Vent Your Spleen

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), July 3, 2008

"Surely this is the right time for a prescription price reduction, along with a reduction to the tax on fuel?

REGARDING JW from Washington in a recent Evening Chronicle: he said he couldn't believe that people in Cowgate were going to be rewarded for having messy gardens.

He has totally got the wrong message, it is to encourage people who have got badly-kept gardens to improve their gardens - it's an incentive. There are also three other categories - the best container display, the best-kept small garden and the best-kept large garden. We have had a lot of entries for those categories. So to JW of Washington, get your facts right!

MRS L, Cowgate.

IT IS THE 60th anniversary of the NHS. We are hearing about all the plans they have for how they are going to revolutionise it. Of course, time will tell whether these plans work.

However, there is one subject that never has air space. I refer to the cost of prescriptions. pounds 7.10 is a totally unacceptable price with today's ever increasing cost of living for ordinary workers who are already hard-pressed.

I'm not suggesting prescriptions should be free. I'm sure this Government, unlike Scotland, would never see we peasants receive that concession. Surely this is the right time for a prescription price reduction, along with a reduction to the tax on fuel?

JF, Heddon.

JUST been reading in vent your spleen column a letter from AP of Whickham who accuses Mr Oliver of Gosforth of being in total denial.

I think AP of Whickham is in denial. First of all, going back a few years, there was rubbish on the streets during a Labour government. At the same time we were unable to bury the dead. We were also known as the sick man of Europe, because we were run by the unions.

There was sleaze going on which is still going on today. We also went to war with Iraq based on a load of lies, with the result that thousands of children in Iraq were killed - plus hundreds of forces personnel. This is also happening in Afghanistan.

Also Gordon Brown plundered the pension funds which made it the worse pension fund in Europe and it used to be the best. Then we had the lies of the Lisbon referendum, when they said they would give us a vote. I wonder if AP of Whickham remembers all these things. If he doesn't he must just be about two years old. ANON.

On Monday, the Chronicle told how Jordan Jobson was appealing against her sentence for killing 18-year-old Samantha Madgin. Our forum contributors wrote:

TEACAKE

This is a sensitive issue. However, it should be made clearer to victims of crime that any offender can appeal against their sentence. It is a basic right. Appealing against a sentence, however, does not mean somehow the offender is negating the victim's memory. Offenders often believe they have been treated too harshly by the court. Many cases have succeeded on the basis the judge (I'm not saying this is the case in this case) was perhaps swayed by public opinion when sentencing. If I had a child murdered by someone I would not torment myself over the offender appealing against their sentence. I'd know right from the outset to expect this.

BAILEY

Jordan Jobson has shown no remorse for her actions and denied murder. Sam was stabbed 10 times by a 15-year-old who was high on alcohol and drugs. I hope the Appeal Court does not reduce the sentence. I feel sympathy for the family of Samantha Madgin as they will have the upset of their daughter's murder yet again being publicly discussed. Jobson should be made to understand the consequences of her actions and serve the maximum sentence.

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