Give way to pedestrians

On the left hand side going up the tree roots are pushing the pavement up.

So we on our scooters have to wait to let the pedestrians pass.

This one might say is a priority, but being Ecclesall Road will this happen? I think not.

Broomhill

Rail buff query

Is the newly released T2 Trainspotting as big a disappointment to railway enthusiasts as the original film?

John Eoin Douglas

by email

Name dropping

Well, well, well so EB Warris shops at Cole Brothers, how’s that for a bit of name dropping?

But it’s OK, like I said to Teresa when I saw her in Harrods the other day. (I nipped in for a veal and ham pie and half a dozen quail’s eggs). It takes all sorts. How right you are JT, she said, must dash, things to do and people to see, bye.

Justyn Thyme

Dronfield Woodhouse

Children’s playgrounds

Are we that live on planet earth destined to have children’s playgrounds void of swings and roundabouts because of health and safety?

The way things are going kids will be wrapped in cotton wool never to run freely in parks and open spaces.

They need to breathe fresh air and experience life from an early age.

If you look at the older generation of today most are thank ful for the rough and tumble of bygone years, even though life was a lot tougher, but hey we’re British.

EB Warris

by email

Clegg, EU and the Queen

It’s true then? The Queen did blast the European Union during a private Windsor Castle lunch. Nick Clegg has reportedly now admitted it.

Apparently it’s been reported that “Nick Clegg maintains that Her Majesty was merely grumpy about Europe and regretted the eclipse of the Commonwealth”.

The scandal surrounding the Queen’s stance on an EU exit erupted last March after it was reported Her Majesty tore into ex-Lib Dem leader Clegg over Europe. The Queen was said to have rebuked Europhile Clegg, telling him the EU was heading in the wrong direction and other guests “were left in no doubt about her views on Europe”.

Flip-flopping Clegg said of the conversation at the time: “I have absolutely no recollection of it.”

Does this Sheffield Lib-Dem MP and Europhile ‘remoaner’ EVER tell the truth?

Terry Palmer

Hoyland, S74

Wishful thinking

Dear Mr Blomfield, Thank you for your response to my letter of January 11.

I have to say that if you had not stopped responding to constituents who are members of the 48 per cent, I would not have felt compelled to write it.

I am sure that we both have a deep-seated and sincere belief in democracy but democracy is not served and divisions are not mended by ignoring or silencing a large proportion of the electorate because their views are inconvenient. Divisions are mended by negotiating a deal which everyone can live with.

I would be the last person to argue that the outcome of the referendum result should be ignored, despite the wafer-thin majority for leaving the European Union.

There are many ways in which parliament could act on it. It was a referendum which was fought on the grounds that our parliamentary sovereignty is vital to our national life.

The High Court ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday, so the power to decide Britain’s future direction will be in parliament’s hands – in your hands – and that is as it should be.

If the government could simply strip us of our rights at will, we would be little better than a banana republic at the mercy of despots.

The power to remove rights must and does lie with Members of Parliament, who are at least obliged to answer to us for doing so.

You now have answers to the questions on the government’s intentions that you set out in your response to me.

Theresa May has announced that she will take us out of the single market, although the Leave campaigns repeatedly reassured voters that there was no question of leaving the single market.

We now know that the Government wishes to trigger article 50 to drag us out of all our existing arrangements with minimum possible debate in parliament first.

We know they wish to negotiate a free trade agreement in the two years then available before Britain falls over the cliff edge of hard Brexit, despite Pascal Lamy, former Head of the World Trade Organisation saying on Newsnight that he has never known a Free Trade Agreement to be negotiated in less than five to seven years.

If her impossible goal is not achieved, we know that Mrs May has clearly stated that “no deal for Britain is better than a bad deal”.

We know that the Government, in thrall to the gung-ho Brexiteers, will not be in a position to push for companies to be able to trade on the same terms as they did.

We know that they will face barriers and that jobs will go. I mentioned HSBC in my last letter and no sooner had Mrs May made her speech on the Brexit she is seeking, than they announced that they would be moving jobs to the continent.

We know Mrs May insists on using EU nationals in the UK and Britons abroad as bargaining chips. We also know that her ambitions for trade deals elsewhere in the world will come up against Trump’s erratic protectionism.

We know that the value of the pound is falling and that prices have started to rise. We have known since shortly after the referendum that there would be no £350 million per week for the NHS and we have known since Philip Hammond’s autumn statement that the cost of Brexit will be around £118 million per week.

Given what we now know, I urge you again, to act in the best interests of your constituents and our country and vote against the triggering of article 50.

Carol Sykes

Administrator of The 48% – Sheffield facebook group

Do you know Ray Johnson?

My husband’s uncle is Ray Johnson. He lived on 28 Hallowmoor Road in Sheffield for many years but has since moved.

Can Ray and Gina contact his brother Vic in California or Shaun 02 6964 7965 New South Wales, Australia.

We have no phone details for him. We have tried the police, council, and current occupier as well as the local church.

The ideal number he can reach us on is 0402272009. He will have to find the code number for NSW.