Letter printed in Advertiser 5th March re Honda and homes
The letter form Martin Wicks (Mar 1) explains in the clearest possible language the urgent need for new council houses in Swindon.
The Right to Buy has been a great investment for people who bought council houses but it has created a crisis for the next generation looking for homes for their families.
The two main problems facing Swindon today are the Honda closure and the housing crisis.
We have 650 highly paid MPs sitting in our parliament but when it comes to the problems of Honda and housing they wash their hands of it and say its all down to market forces.
Well I disagree. Lets see a bit more government involvement in sorting out the Honda problem and building more affordable homes for the working class, and less reliance on market forces to solve these major problems.
Steve Halden
Letter printed in Advertiser 23rd February Bus Boulevard
The pedestrian underpass leading to the bus station is one of the busiest parts of the Swindon town centre.
It seems there are plans to permanently close this underpass and replace it with a pedestrian crossing.
Your article on February 21 said this will be done as part of plans to create a bus boulevard at the end of Fleming Way.
The bus boulevard would mean a halt to cars and lorries using that part of Fleming way.
I can only assume that the councillors in Swindon have all gone mad an taken leave of their senses.
Everything about this plan is total madness.
Steve Halden
Letter printed in Advertiser 23rd February about Honda
It is shocking news that Honda are pulling out of Swindon. It is reported that some other Japanese car makers will also soon be leaving Britain.
One of the reasons for this is that the EU have agreed a new trade deal with Japan. This gives them tariff free access to the EU market and that is why they are moving production back to Japan.
Tony Blair refused to give funding to MG Rover in 2005. When it was closed down MG Rover was Britain's last remaining British owned car maker.
Britain needs a home grown car maker that can be relied upon to stay in Britain.
Perhaps the nationalisation of the Honda plant in Swindon could be the answer so that we could once again make our own cars here in Britain.
Steve Halden
Letter printed in the Advertiser 21st February about the Swindon Yellow Vests
Howard March (Feb 14) is living under the false impression that the "yellow vest" protesters in Swindon were all UKIP supporters.
The truth is that the "yellow vests" are a cross party organisation and are totally separate and not part of UKIP at all.
Membership of the EU has created a low wage economy in Britain and at the same time EU membership has pushed up the cost of house prices and rents.
Many people are concerned about this deteriorating situation including many people on the left wing of British politics.
The "yellow vest" protesters started their campaign in France and there they have have attracted people from both from the left wing and right wing in equal numbers.
Steve Halden
Letter printed in the Advertiser 7th Feb replying to Mr Gordon Simm
The letter by Gordon Sim (Feb 7) says he wants a public debate about why people voted to leave the European Union in 2016.
All he needs to do is read the shocking survey about the homeless problem published in the Advertiser on the same day as his letter.
Homelessness is rising rapidly in Swindon and also all over the country. The homeless problem all started when we joined the EU in 1973.
Before 1973 there was no homeless problem. This problem was gradually created during the 46 years of Britain's membership of the EU.
Steve Halden
Letter printed in the Advertiser 4th Feb about the golden age of the 1960s
May I remind Patrick O'Shea (Jan 31) that Britain joined the Common Market in 1973 and the twenty years prior to that were a wonderful golden age of prosperity for the British working class.
Full employment, cheap houses, high labourers wages, booming industrial production and trade surpluses were the norm in the 1960s.
In 1974 only one year after joining the Common Market, Britain was on a three day week and by 1976 James Callaghan and the Labour Government had to borrow from the International Monetary Fund as Britain was broke.
The mood of the 1960s was perfectly encapsulated by the famous words by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan " You have never had it so good".
Steve Halden
Letter re Jeremy Corbyn refusing to discuss Brexit January 22nd 2019
The British parliament has defeated Theresa May's Brexit deal with an enormous 230 majority.
Parliament now needs to search for a deal that can achieve cross party support and Theresa May has asked for talks with the other political parties to try to find an agreement.
Jeremy Corbyn has refused to take part in these talks and he has told all Labour Party MPs that they should also refuse to talk to Theresa May.
Time is now rapidly running out because the official Article 50 leaving date is at the end of March 2019.
No further progress can be made towards getting a cross party agreed deal as long as Jeremy Corbyn refuses to allow the Labour Party to be involved in these cross party Brexit talks.
