This is what you have been writing to us about this week.

To send your own letter, email bfpletters@london.newsquest.co.uk.

Please note, any letters sent to the Bucks Free Press office are only being picked up periodically as all staff are still working from home.

LETTER OF THE WEEK: Restaurant's excellent Christmas service

I wanted to write a big thank to the staff and manager at Marlow Bar and Grill. 

Just a few days out from Christmas, Marlow went into a strict lockdown due to Covid, which made it impossible for my mum to safely spend Christmas with family.

My mum, soon to turn 80, was stuck spending Christmas Day on her own. Having been doing all her shopping for her online from Western Australia since about April, I knew at this late stage she didn’t have and couldn’t get a proper Christmas turkey lunch. 

After ringing around and lots of online searching I was very happy and grateful to find that Marlow Bar and Grill had an online order which included a Christmas meal. 

However, Bart and Marlow Bar and Grill went above and beyond. 

I contacted them via email, as I wasn’t after a hot online food order, but a pre-pared, ready to heat meal delivered Christmas Eve for my mum to have Christmas Day. 

Not only were they gracious enough to hear my request and provide a solution but they even delivered it with a Christmas Cracker and lots of Christmas cheer.

Thank you to Bart and his staff for making Christmas just that little bit more bearable during these difficult time. 

Thank you for caring and I hope to thank you in person in 2021, should travel allow.

Name and address withheld

Whose side is Steve Baker on?

Steve Baker (an ex-Minister) states that the Government should “stop fear” and that the “fearful are already terrified”.

So terrified in fact that so many continue to go out and about, continue to break the rules and continue to spread the virus.

Whose side is he on?

John E Thornton, Marlow

Pastor had a right to express his views

Long-term readers of the Bucks Free Press will know that I have little time for what I consider to be the primitive and bigoted views of Peter Simpson, Pastor of the Penn Free Methodist Church. 

He and I have several times crossed swords in your columns.

However, I now find myself in the odd position of defending Mr Simpson’s right to express his views, after his reported treatment in High Wycombe in December.

Apparently, two of Buckinghamshire Council’s street wardens considered that Mr Simpson was expressing hate crime sentiments and called the police. 

Thankfully, no charges were levelled but the action of these ‘authorities’ clearly presents a danger to freedom of expression.

As I say, I find Mr Simpson’s views abhorrent but the way to deal with him is to engage in debate and refute his arguments. 

If we just start silencing people whose views we dislike, where will it end?

James Cadle, Holmer Green

Thank you to good Samaritans

Late last Wednesday evening, I left Amersham Hospital having just had eye injections, so a bit bleary and found, due to railway works, the road and bus stops were no longer in use.

I walked to the town in the rain where I asked a young couple if they knew where the stops to Wycombe were.

They stopped and said would I like a lift home, and they also offered to take me shopping at Tesco.

I said, ‘you are kind, but I will be happy just to go home for a cup of tea’.

A sat nav was soon set and in no time, I was back and thanked them both.

The girl had long, fair hair and the boy had dark hair and smiling eyes.

Whoever you are, thank you so much for your kindness to a very with-it 81-year-old.

Elizabeth Porter, High Wycombe

‘Could farmers stop ploughing walking paths?’

In last week’s BFP, you published a letter from CLA South East which was critical of walkers damaging crops as footpaths become wider from heavier lockdown footfall.

May I suggest that this would not happen if farmers were to stop ploughing footpaths that cross their land.

In some cases a token tractor might be driven over the ploughed footpaths but in many it is simply left ploughed for walkers to recreate the footpath every year by struggling over the mud until a path is re-established.

If only farmers would leave a two metre wide grassed path across their land, I am sure walkers would keep to it and not trample their crops.

Richard Clark, Lane End

‘My response to jail term letter’

Roy Craig repeated his demand to know why James Lavine, the drug driver, didn’t get the maximum sentence of 14 years (BFP, January 16).

One reason could be because Lavine pleaded guilty, as BFP reported on July 16, 2020.

Defendants who plead guilty - thereby sparing the witnesses and public the ordeal and expense of a trial - are entitled by law to a reduction in their sentence of up to a third.

Please see the book ‘The Secret Barrister - Stories of the law and how it’s broken’, page 305.

Phil Jones, Bourne End

Good vaccination experience

We received our Covid-19 vaccination on the morning of Thursday, January 14 at Adams Park. 

