Join the Aldi boycott over parking eye
As a very infrequent shopper I recently shopped in Aldi Wokingham.
If I have to shop (something I do not enjoy) I usually use either Tesco or Lidl but after seeing the TV adverts I thought I would give Aldi a go.
Regular shoppers might know about the need to register to shop but I didn’t and received a £40 parking penalty notice.
I don’t know of or have ever heard of any other supermarket that runs such a scheme. It seems to be Aldi specific.
I was there for about 40 minutes which was a leisurely walk around the shop and a quick scan of the paper when back to the car.
Not long enough to be seen as abusing parking.
The penalty notice states signage but does anyone really read the Tesco, Lidl , Sainsbury’s, Waitrose signs when you shop there? You simply park and shop.
I have appealed but it was only a few items and I’m really not sure if I paid by card or cash so I hold little hope of success.
I would like to know how many unsuspecting shoppers have been caught out by the Aldi parking bandits? A nice earner if you can get away with it.
My answer is never to go to Aldi Wokingham again.
Not the type of company I want to use and let’s face it there is a lot of local competition and choice.
I would strongly urge others to do the same.
Boycott Aldi Wokingham and shop where you are a welcome customer and not an alternative revenue stream.
If enough residents do that then, perhaps just perhaps, Aldi might have more respect for its customers.
Name and address supplied
Colour identity
Re Phil Creighton’s report on WBC executive meeting (Wokingham.Today, July 29), some councill0ors seem to push a colour identity agenda for minorities versus a Martin Luther King outlook of character not colour so it’s time for WBC to wake up.
BME is an obsolete term not used by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission because some (including in WBC) use it to exclude white ethnic minorities, eg Eastern Europeans/near East origin, the second-largest minority group on Wokingham and historically shamefully marginalised by WBC.
The EHRC definition of ethnic minority is “anyone not indigenous white british”. Not anyone not white.
In January, the WBC Engagement Team apologised to a Wokingham resident who complained at Asians being allowed in Black History Month.
Only 9% of the local ethnic minority population is black, some 2.5% of the population, with ethnic Indians the largest minority.
WBC should now stop pushing colour identity and replace Black History Month by “diversity month”
to celebrate all non-indigenous cultures and ethnicities and contribution to UK, replace BME Forum by an inclusive “Diversity Forum” and maybe apologise to
those ethnic groups it has excluded such as white minorities — a UK survey indicated 9% of which are Muslim.
WBC’s history of selective discrimination is in direct conflict with its new Equalities Plan which says equality is for everyone.
P Williams, Wokingham
The future of the railways
I refer to Sir John Redwood’s Westminster diary, August 5, and his views on a post-pandemic railway.
If this reflects the views of our government, then I raise some serious concerns.
Firstly, Sir John is quoting from when the country was in the grips of a pandemic and the government ordered everyone to stay at home, unless you were an essential worker. Passenger numbers are therefore bound to fall.
I think that most of us would agree that our travel patterns have changed for the foreseeable future. South Western Railways, for example, are currently consulting with key stakeholders on their planned changes to the train timetable for December 2022, with lessons learnt from the pandemic and a vision of a more reliable network that goes where we want to go and when, is seen as the priority.
The transport sector is the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK, mostly from road transport including the private car.
The rail network is a highly efficient way to move many people between one place and another and can easily use clean energy sources.
Therefore, it is quite simple – if we are to really tackle climate change, we need to be investing and improving in all alternative modes of travel to the private car including our public transport services (rail and bus) and encouraging people to use them.
If it is still the cheapest, simplest and often the only realistic option for you, or to take your family on a journey by car, instead of using public transport, we are still not taking climate change seriously enough.
Our government needs to invest in rail and buses, creating ticket prices that are affordable, a more flexible multiple service ticket so people can travel with simplicity, when they need to.
If you are not a regular public transport user, you need to be asking why?
Sir John’s vision is a highly-priced ticket on a significantly reduced rail network – Beeching (again). That must not happen.
Tackling climate change is not going to be cheap, but the alternative will be catastrophic.
Cllr Paul Fishwick, councillor for the Winnersh on Wokingham Borough Council and Liberal Democrat lead on Highways and Transport
Blown away at my expense
Our recycle bag got blown away by the wind and I have to collect a replacement from Lower Early even though I live in Shinfield, or order online and wait for 10 to 15 days.
The Conservatives should have listened to the Lib Dems and spent more time considering other choices.