Steve Halden
Letter The problem of gambling addiction January 16th 2019
The article in the Advertiser on gambling addiction (Jan 10) estimates that 1,900 people in Swindon have a gambling problem.
The cost of dealing with gambling addicts is put at £3m. It is an illness and addicts can end up in hospital and in some cases it can lead to suicide.
The wives and children of compulsive gamblers also suffer because that money should be going on food, clothes and things for the house.
People who watch television are bombarded with adverts for gambling especially around live football matches on TV.
The Gambling Act 2005 liberalised the gambling laws under the Labour government of Tony Blair but it is hard to see how these changes have in any way helped ordinary working class people.
The European Union Commission supports EU countries efforts to modernise their national online gambling legal frameworks but this liberal approach makes life very difficult for the long-term hardened gambling addict.
Steve Halden
Steve Halden's letter about EU immigration boats published Today 2nd January 2018
82 migrants were recently detained in one week while crossing the English Channel in small boats.
This sudden surge in numbers has taken take government very much by surprise.
Theresa May knows that these boat people cannot be sent back to France according to EU law.
EU law states very clearly that whatever the circumstances people caught crossing the English Channel cannot be returned to France.
Steve Halden
Letter printed 13 December about the Marrakesh Compact in the Advertiser.
A HUGE DIFFERENCE
Theresa May signed up to the United Nations Marrakesh Compact on Sunday 9th Dec 2018.
The Marrakesh Compact sets out new rules to facilitate easier immigration from poor countries to rich countries like Britain.
The agreement recommends that countries that have signed up to the new rules should make the campaigning for controlled immigration illegal.
These new rules will make a huge difference to what the political parties in Britain are allowed to say at election times.
Steve Halden
The EU is blocking our sewers (Printed 8th Dec 2018)
The sewers of Britain are being blocked by wet wipes that are very long lasting and will never degrade naturally.
The packets very clearly say please do not flush down the toilet but that advice is being ignored.
The solution is easy. All wet wipes should be banned because of the huge cost of unblocking sewers in Britain.
But life is not that easy because only the EU has the power to ban a product in Europe.
This is yet another example of how so much power has been handed over to the EU.
Almost all the laws that effect life in Britain are now made by the EU.
Steve Halden
The Great Train Robbery (Printed 30th Nov 2018)
The great train robbery hits commuters as rail fares go up 3 percent.
Passengers are getting hammered again this year as the service gets steadily worse with ever more delays and cancellations.
The 37 percent rise in fares in the last ten year highlights the fact that privatisation has been a disaster for those people who have to use the trains to get to work.
Steve Halden
An article in the Advertiser (Nov 24) said that Swindon was in the top ten worst areas for house price affordability.
Swindon people aged 29 on good incomes are taking six years to save up for a 15 percent deposit.
While people on low incomes had no chance at all of ever saving up for a deposit. The alternative of getting council house was getting harder and harder.
Many council houses have been sold off. Swindon now has fewer council houses than it had in 2011.
The working class are being pushed into the expensive private rented sector as the only alternative now that buying a house is beyond their reach.
Steve Halden
Letter printed in the Advertiser 24th November 2018 by Steve Halden The letter by Alan Spencer (20 Nov) lists many reasons why a Brexiteer should have negotiated our leaving the EU and not a remainer.
The most obvious problem is that the end result will be Britain not having left the EU.
Britain will become a vassal state in a permanent situation of being a rule taker. This is why all the genuine Brexiteers in the cabinet have resigned.
They have sacrificed their political careers in order to warn us that the deal negotiated by Theresa May will result in Britain not fully leaving the EU.
Steve Halden
Letter printed in the Advertiser 17th November 2018 by Steve Halden
The letter (Nov 9) from Martin Webb talks about building a culture of peace, love and compassion across the UK.
But is he on the same planet as the rest of us? We have just had ten years of the most terrible austerity with no end in sight. The national debt is nearly two trillion pounds and still rising.
There is a frightening amount of knife crime with record numbers of murders in London.
House prices and rents have risen to a level beyond the reach of the ordinary working class.
These problems are especially hard for the millennials who are just starting out in life. The British economy is a horror story at the moment.
