AMELIA Washbourne (Just the start, Letters, June 3) is the second at-least-emailing acquaintance to take their cue from my having a letter published in Hereford Times.
And she responds so illuminatingly to the content of my letter about the urgent need for community centres in Newton Farm (May 27) that I would refer Mr H Hurcomb (‘Chastened’) to the content of my ‘Urgent need’ letter and Amelia’s forum extender.
Mr Hurcomb implies that I’m an outside agitator just passing through and meddling in what should not concern me.
My bus-passenger perceptions of Newton Farm ward were augmented by my having walked through indices of multiple deprivation parts of that ward before making contact with Amelia via a mutual friend.
Amelia raises important questions through deep insight. What about, say, the fall in living space between houses built decades ago and modern standards?
The Hereford Times online publication of my letter at https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/19333356.saddened-ann-marie-proberts-victory-herefords-newton-farm-ward/ has generated at least 19 comments, mainly negative, perhaps partly because of the heading and online comments culture.
In 2011 social workers’ magazine Community Care went entirely online before deleting service-user-experience type web content.
Online deletions or ‘page rot’ include comment pieces by community social worker Bob Holman.
His 2008 ‘Poor must speak to Gordon [Brown as PM]’ was about what I’d call the ‘apartheid of wealth state we’re in’ that has worsened with post-2010 changes.
He observed: "The affluent elite tell the government about poverty. Those who endure it are shoved aside."
Having lived in poverty, I'm not an 'outside agitator' but a life-annointed rapporteur on poverty.
Long may the Hereford Times, with readers' support, keep informed discussion alive.
While some online commenters clearly do not like what Amelia and I have to say, I am reminded of EF ‘Fritz’ Schumacher’s observation that “a crank is a small element in a machine that makes revolutions.”
Alan Wheatley Hereford
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