What is happening?

So after six minutes, I texted again and it came back as the next bus was 10 minutes away. So after 10 minutes, I texted again and it came back as the next bus was 12 minutes away.

By this time it was 4.30pm and I had to abandon my plans and go home.

So, I would like to know what was happening to the bus services?

Were they falling into a black hole, or more likely were they missing out a part of the route, as buses were coming from Woodhouse but not going there?

I know there was a cycle race but this happens every year and you’d think that the bus companies could plan ahead and adjust journeys to prevent them from having to run buses empty or miss out parts of the route, or run a special timetable.

The companies complain about falling profits due to falling passenger numbers, but when they do tricks like this there is no wonder passenger numbers are falling.

Michael Crowther

Sheffield, S12

Conscientious Lord Mayor

The Lord Mayor is not required to be “neutral”.

In chairing council meetings he must uphold the rights of councillors and the interests of the community and enable them to hold the executive to account.

He is however required to be the conscience of the council, according to article 5.02(c) of the Sheffield City Council Constitution. This means using his innate moral sense to distinguish right and wrong, and acting accordingly.

Pointing out and criticising wrongdoing by Donald Trump is undoubtedly an act of conscience.

Magid is not only morally right to protest against the US President’s bad acts, he has a legal duty to do so.

To be “neutral” by failing to speak out against hate and vice for fear of offending someone sounds to me like the “political correctness” that is so often derided in letters to the Star.

J Robin Hughes

Towngate Road, Worrall, Sheffield, S35

Calm schooling

Just as the school holidays are beginning, I hear about an inspiring experiment at a secondary school in east London.

Pupils at The Albany School, Hornchurch, are not allowed to talk between classes.

Also, they must walk in an orderly line, in silence.

And three times a day they queue silently on the playground before going to lessons.

The headteacher says poor behaviour has halved in a month, and pupils say that the school is so much calmer.

Hopefully schools nationwide are aware of this experiment.

Signs of progress, and happier, calmer children.

John C Fowler

Leverton Gardens, S11

Vote for Boris

Well done Boris the badger.

You’ve got my vote!

I would make a very heavy punishment too, for anyone committing these atrocities, and definitely not a cushy holiday in prison either.

Thank you Boris, you’ve made my day.

Maureen Keeton

Sheffield, S33

Laughing stock

Sheffield is already a laughing stock because of our Lord Mayor.

Magid Magid talks about banning President Trump, and even though I am not a fan, we don’t want bad blood between us and the Americans.

Lots may not know they helped us during the war, only my age groups will know this.

Brenda Wilkinson

Sheffield, S10

A trip to Switzerland

If life is difficult to write about, then death can be even more difficult.

I have thought for some time that it is possible for some of the elderly to be kept going for too long.

That is why the saying “quality of life” has become popular.

I mean to say modern doctors with modern treatments can keep some of the elderly going beyond normality.

For that reason, I think our parliament will, (eventually), give “assisted dying” a trial run, (opinion research suggests it will be a popular move with the elderly).

It will be controversial and far from perfect, so is the present system.

Someone asked me if I was planning a trip to Switzerland?

I think they were joking.

Max Nottingham

Lincoln

King Edward VII School

Although leaving “The City of Steel” over 70 years ago, I try to return annually to pay my respects to old haunts in the centre and especially the leafy corners of Broomhill.

My father, Phillip Baylis, was music master for 17 years at King Edward VII Grammar School, which I attended from 1940 to 47.

Close by at 20 Watson Road we cowered in our cellar during the Blitz as St Mark’s Church burned like a fiery beacon, leaving only the graceful tower and spire, later linked to the splendid new nave.

Sadly now my close friends Michael Stanfield and Hugh Smailes have died leaving me a unique collection of 60 years of “snail mail”.

I am hoping through your astute readership to make contact with any ex-pupils of King Edward’s, both senior and junior schools, or even Miss Naylor’s select “Academy” in the Fulwood Road.

Surnames such as Dow, Dowling, Sinha, Gandy, Bradshaw, Hawley, and Alfie Lewis and sister Rachel at the nearby High School: they all swim before me.

Any of such I would be glad to meet at the Rutland Hotel, Glossop Road, next autumn.

Please ring 0116 2885148 – Tim Baylis (brother of Terence “Jack” Baylis).

Very many thanks.

TW Baylis

Leicester