Steve Halden
Letter printed in the Advertiser 1st November 2018 by Steve Halden
The Budget by Philip Hammond Chancellor of the Exchequerhas failed to tackle the major problems facing the British economy and that is the trade deficit.
Britain has the worst trade deficit in the developed world even after including invisible exports of services such as banking and insurance.
Manufacturing industry is the main generator of wealth in Britain and the Budget totally ignores that sector of the economy. There is nothing in the budget to encourage exports in order to tackle the trade deficit.
Britain runs a trade deficit with the EU of a billion pounds a week. This is the most urgent problem facing Britain today.
In the long term a deficit of this size is unsustainable because it adds to the National Debt which is already approaching two trillion pounds.
Steve Halden
Letter printed in the Advertiser 18th October 2108 by Steve Halden
Conservative MP Anna Soubry is now saying that leaving the EU is impossible.
She is saying that MPs should apologise for offering a referendum on an issue that was impossible to deliver.
She us wrong. Leaving the EU would be very simple if only our MPs would vote for what the people were asked in the EU referendum.
The referendum result was a vote to leave the EU. We never asked the government to try to negotiate a half in half out compromise.
Steve Halden
Labour's six tests for the Brexit deal. Advertiser 29 Sept Theresa May is negotiating a Brexit deal and Labour have said they will vote against it unless the deal passes the six tests that Labour have set out to judge the deal.
The first test is that the Brexit deal must include exactly the same benefits as we have now.
So using that logic if the deal is better than before Labour would vote against it on the grounds that it is not exactly the same as before.
The only way to get a deal that is exactly the same is to remain in the EU. In other words Labour will vote against any Brexit deal that Theresa May negotiates if it does not include remaining in the EU.
Steve Halden
Catching a Serial Killer. Advertiser 28th September The finest possible achievement of any policeman is to catch a serial killer.
Sometimes such an investigation can involve literally hundreds of policemen. But Superintendent Steve Fulcher did it more or less on his own in less than a week.
In a story that could outdo the wildest TV fiction thriller the true life ITV documentary told how the serial killer was caught.
Not only was the serial killer Christopher Halliwell caught for the murder of Sian O'Callaghan, but he was also eventually convicted for the murder of Becky Godden.
This has got to be one of the most thrilling and spectacular police murder investigations ever told.
It was just very sad that Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher lost his job due to technical problems with the Police and Crimes Evidence Act.
Steve Halden
Steve Halden letter printed in Advertiser 22 September 2018
A British ex-soldier has been given a seven year prison sentence by Turkey for fighting ISIS.
ISIS were one of the most cruel regimes in the world. They were eventually defeated by a coalition of western forces.
It seems that Turkey did not approve. They have given Joe Robinson a seven year prison sentence for helping the Kurds to defeat ISIS.
Steve Halden
Steve Halden letter printed in Advertiser 18th September 2018 British laws illegal say the ECHR
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has once again overruled the British parliament.
The ECHR has made the judgement that the British bulk surveillance powers set up in 2016 are illegal.
Keeping the public safe should always be the number one priority of any British government. Britain is in a constant struggle against terrorist attacks and those bulk interception powers are essential to that fight.
But the ECHR believes that human rights are more important than keeping the country safe.
We voted to leave the EU on 23rd June 2016. That was over two years ago but nothing has changed.
The ECHR is still preventing the British government from doing its job properly.
Steve Halden
Letter by Steve Halden on Plastic Waste published Advertiser 10th September 2018
Everyone agrees that we need to recycle more plastic waste to save the planet and protect the oceans from plastic pollution.
Britain has found that the cheapest way to recycle is to export our plastic waste to third world countries.
It has now been discovered that most of what we exported ended up in land fill abroad.
Britain has tried to avoid building proper recycling plants in Britain as it requires the government getting involved with industrial production which goes against basic Conservative philosophy.
It is British industry that creates wealth in this country. The Conservatives need a total change of philosophy.
Britain needs to be much more supportive of its home grown manufacturing industry.
Steve Halden
Letter from Steve Halden in the Advertiser 3rd Septermber
It seems that Swindon Council are very proud that they sold 73 council houses last year.
The rise in sales was achieved by offering even larger discounts to residents. As Swindon is only allowed to keep a third of the income from these council house sales it is difficult to see how these houses can ever be replaced.
There is no doubt that buying your own council house is a bargain for residents but it creates a problem for future generations.