Everyone involved in this, from car parking, outside stewards and volunteers, guiding us to where we needed to be, greeted us with cheerful cordiality, ensuring we were okay.

The whole thing went very smoothly and was very well organised. 

Thank you to all.

Jane Wentworth, address withheld

‘Discrimination in job industry’

My name is Edward. I have tried to get a part-time job, but the job industry discriminates against people with learning disabilities. 

I am 30-years-old and I have been unemployed for a long time. I can only do 16 hours a week. 

I would like to have a job, and I don’t want to be on benefits all my life.
Job Centres should change to help people find jobs. All they do now is tell you to look on websites and apply on-line. 

I can’t do that without help, and even then employers have complicated on-line application forms which are difficult to use.

Employers should take on people with learning disabilities, using just a written or printed CV and interview.

I think employers should organise their work to provide opportunities for people with disabilities.

The government needs to recognise that just giving benefits to people with learning disabilities is not the best answer. Going out to work is important for me.

Training is good, but only if there are employers who want to take on people with learning disabilities.

I live in Chesham but I have a car and could work anywhere reasonably close.

Eddie Bramwell, Chesham

Flooding problem made worse 

Regarding the letter about blocked drains - the problem is in Prestwood, especially Chequers Lane which floods every time there is heavy rain.

My great grandparents lived along there and had a large duck pond, also opposite in the allotment was another large pond.

When housing was built on the duck pond, the flooding commenced so I guess no-one thought of draining into the allotment across the road. 

Again, other flooding in Prestwood is all caused by building on or near large ponds without any drainage.

Cherie Belcher, address withheld

‘Denied my vote’ court dates

Delayed by coronavirus, the court hearing to confirm the unlawfulness of the #DeniedMyVote scandal is now set for January 26 and 27. 

Later, on February 23 and 24, the3million.org.uk and the Open Rights Group will be in court to appeal their challenge to the “immigration exemption” in the Data Protection Act 2018.

Some people from the rest of Europe in the UK were turned away from polling stations in the 2019 European Parliament election because of “admin failures”.

Meanwhile, the “immigration exemption” means that those seeking access to personal data for immigration purposes could be denied if it would “prejudice effective immigration control”.

Nicolas Hatton, of the 3million, has raised £20,925 of the £20,000 target for the data protection case with 37 days to go. 

This funding has come from private individuals.

Phil Jones, Bourne End, member of European Movement UK

‘Don’t tax the creation of jobs’

National Insurance Employers Contribution is a tax on job creation and a tax on pay increases.

This is something that has been used to control wage growth in the United Kingdom and is a contributory factor to the low pay culture that we have in our country.

There is no reason in taxing the creation of jobs when we need jobs to reduce the cost of unemployment across the country.

There is no rational logic for maintaining this old fashioned and counterproductive tax.

Exempting businesses with 10,000 or fewer employees from Employer’s National Insurance would reduce the burdens placed upon small and medium sized businesses completely.

It would also reduce the cost of maintaining those quality wage paying jobs that employ people in the automotive industry and in the steel industry, to name but two.

The government needs tax revenue but it also needs lower unemployment and if unemployment is best reduced through reducing the cost of employing additional workers, then the logical conclusion is to reduce government imposed costs.

We will need every job we can create to help repay the Covid-19 borrowing.

Oliver Healey, address withheld

Cycling challenge to keep fit

We’ve all felt the strain of 2020 and with restrictions in place across England it’s important that looking after our physical and mental health remains a priority in 2021.

That’s why I’m encouraging people stay active throughout the winter months and improve their heart health by taking on the British Heart Foundation’s (BHF) 30-day virtual cycling challenge, MyCycle.

The BHF found that signing up to a challenge has helped a quarter of people get fitter in the past.

Completing an exercise challenge, like MyCycle, can also have a positive effect on your mental health as it helps to increase your level of endorphins, which are a natural mood booster. 

This, combined with the knowledge that the miles you’re covering are helping to raise vital funds for the BHF’s life saving research, is sure to help put you in a good mood. 

The coronavirus crisis hit charities especially hard last year. 

The BHF anticipate they will have to cut funding for new research by £50 million this year which will put potential life saving discoveries at risk.
That’s why I’m taking on MyCycle this January.

So, join me and start pedalling to up the miles and get sponsored to help raise vital funds for life saving research into heart and circulatory diseases. 

For more information visit www.bhf.org.uk/mycycle.

Aimee Fuller, British Olympic snowboarder and cycling enthusiast