Your Letters
Poor service at distance
Sir, — Your article regarding the “new communal workspace” known as the Green Room in Henley (Standard, May 26) misrepresented the facts and in so doing in effect categorised the “objections from residents” as Nimbyism.
The details of the original licence application were published in your newspaper.
The key detail was, among others, for the “provision of live music 9am to 1am, Monday to Sunday” i.e., seven days a week.
The “nightclub style” nature of the application might well account for the number of objections received from residents, some 17, as well as the Henley Society.
Three objectors attended the licensing application heard at Abingdon in July.
One councillor turned up an hour late, even though three of us had made it from Henley on time.
I had previously been advised by the licensing enforcement officer that, “…reference to additional information is really intended to prevent people coming to the meeting with documentation or arguments that haven’t previously been presented”.
Imagine my frustration then when the applicant presented a totally new application as described in your article.
Despite my request that it should be resubmitted, as members of the public were stopped from commenting on the revised application, the licensing panel decided to hear it and it was delivered verbally with little precise detail.
As it happens, had the correct application been made in the first place, I doubt I would have objected to it. I like my music and indeed think Sam Wilkinson is a fine drummer.
But that is not really the point. It was clear the three councillors on the panel had little, if any, knowledge of the proximity of the premises to local residents but bent over backwards to hear the application.
No doubt Jeremy Clarkson wishes he was before South Oxfordshire District Council’s planning committee and not West Oxfordshire’s.
I believe this episode highlights a much bigger question: Are the residents of Henley well-served by either Oxfordshire County Council (think HGVs) or the district council (think street cleaning and rubbish on the streets)?
Would we not be better off by having more authority for local decisions to be delegated to Henley Town Council? — Yours faithfully,
Sterl Greenhalgh
West Street, Henley
Network Rail is unreliable
For the eight days up until Tuesday this week there have been train cancellations and delays every day from Twyford on services both towards Paddington and towards Reading.
Not everyone will have suffered but thousands certainly have.
There have also been, rather unusually, cancellations on the branch line between Twyford and Henley and serving Wargrave and Shiplake.
The cancellations were due primarily to points failures, broken-down trains, faulty signals and the late arrival of train crews.
None of the cancellations was caused by the new timetable, which came into force on Sunday, May 21, strikes, leaves on the line, snow, fallen trees, or ducks waddling between the tracks.
The responsibility for delivering this poor experience for passengers — except for broken-down trains — lies entirely with Network Rail, the nationalised institution charged with maintaining and developing safe and reliable infrastructure on which the train services operated by Great Western Railway and the Elizabeth Line should rely but can’t. — Yours faithfully.
Philip Meadowcroft
Wargrave User Group
AI: it’s too late, folks
Talk about shutting the stable door — again. The horses have long gone.
Firstly, social media allowed your addiction genie out of her bottle.
Now the AI genie has escaped. The horses of the apocalypse are well and truly loose.
Oh, give it a rest you say, another old geek’s rant. But I worked in the AI wave 30 years ago at Palo Alto. We developed tools but the keys to the kingdom are the applications they enabled.
So why the frantic noises now from the biggest noises in the industry? Because they have belatedly bailed out of, or into, responsibility.
Researchers are pretty single-minded. They explore “interesting” things and they are exceptionally gifted.
But they created the far-reaching enablers with scant attention to how far, how quickly and how broadly they could penetrate our lives.
We routinely predict future innovations to arrive much more quickly and grossly underestimate the spread.
Who thought that the convergence of linguistics with assisted reasoning would be the preferred way of dealing with customer emails? And that it would be the next must-have security blanket to comfort you social media addicts?
You adopt pets in one form or another — advice on health, fads and fancies with an artificial cuddly toy to give illusions of eternal verities.
It doesn’t take much to envisage the very dangerous risks such as the AI-generated fake news and scams. Benefits are easy and distract us from addressing real risks.
Mankind can create a best choice recommendation from a huge spectrum of facts and hypotheses on any subject and it is only a simple step to allow the choice to be automatically acted upon and the outcomes to be added to the facts. Linguistics allow us now to express the advice in wonderfully believable words.
That, an autonomous explosion of unmanaged actions, is what has scared the socks off the researchers.
The elephant in the room is doing what is determined: automatically to implement the original decision about what to do with no oversight by mere morons (oops, sorry, mortals). — Yours faithfully,
Neil Blake
Ewelme
Our NHS is unwell itself
Recently, I experienced the National Health Service at its very best.
When the National Health Service Act of 1946 set up the NHS in 1948 the first year’s costs of £11.4 billion (at today’s prices) were expected to fall as the nation reaped the benefits of healthcare “from cradle to grave”.
No longer would only the better-off have access to a doctor or nurse. There had been some little health provision for employees but rarely for women.
In place of late or no diagnosis, there would be swift action and the nation would become fitter and healthier. The National Health Service could then direct its efforts to sickness prevention by demonstrating the benefits of healthy eating and physical exercise.