The young generation are being pushed into the very expensive private rented sector.
House prices are far to high the young cant afford to rent or buy.
Steve Halden
Letter from Steve Halden in the Advertiser 23rd August
In reply to John Stooke (Aug 17) Britain runs a trade deficit with the EU of a billion pounds a week after accounting for services.
Britain runs the worst trade deficit in the developed world because the EU has been bad for trade.
Before we joined the EU we had full employment and cheap houses. Now unemployment is up to 4% and the average house price is nine times the average wage.
EU membership has created a disastrous National Debt in Britain of nearly two trillion pounds.
Britain is in permanent austerity. Because of our EU membership Britain can nolonger afford to properly fund council house building, libraries, public toilets, police, road maintenance, schools and the NHS.
Steve Halden
Letter from Steve Halden in the Advertiser Ist Aug.
GDPR is part of the latest flood of EU regulations to hit the business community. Business and political parties have been knocked sideways by this glut of new EU red tape.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679 is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union (EU).
Britain voted to leave the EU on 23rd June 2016.
For some reason that I dont fully understand Britain is still adopting all the red tape regulations that come gushing out of the EU parliament in Brussels.
Steve Halden
Letter published in the Advertiser 24th July 2018
In reply to Kevin Small 20th July, it is our MPs refusal to implement the EU referendum result that is the problem.
Both Major parties promised to take Britain out of the EU in their 2017 General Election Manifestos.
But once the election was over both major parties decided that they wanted to stay in a Customs Union.
The ruling elite have decided that the working class made a mistake in wanting to take back control of our borders.
They have decided that the free movement of people is the option that the working class should have chosen.
Steve Halden
The EU is trying to destroy YouTube
(Letter published in the Advertiser 13th July 2018)
The European Union is trying to bring in tougher new copywrite laws that could put YouTube out of business.
Copywrite infringements mean that the singers are not getting sufficient money under the existing system say the EU.
The young generation have grown up with YouTube and they would find it a shock if it was suddenly blocked by the EU.
Britain voted to leave the EU on 23rd June 2016 but at the moment we are still following all the laws put out by the EU, so if it was blocked Britain would have to follow that ruling.
Steve Halden
UKIP is the party for the young generation
Martin Wicks (June 15) was right to highlight that the housing affordability crisis is still getting worse in Swindon.
In the private sector the monthly rent for a three bedroom family home is now £850. This has gone up 17% in the last four years.
Recent changes to Housing Benefit regulations have reduced the help that is available to the young generation.
The outlook for the future is quite bleak. High house prices have put buying properties out of reach.
This means that more and more people will find themselves in the private rented sector because so many council houses have to sold off under the Right to Buy legislation.
Steve Halden
Promoted by and on behalf of Steve Halden 10 Beaufort Green, Park North, Swindon SN3 2AE
The housing crisis in Swindon
Martin Wicks made some very good comments in the Swindon Advertiser on 23rd April about how the young generation are struggling to cope with high house prices and rents in Swindon.
He blames the Right To Buy scheme as one of the main reasons for creating the shortage of council houses.
It seems that 8,000 council houses have been sold in Swindon and this has made the housing waiting list very much longer for young people.
There has been a corresponding rise in the number of people using the private rented sector, where prices are high and the tenancies are not secure and usually only six months to a year.
My opinion is that the young generation are the flower of the nation. All young people deserve a decent home to raise their family.
It is in eveyones interest to help the young generation to make a good start in life.
The best possible start we can give them is that they should have a decent place to live.
Steve Halden Beaufort Green, Swindon Published in the Swindon Advertiser 27th April 2018
Single Market restrictions on Business
In reply to John Dennis (14 May) I am afraid his idea of encouraging businesses to move up north into areas where houses are cheap would be illegal under EU Law.
Within the EU Single Market these things must be left to market forces and any interference is classed as state aid and strictly against the rules.
If we want to provide affordable homes for the young generation then we have no option but for local councils to start building council houses.
300,000 council houses will need to be built every year because at the present time there are two million people waiting for a council house and the lists are growing all the time.
If we started building at this speed it would still take about seven years to clear the backlog of people currently on council house the waiting list.
Steve Halden Beaufort Green Swindon Published in the Swindon Advertiser 19th May 2017
