would you please reduce my rateable value by that amount?'

Amazingly, they did. So heh to that man.

Anyone reading this bemoaning the lack of any moaning need look no further. It's about the BBC, as well, so extra moanability. And it comes all the way from T. Cleal's house:

I'm not surprised that the BBC has had to admit to bias and political correctness. Just watch a few episodes of Casualty.
A young man is brought to A&E and his 'father' comes to visit him. Pregnant pauses and double takes by the nursing staff, the man is not his father but his older gay lover

OMG!!!!!1111eleventy!!! GAYS!!! ON TV!!!!!!

Casualty is not really about disease and accidents. It's about force-feeding an ideology - something the BBC is very good at.

Yeah, whatever.

I bid you goodbye.

We have been graced with THREE whole pages of letters. That's a lot of shite. M Rose starts us off this fine day:

If there are 1.7million unemployed people and a further 2.7million on incapacity benefit, why is our local JobCentre open only two days a week 'due to staff shortages'?

Answer: A little thing called labour immobility.
Also, points to you for mentioning those well-known work-shirkers, the 2.7million people physically or mentally incapable of doing work

The letters special today regards Carol Sarler's "article" about doctors. And not the afternoon BBC1 programme. Keera Rowland from Woodlea House surgery in Bournemouth (which I have seen many a time but I can't for the life of me think where it is!) says:

I'd like to invite the opiniated Carol Sarler to spend a week at our surgery and experience the day to day life of a busy, dedicated GP before being killed with a lethal dose of anything we can get our hands on.

OK, so my mind wondered a bit reading that. But despite my wishful thinking, the letter goes on to mention that Carol Sarler is wrong and GPs are actually hard-working and dedicated. Which they are, so up yours Carol Sarler.

Carole Tucker:

Watching England play Croatia, I suspected that they would lose on the basis of their behaviour during the National Anthem. Only two bothered to sing, and even they were half hearted.
I got the impression that they couldn't care less about the honour of representing their country.

I just got the impression that they disliked the monarchy.

Still on the football theme, David Kenny has a 'solution':

One way to put England's footballing woes to rights is glaringly obvious - a five-year sabbatical away from international matches. We are in no fit state to play football at this level

Now I really must have a rant here. England did what? Drew with Macedonia and lost to Croatia. We also beat a couple of teams and got to the final stages of the World Cup. It really annoys me when people moan about England being crap. England is not a crap football team - there are many skilled players and we've had loads of success, reaching quarter finals and semi finals of major tournaments. So we didn't win? Well, guess what? Neither did 170 other countries!! And now there are people saying we should have a five-year break from international football because we didn't win for two matches! So what? Northern Ireland didn't score a goal for nearly three years (or something like that), but they didn't take a break...they kept playing and working for what they wanted. All a break would do would be to make the players inexperienced on a national level. We'd come back worse than when we left. And I don't even care about the England football team all that much! But I do feel much better now.

Paul Rose advertises now:

I wish to employ an assistant. They must be indolent, workshy, a slow learner, between 10 and 120 years old, non-vibrant, unqualified, inexperienced, a non-graduate, somnolent, shiftless, immature..and not fit for purpose. Can I publish this?

No! For you are discriminating against the following:under 10s, over 120s, graduates, experienced people, etc.

Dr Michael Karger is our first writer today:

David Blunkett compares the endurance he showed during his travails to that exhibited by our troops in the World War 1 trenches.
Let me get this right: he has the arrogance to compare a degree of Press [yes, that really is capitalised] and public criticism brought on entirely by his immoral and distasteful affair with a married woman with children and subsequent abuse of his position as Home Secretary, to the hell of the trenches.
How could he compare death and mutiliation on a daily basis, living with no food, no sleep, food, mud, cold, disease, for months on end, with adverse publicity?

Maybe in the same way the Mail compares anything they think is a wee bit too 'nanny state' as 'Nazi'. Can you really compare a rule that stops people from getting hurt to genocide, persecution and gassing and starvation on a daily basis?

Jason Robertson, who's high on conspiracy:

I doubt Peter McKay is right to suggest that Dave Cameron is refashioning the Conservative Party just to win the next election by fooling the Guardian-BBC media. Dave may be ready to replace Gordon, but the liberal Establishment will still run the show.

The "Guardian-BBC" media? WTF? What does the Mail count as then?

Odd letter of the week, now. It's from The Venerable Victoria. Yes, really:

I've [invented a new religion]: the Plum Tree Faith... I'm sick of all religions and the violence they engender... I'm no theologian, I'm a pensioner with rheumatoid arthritis.

This guy is so cool, although he loses it a bit with this:

I mean to set up my Plum Tree Faith website and give all established religions a much deserved British kick in the backside

And I thought he was sick of violent religion?

Some stuff today. At bloody last.

Mrs Eileen Bliss:

The other week I said to my husband: 'Keep an eye on the trees because the Daily Mail will soon be looking for autumn colours'

Get a fucking life!

Mike Pepper on rubbish charging:

In this case [the government] cries: 'the polluter must pay' - but the householder is not the polluter

Why yes they are.....throwing stuff away for landfill = polluting; recycling stuff = far less polluting.

There's little we can do about the way manufacturers pack their goods

Erm...recycle the packaging???

I'm annoyed already!

Just want to let you all know that I'm not dead, just a bit busy.