More than 60 years on from its conception, the NHS has become a National Sickness Service, spending vast amounts of money on self-inflicted illness — poor diet, lack of exercise, alcohol and smoking.
Yes, life expectancy has increased because of the advance in medical science but that brings a further cost of age-related attention.
What would those who pioneered the NHS in 1946 think of today’s service? Endless waiting lists with patients balancing a two- or three-year wait for surgery against the cost of “going private”.
Then there is the cost of the NHS — in 2019/20 it was £120.2 billion, more than 10 times the cost in 1948.
What is the answer? Go back to the thinking of those wonderful pioneers of 1946 and, keeping true to them, reshape the future. — Yours faithfully,
Douglas Wright
Caversham
Times are changing
Editor, — Your front page article on the shortage of drugs at the Woodcote Medical Practice was well supported with evidence that the NHS is struggling to deliver drugs as promptly as in the past (Standard, May 19).
However, in 20 years of using the Goring and Woodcote practices’ medical and pharmaceutical facilities, I have received only excellent service and it is no different today.
Like others, I queue. Like others, I note the tendency of some others to jump the queue without explanation.
Like others, I hear the loud and forceful rants made occasionally on the ever-obliging staff at the counter. Surely it is better for family and friends to help the disadvantaged order their medicines much earlier than in the past.
Times are a-changing and the service you are used to may not return.
Rather you liaise with the staff at your local practice as never before? — Yours faithfully,
Bill McKinney
Mowforth Close, Woodcote
Dockyard high street
Sir, — I so agree with Paul Willson that dark grey and black on shop fronts is so gloomy (Standard, May 26).
I love Caversham, having lived here all my life, but driving through it is so depressing when most of the shops are now adorned in battleship grey and some of the newer shops have followed the trend.
I do wonder if a dockyard had surplus paint left over and offered it for sale at a bargain price.
Let’s have more individuality. — Yours faithfully,
Stephanie Clarke
Richmond Road, Caversham
Fewer of us the better
Sir, — With reference to John Thornley’s letter headline “Too many people” (Standard, May 12), there you have it. I was reminded of this many years ago by Molly “Bring Back the Bicycle to Beautiful Britain” fame.
I believe these islands now hold almost 70 million people. Not a pleasant thought.
We look forward to being housed but where to build and how many?
Mr Thornley said it in a few words. The fewer of us the better. — Yours faithfully,
Peter M Adams
Ramshill, Petersfield
Don’t be so serious
Sir, — I refer to Simon Mack’s letter headlined “Appalling criticism” (Standard, May 26).
While I hope our exchanges over recent weeks have entertained your readers, I feel it now appropriate to bring this spat to an end.
Simon may well express his views but he should really look at himself, take a reality check and learn not to take himself so seriously.
I am well aware of the problems the human race has created for our wonderful planet but he and his eco-brigade have no ideas as how to remedy them.
Rather than mass protest, I suggest Simon chills with a good cook book. — Yours faithfully,
Philip Tremayne
Crowmarsh Gifford
When did garage shut?
Sir, — I am trying to find out in what year the BP petrol station in Bell Street, Henley, ceased trading.
This is for a school project that my daughter is currently working on.
If anyone can assist me with my request or has any information relating to this, it would be most appreciated. My email address is [email protected] — Yours faithfully,
Brian Sullivan
Swiss Farm, Henley
Where was oil mill?
Can anyone assist me in finding where Henley’s oil mill was sited in 1860-1870?
I know where the corn/paper mills were but this mill was built just for producing linseed oil cake for agricultural purposes. The proprietor was Richard Burniston.
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you. — Yours faithfully,
Tom M Hine
Resurrect Imperial
Sir, — While reading about the Premier Inn’s rejected planning appeal (Standard, May 26), I couldn’t help but find the inspector’s numerous references to “the Imperial Hotel” somewhat ironic.
The Imperial Hotel might be a “heritage asset” but it has been festering since 2006 and should either be converted to affordable housing or re-opened as a hotel.
Surely I can’t be the only one who thinks this is a more sensible option than building a five-storey eyesore off Station Road?
In fact, it could be beautifully rebranded like the Red Lion. sorry, I mean the Henley Relais.
How about the “Premier Imperial” or “The Imperial Inn”?
My favourite is the “Ganja Inn”. This would reflect the hotel’s most recent use as a cannabis factory (Standard, September 24, 2021).
However, I fear the residents of Wyndale Close might object on the grounds of Bob Marley tunes being played until the early hours. — Yours faithfully,
Simon Barnett
Lower Assendon
P.S. Written in memory of my friend and fellow correspondent Tim Capell.
Bird eyes custard pie
Sir, — A glorious Thursday evening, sandwiches various and a supermarket custard slice in the garden; what could be more idyllic?
A red kite zoomed down and with a mighty thump removed the cake from my table.
It just made me wonder, what brand of custard do Waitrose use in their slices? Bird’s perchance? — Yours faithfully,
Jeff Cornacchia
Cromwell Road, Henley