Views on the judiciary, improvements for cyclists, a councillors’ surgery and a politicians’ pay rise

Here are the letters from the Lynn News of Friday, March 7, 2025…Only right a burglar has is to be in a cellLast week’s Lynn News gave a very edifying report on the plight of farmer Tony Martin. and his incarceration for manslaughter.

There was at the time a lot of public sympathy for the man defending his home under duress and fear. Who was the real victim?Friends and relatives of mine in America couldn’t comprehend how someone should be imprisoned under such circumstances, in the knowledge he wouldn’t have been treated so shabbily over there, probably the case not reaching the courts.They responded with incredulity when I told them that in Britain burglars could sue for injury sustained when carrying out their criminal activities, costing homeowners money. My career in the criminal justice system took me into contact with the parole board, unfit for deliberation in my view, still is.Initially Mr Martin was refused early release because he refused to show remorse for his natural reaction to a break-in to his home. The board members were ideologically at variance to majority thinking with a strategy of: ‘burglars have human rights’.Well done Lynn News for reporting so objectively. For my part, the only right a burglar has is to go behind a cell door.David Fleming Downham
Stop ignoring cyclists in west of the countyKing’s Lynn & West Norfolk Bicycle Users Group is delighted to welcome the £4.45million award from the government to Norfolk County Council for active travel (cycling, walking and wheeling) improvements.We are less delighted though to note that the only project announced so far is in the Gorleston and Great Yarmouth area. Whilst excellent news for the far east of the county we are only too aware that Lynn and West Norfolk has had very little investment in active travel for many years.Apart from the (very welcome) refurbishment of the Gaywood to Hardwick bridge, some poor-quality resurfacing and the installation of some pointless barriers and bollards, our cycling network is still incomplete and in poor condition. When will we see the approved (and reportedly funded) Lynn Cycling & Walking Implementation Plan projects, some of which were scheduled to have been completed last year?Essential works like a cycleway across the Cut Bridge, a safe pedestrian and cycle crossing by the Tennyson Road level crossing, the linking of the Ouse Riverside route to the rest of the local cycle network, increased cycle parking in the town centre and pedestrian crossings recalibrated to actually prioritise pedestrians are long overdue.When will Norfolk County Council stop ignoring active travel in West Norfolk? Vicky FairweatherKing’s Lynn & West Norfolk Bicycle Users GroupKeep national issues to the MP’s surgery – and leave our market alone!I’m not quite sure what the point was of David Fleming’s diatribe about the councillors’ surgery being held at Downham’s Saturday market the other week. I’m assuming, as I’ve seen them there on previous occasions, that this was a chance to speak to members of Downham Town Council on issues relating to the town itself, not national political issues such as Rachel Reeves’ messing of the economy or the loss of winter fuel allowance.I’m fairly sure that the town council is non-political in nature.Certainly, when voting occurs candidates’ political beliefs are not mentioned, making all the issues he raised to the council members on duty totally irrelevant as far as their powers were concerned.I accept that he has the right to state his opinions on such matters, as have we all, but he chose the wrong place and people with whom to complain to. These matters need to go to our elected MP, Terry Jermy, not the town council.I accept being told that they couldn’t understand what he was saying is frustrating and feel they would have helped themselves by just saying sorry, but this isn’t what we are here for, these things are out of our control.As to his final dig at the market, maybe he ought to look at Lynn, whose market has declined far more than has ours.I use our market every week and feel the stall holders do a great job and need our support, not needless criticism. Lynne HubbardDownhamThis is what journalism is really aboutI just wanted to say thank you (for publishing the story about hundreds of rule breaches at Norfolk’s factory farms) as I am sure few people want to read about the dire consequences of our mass consumption of meat. But is so important these things are not allowed to stay hidden as it is crucial in raising awareness about the threats CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) pose and the lack of regulation and enforcement, whether for manure run-off into our waterways, antibiotics in the air or ammonia emissions. And now bird flu. So it’s becoming clearer and clearer that we need to change the way we eat for our health and the health of our environment.More and more farmers are shifting to mushrooms and microgreens as well as soy, oats and other crops for plant milks which will provide jobs for decades to come as the farms are environmentally sustainable, provide healthy choices and remove the issue of growing public concerns for animal welfare, not to mention possible pandemics.So thank you as this is what real journalism is about – telling us what we may not want to know but what we need to know.Sara Cranevia emailSome of them should have had a cut, let alone a riseSo, our West Norfolk Councillors have voted to award themselves a 25 % pay rise while overseeing relentless cuts to services and a general atmosphere of scruffy decay and decline in West Norfolk. Surely this hefty little ‘self-awarded’ pat on the back should have been left on hold until at least we’d got some clarity about devolution and the unseemly melee which surrounds these proposals?I’m sure the council will have been at pains to dream up a fanciful list of excuses and reasoned arguments to excuse their personal collective trousering of another £126,000 of our council tax annually and dare I suggest this whopping pay hike wouldn’t have been awarded if councillors were being paid by results and effort. In fact, on that basis for some it might be a pay cut should be considered.It would be very interesting to see which councillors voted for this money-grabbing stunt!Tellingly, council leader Alistair Beales feebly declared this pay hike “should encourage people from all backgrounds to become councillors” which frankly suggests the current cohort do not reflect the electorate or the demographic but merely represent an elite group with the financial wherewithal and time to be part of this cosy club which votes for its own 25% pay rises.Steve MackinderDenverPicture of the Week 1

Picture of the Week 2

John Elson’s cartoon