Dear Editor

THIS month marks 80 years since the United Nations General Assembly’s first meeting in London in 1946. Made up of nearly all the world's countries, the UN has significantly promoted peace and prosperity, with the UK as a strong supporter since the beginning. I’d like to highlight three key functions among the many activities of the UN.

Firstly, the UN actively works to eliminate the “scourge of war”. Its successes include the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Ban on Chemical and Biological Weapons, and controls on landmines and cluster bombs. These initiatives have been supported by all UK governments, reflecting our interests in a safer world. The UN continues its efforts to achieve global agreements on eliminating the most dangerous weapons of mass destruction—nuclear bombs.

Secondly, UNICEF, established in 1946, aims to assist children and young people in peril, regardless of their countries' wartime roles. As former executive director Maurice Pate noted, “There are no enemy children”. Alas, UNICEF's mission still remains essential today in many conflict zones. Interested readers can donate online to support this crucial work by searching for UNICEF UK.

Lastly, I want to emphasise the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which alerts the world to the dangers of global warming. By highlighting the impacts of fossil fuel use, the IPCC shows that through international agreements on reducing the burning of coal, gas and oil, we still avoid the worse effects of climate change.

Just these three examples illustrate the UN's vital role in creating a safer, cleaner, and more prosperous world. I believe we should cherish, support and fund it’s work so it can be around to help us all meet the challenges of the next 80 years.

Yours sincerely,

Mike McGuffie

Wellington

Dear Editor,

SPENDING £20-million on consultants, £5-million on new laptops, £4,500 per day on removing flags – just three of the ways in which your taxes administered at County Hall are being poured down the waste drain by your Liberal Democrat councillors.

That is your money that would have been better spent resurfacing Waterloo Road, filling potholes in Rockwell Green, or sorting out the Nynehead road’s drainage.

And this month they will be back for more money to waste having already signalled that Liberal Democrats are happy to raise your taxes even higher by 11 per cent during a cost of living crisis.

Anything more than 4.99 per cent has to be agreed by a public referendum, but the Liberal Democrats have asked central government for a third successive year for ‘exceptional financial support’ which would allow a larger rise without such a vote.

That is on top of the 7.5 per cent tax rise last year.

The fact is, councils go wrong when they go off-piste as Liberal Democrat-run County Hall can testify.

Were Somerset Council a commercial business, those running and advising it would have been fired long ago.

Say ‘no’ to yet more wasteful Liberal Democrat taxes rises.

C Penney

Wellington

Dear Editor,

Please could you stop people with dogs from using the children’s play park at the rear of Hawthorne Road and Beech Hill.

It is used constantly as a training exercise and toilet.

Many young parents like to take toddlers there to play when older children are in school.

Bring back dog wardens.

Why cannot people abide by rules?

They should be fined with the proceeds going for new play equipment for the park.

Children’s freedom is being taken over by dogs.

Not all children, or adults, like dogs, or they may be allergic to them.

Annoyed resident,

Wellington

Dear Editor,

When will the powers-that-be acknowledge or admit to the fact that the more houses that are built on Greenfield sites the worse the flooding will become.

Our drainage and sewage systems were built for a population a fraction of what it is today and the water has simply nowhere to go.

The water table is now so high that roads are literally floating and no amount of patching is going to solve the pothole problem.

There must be more encouragement offered to utilise brownfield sites and stop covering our fields with tarmac, bricks and concrete.

Anne Sparkes

IN last week’s article on the provision of a new defibrillator for Tonedale we referred to members of Musgrove Park Hospital League of Friends attending the unveiling when we should have said Wellington Hospital League of Friends. Similarly, it was the Wellington League of Friends which has given £700 and not Musgrove’s. The Wellington Weekly News is happy to set the record straight.