Dear Editor,

The letter from Mark Dyer (Letter, page 12, September 26) includes words that should send shivers down the spine of anyone who believes in democracy. He says we must “compel our globalist King to have to summon Mr Nigel Farage to form a government in his name”. That echoes the call to overthrow our government made by Elon Musk during his message to the recent demonstration in London. Perhaps Musk and Trump should be working on a solution to gun violence and the plethora of school shootings (53 so far in 2025, 19 deaths) or the fact that more than 2,000 children were killed by guns in one year in the USA? Not a happy country.

We may not like it but our present government was elected fairly and inciting civil unrest is madness.

Sir Ed Davey’s clowning was mentioned but he isn’t the problem. An invited speaker at Reform’s Party Conference suggested the King’s cancer may have resulted from Covid vaccinations and Farage has refused to condemn Trump’s similarly unproven link between paracetamol and autism. Farage apes Trump…who childishly demands his judiciary pursue anyone who ever offended him and cooks up new ways to insult President Biden e.g. replacing his portrait with a picture of an automatic pen. This does not suggest sane, stable government. It is a blessing that the British people have four years to get the full measure of Farage and his motley crew of defectors. Familiarity may breed contempt but it could also reveal the likelihood of an autocracy based on dangerous lies.

Yours sincerely,

Sandra Jones

Old Cleeve

Much of the UK population says Conservatives destroyed our country, that Labour (just as bad) has not fixed it, therefore let’s try Reform UK and Nigel Farage - a clean slate with new ideas for fixing our country. Have these people looked at who Reform are and what their policies actually are?

If you plan to vote Reform in order to support ordinary working people and to help fix the NHS, perhaps consider Reform voting against the Workers’ Rights Bill (therefore in support of zero hour contracts, ‘hire and fire’ and a raft of other worker strengthening measures).

While saying they support an NHS free at the point of delivery their policies make that impossible - huge tax cuts for the ultra wealthy (tiny tax cuts for the poor) drastically cutting possible funding and leaving doctors and nurses with further pay freezes and rising waiting lists; plans to deport people with indefinite leave to remain in the UK decimating NHS staff. Windrush Phase Two!

Their economic policies are like Liz Truss’s but far worse, crippling the UK economically. Their climate policy is to pretend that the recent extreme flooding and wildfires are not happening (ignoring the plight of farmers) and to maximise fossil fuel use, despite the decades of warnings from the scientific community. They maintain renewables keep energy prices high. The clear evidence is they lower prices.

Their immigration policy is insane - mass deportations MAGA style with migrants sent to Ascension Island (Priti Patel’s idea originally).

They pretend Reform is different, however policies are right wing Tory, and the people representing them are mostly the worst of former Tory MPs and Councillors. Their voters are mostly former Tories.

I can’t argue that Labour are great currently but they are vastly better than either Conservative Tories or Reform Tories!

India Hollow, via email

Dear Editor,

Somerset Sight is a local charity established in 1919 which has a number of services in place for people with sight loss.

We are currently looking for befriending volunteers to visit people with sight impairment. As a volunteer you are matched individually by us and need no special skills other than an interest in people and the willingness to visit someone once a fortnight for company, conversation and maybe help with reading or correspondence.

We have 250 wonderful volunteers who visit people, one volunteer, Tony, recently said: “I love my visits to the people I am matched with, it feels so good to help someone locally and I very much enjoy the company too! Somerset Sight provides excellent support for volunteers when we need it, volunteering helps me as well as the people I visit.”

Please get in touch for an informal chat about volunteering with no commitment on [email protected] or leave a message on 01643 842972 and I will telephone you back.

Thank you so much.

Claire Packwood

Somerset Sight

Dear Editor, 

World Mental Health Day is marked every year on 10 October and is a reminder to us all of the importance of good mental health.

The Mental Health Foundation have created tips and resources specifically to support those feelings of overwhelm, when engaging with bad news all gets a bit too much which can be found on our website mentalhealth.org.uk/WorldMentalHealthDay

Yours, 

Alexa Knight

Director for policy and influence at the Mental  Health  Foundation