The council could have simply provided us with a lid for the black recycle box without wasting the existing box.
I wonder who benefited from the sale of the new bags.
Name and address supplied
Green revolution should not hit poorest most
It’s ironic the Treasury highlights that getting to Net Zero will hit poorest families hardest – families who rarely fly but need to heat their homes and are expected to make these very expensive ‘green’ changes, whilst the aviation industry continues to “trade” its way to being ‘green’.
Surprisingly, in the UK, 15% of people take 70% of all flights, while 50% of the population do not fly at all.
Yet the emissions caused by the aviation industry account for a significant share of the UK’s total carbon budget.
But the least well-off families bear this cost, whilst the industry carries on as normal – lobbying its way to the least inconvenient measures for them.
Maybe, as we host COP26 this autumn, the Government needs to take an act of environmental leadership, by cancelling 260,000 extra flights per year at Heathrow in the form of a third runway and focus on helping those most in need to transition to make green changes to their lives?
Geraldine Nicholson, Stop Heathrow Expansion
Stop the torture of elephants
You can help stop the torture and abuse of Asian Elephants.
I founded Save The Asian Elephants (STAE) in 2015, having witnessed the most extreme violence committed on baby elephants in India to ‘break the spirits’ for easy use in tourism – isolation, starvation and regular beatings and stabbings.
My shock was eclipsed by the outrage of learning of the leading role played by the UK package holiday market in driving and profiting from this grotesque trade.
Numbers of Asian elephants have crashed from millions to barely 40,000 today, with 40% in cruel, non-breeding captivity, routinely abused and tortured to ensure submission for ready exploitation in tourist attractions.
Now they are highly endangered and as ‘megagardeners of the forests’ nourishing and sustaining the lungs of the earth, we destroy them at our peril.
STAE’s research reveals the UK’s shameful role in this pernicious trade. Over 1,159 UK companies sell 238 brutal venues through thousands of adverts.
Many are members of the leading trade body ABTA, whose ‘guidance’ to operators is voluntary, lacking any enforcement or sanctions, and widely ignored. Self-regulation has proved futile for decades.
Numerous promises of change by operators have been broken.
The Government has now promised to introduce this Autumn the ‘Animals Abroad Bill’ to ban the sale and promotion of all brutal venues, and for which STAE has relentlessly campaigned.
But it must have teeth – not just token fines for multi-billion-pound exploiters but potential prison terms for serial offenders.
The Bill must not be watered down as it proceeds through Parliament.
All readers can help show the UK public’s support for change by signing STAE’s petition https://bit.ly/3CidjTH.
Visit the STAE website www.stae.org for further guidance on how to avoid the dangers to tourists of attractions reliant on abused, captive Asian elephants, proven transmitters of TB and Covid, and provoked beyond endurance to launch lethal attacks.
Let’s save the Asian elephants together by ensuring only ethical and sustainable sanctuaries prosper, where elephants exhibit natural behaviour in herds and can be enjoyed from a safe, respectful distance.
Duncan McNair, CEO, STAE – Save the Asian Elephant
Talk about your pants
The idea of talking to your child about sexual abuse can be a scary thought and for some of us it can feel like something we just aren’t able to do.
To help support children to recognise what abuse is and how they can speak up, the NSPCC’s PANTS campaign gives adults advice on how to talk to them in an age appropriate way about sexual abuse, without using any scary words or even mentioning sex.
As part of Relationships Education, all primary school pupils will be expected to leave school with an understanding of the differences between appropriate and inappropriate contact, that each person’s body belongs to them, as well as how they can recognise and report concerns or abuse.
Last year we spoke 111,374 parents, teachers and carers about our Talk PANTS campaign and we hope to reach even more this year with our range of materials including the Talk PANTS emails that parents can sign up for and a Talk PANTS activity pack they can purchase too.
The charity’s aim is to reach every child in the UK with Talk PANTS – so they know that they can speak out to a trusted adult if anything happens that makes them feel uncomfortable.
Also as part of this year’s campaign, on August 23, we’ll be launching a brand new Pantosaurus book for children.
This fun and important storybook will help families and schools have simple conversations to help keep children safe from abuse – in an engaging, visual way.
What are the PANTS rules?
- Privates are Private
- Always remember your body belongs to you
- No means no
- Talk about secrets that upset you
- Speak up, someone can help.
For more information, visit: www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents
Emma Motherwell, NSPCC Campaigns Manager
