This was in tonight’s Shropshire Star …

Pensioners in England missing out
On April 1 a new scheme came into force to allow pensioners to have free off-peak travel around England. Previously they were entitled to only off-peak travel within their local authority.
Pensioners in Scotland and Wales have been entitled to free public transport at any time […]

This has been printed in the Shropshire Star …
Who does Gordon Brown think he is trying to make public buildings in England fly the British flag?
Which flag flies from public buildings in his constituency in Scotland?  Certainly not the “butchers apron”.
The Prime Minister is currently in his own country supporting the Leader of the Scottish […]

English lose out in funding of health
Tom Taylor, chief executive of the Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust, has confirmed what the Shropshire branch of the Campaign for an English Parliament has been saying for the last couple of years: Treating Welsh patients in Shropshire hospitals is costing millions of pounds that could be spent […]

The following letter appeared (very belatedly) in the Shropshire Star last night:

MPs ought to pay for EU treaty treachery
MPs vote not to give us a referendum on the EU Reform Treaty by 311 to 248, this is despite all three main parties promising a referendum.
Labour and the Lib Dems both claim that the EU Reform […]

From last night’s Shropshire Star … 

MPs didn’t have long to prepare for EU vote 
MPs voted to give the EU not-a-constitution a second reading in a vote on Monday evening.  As sad as I may sound, I sat up and watched the debate and the vote on BBC Parliament.
MPs received the consolidated version of the bill […]

Edited to within an inch of its life but published in the Southern Daily Echo … 
I DISAGREE with Teresa Rumsey and Proud Englishman over adopting Land of Hope and Glory as an unofficial English national anthem (Letters, December 20 and January 5). Land of Hope and Glory is a British royal anthem.
I wonder how many are […]

This was in tonight’s Shropshire Star … 

The root of the problem should be addressed
Daniel Kawczynski is right to be concerned about the funding of schools in Shropshire but fails to address the root cause of the problem.
On the 11th December in Parliament he said “Coleham primary school in Shrewsbury receives, on average, £711 less per […]

This was in the Evesham Observer last night (thanks to Dunc for the heads up) …
DAVID Bridgewater should check his facts (Observer letters last week).
The “generous support” from the Americans following the Second World War came in the form of a loan which the English taxpayer finally finished paying at the end of last year.
If the billions […]

Letter in today’s Torygraph … 
Sir – The Conservative proposal for an English Grand Committee is
nonsense.
Simply grouping together the same British MPs who have allowed a
system of apartheid to grow following devolution into a Grand
Committee will not mean better representation for England – these MPs
have demonstrated where their loyalties lie and it is not with the […]

This letter was in last night’s Shropshire Star … 

Battle for fairness on matters of treatment
I must say that I became quite emotional when I heard that my constituent, Mrs Jeannie Evans, of Frankwell, had finally been allowed the vital drug Avastin which will save her life.
At first she was told that this would not be […]

I’ve had two letters in the Shropshire Star this week:
Blair could gather tips
It is reported 200,000 people signed a BBC petition to Hamas militants that kidnapped reporter Alan Johnston - and he was released.
About 1.8 million people signed Peter Roberts’ petition calling on Government not to introduce road pricing and they ignored it. Maybe […]

Brown has no place as our PM
Many people would agree with me that Gordon Brown has no mandate to govern England.
He hasn’t contested an election as leader of the Labour Party and potential Prime Minister for a start - so much for his pledge to restore trust in democracy.
However, there is a more important reason […]

Scotland benefits while we pay out
On April 1st the cost of prescriptions in England went up to £6.85 per item.  On the same day in Wales the charges were abolished.
In Scotland 92% of prescriptions are dispensed free of charge and MSPs only narrowly rejected a bill to abolish them completely in 2005.  It is only […]

A Telford man has had over 1.8m signatures on his online petition against road pricing. The Department for Transport, Douglas Alexander, says that the wording of the petition is misleading and that’s what has led to the biggest protest in the history of this country.
Lots of people are pointing out the unfairness of this proposed […]

It seems that I’ve upset one of my MEP’s.  Conservative MEP, Phillip Bushill-Matthews, is a rampant eurofederalist who seems to have taken exception to my accusing anyone who supports the Europen Federation of treachery.

Debunking the myths peddled about EU
Stuart Parr (Star, January 11) claims I “peddle the myth that the EU cannot impose legislation upon us”.
I did […]

We must keep on scrutinising quango
SIR — I read, with interest, the debate about the proposed Worcestershire unitary authority.
There are, to my knowledge, two county councils in the West Midlands proposing a unitary authority - Worcestershire and Shropshire.
In Shropshire, the proposal is being supported by councillors Pate and Mosley — both are members of the […]

No mention of English people in our anthem
I read the letter by Mr R Dunn, of Telford, regarding the national anthem and the monarchy. Surely he ought to get his facts right before putting pen to paper.
I would point out the anthem he refers to is a German anthem.  It was chosen by a German monarchy […]

A fairly heavily edited letter in the Shropshire Star tonight (bits cut out are stuck out

Query as PM backs regional changes
A poll in the Sunday Telegraph on the 25th of November asked a random selection of English and Scottish members of the public if they supported the establishment of an English parliament or English independence.
Of […]

EU not to blame for NHS woes
According to certain readers the EU is to blame for the failures in the NHS.Stuart Parr (Starmail, November 20) claims it has issued a directive removing the individual opt-out from the Working Time Directive, hereby forcing hospitals to cut services.
This is not true. The EU cannot just issue a […]

Someone is entirely missing the point here.  I am proud to be English and yes, long may Her Majesty reign, but I don’t see why being proud to be English and a monarchist precludes you from wanting an English national anthem.  Does that mean Scottish people can’t be proud Scots or monarchists because they have […]

Let us have a national anthem for the English 
Shrewsbury MP, Daniel Kawczynski, has launched an Early Day Motion calling on Parliament to promote Jerusalem as the English national anthem.
For too long now England’s sporting teams have had to stand through God Save the Queen before matches and put up with ignorant commentators calling it the […]

I thought I’d upset someone at the Shropshire Star as it’s been weeks since any of my letters have been published and then this one from a couple of weeks ago was published …
Farmers worse off as British Citizens
Farmers in the UK, like farmers in the rest of the European Federation, receive farming subsidies.
In Scotland, […]

Gordon serves Scotland
Gordon Brown launched his leadership campaign with a gushing Blair-hug and a lovely speech about how great Britain is going to be under a Brown premiership. The only problem is, nobody seems to want Gordon Brown as PM and pretty much everything he’s talked about changing is only relevant to England, not Britain. […]

Change to voting will not affect the nation
Gordon Brown kicked off his leadership campaign with a speech on Britishness in Scotland, the least British part of the UK.
In his speech he said: “The SNP want Scotland separate from the UK and want to force Scotland to choose between Scotland and Britain”.
On the Tories he said: […]

Lives not worth cost of drugs
The Shropshire Star, along with most of the UK media and the charity Beating Bowel Cancer, all incorrectly reported that the two bowel cancer drugs Avastin and Erbitux were being denied to patients in the UK.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence has refused to license the drugs on the basis […]