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Latest edition

Sir, It is as hilarious as it is depressing to see so many column inches of your newspaper devoted to the utter trivia of the local area, rather than to serious considerations that affect wider society. The latest edition is a heady brew of tranny anguish and climate-change headbangers, intent on inflicting their own peculiar brands of authoritarian collectivism on wider society. The Equality Party persist in their mistaken belief that society must be forced to allow men in dresses into women-only spaces. Cllr Wesley claims “Trans people are not asking for special treatment.” This is untrue. Tranny men are requesting the force of UK law to help them enter women’s changing and toilet spaces. Very special treatment indeed. It is quite obvious what many of these men in frocks want: the chance to live out their twisted fantasies or worse. I was shocked that, for once, our UK Supreme Court saw sense and acknowledged the potential harm to women. We can only hope ...
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Small Business of the Month Award

Dear Editor, Sarah Russell MP’s saccharine Facebook reel extolling her “Small Business of the Month Award” represents the apogee of political disingenuity. In it, she professes to champion independent enterprises that “keep our towns vibrant, create jobs, and bring our community together.” One might reasonably ask: if this government truly esteems such businesses, why has it systematically rendered the commercial milieu far more onerous and punitive since assuming office? This is performative theatre at its most egregious. Labour’s fiscal onslaught — elevating employers’ National Insurance Contributions to 15% while eviscerating the threshold to a mere £5,000 — constitutes a brazen levy on employment itself. Hundreds of thousands of smaller firms have borne the brunt, their ledgers strained by this stealth tax on jobs. Compounded by successive National Living Wage escalations, proliferating regulatory encumbrances, the inexorable creep of Making Tax Digital mandates, a...
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Sewers

Dear Editor, I read with interest your recent front-page report on the sinkhole and raw sewage spill on Sandbach Road North in Alsager ("Sinkhole causing a stink on main road"). Residents like John Grint having to keep windows closed in hot weather, tankers queuing day and night, children walking past the mess on their way to school, and the failure to get timely answers from the authorities paint a depressing picture of everyday life in our town. While United Utilities has now issued its standard statement of apology and repair, this incident should prompt wider reflection. Predictably, the quality of local infrastructure in Alsager (and many similar areas) continues to suffer. What looks on the surface like a one-off “collapsed sewer” is in reality the visible symptom of deeper, longer-term problems created by a complex chain of policy decisions at national level. The Labour government’s approach – including aggressively pushing up the minimum wage, imposing b...
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Public Buildings

Dear Editor, I was contacted by your Alsager Reporter , Mel,  earlier this week regarding the cost and usage of our publicly owned buildings. Right now, maintaining state-owned buildings is costing the nation tens of billions a year. With our national debt expanding at an unprecedented peacetime rate, we’ve clearly passed the point where current tax revenues can cover the bill. Our brilliant collective solution? Just pass the buck to our children and grandchildren.  Alsager is also possibly suffering from a case of "Underutilised Public Building Syndrome." We have four of them within half a mile of Bank Corner alone, not to mention the Collerick  Pavilion and the Leisure Centre in Alsager West. If Andy Burnham’s desire for greater devolution gains traction, Cheshire East Council will almost certainly try to pass all building running costs over to Alsager Town Council so that—hey presto!—your Town Council precept could go up again.  It’s the classic "Bread and Ci...
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Sir,I would like to suggest that Andy Burnham’s emphatic win in Makerfield is not such an emphatic win for Congleton Constituency. It is quite apparent from media reports that Burnham has been taking counsel from a certain Ed Miliband on matters ranging from the environment to economics. It seems the payment for this help will now be a continued senior role for Miliband. Why should Congleton care? Because one of Miliband’s pet projects is carbon capture and storage (CCS) — an utter waste of taxpayers’ money. While the UK pours billions into fantasy technology, global coal usage hit record highs in recent years, with demand reaching all-time peaks in 2024 and 2025. The world is burning more coal than ever, yet we are expected to subsidise expensive pipelines across our countryside in the vain hope of capturing a fraction of emissions. This is not serious energy policy; it is green virtue-signalling at enormous cost.In the meantime, it will ...
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LGBTQ

Dear Sir, I am writing regarding Councillor Richard Walton’s recent letter to your newspaper, regarding LGBTQ matters. While he wonders why people "repeatedly return to this theme," the answer is simple: the debate persists because gender identity policies have real-world consequences for women and children that cannot just be brushed aside. This isn't about intolerance; it's about safety and blind ignorance to facts. Questioning the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for young people isn't "unkind." Major medical reviews are now urging extreme caution regarding the long-term, irreversible impacts of hormone therapy and surgery on health and fertility. Biological differences in strength, lung capacity, and bone density don't disappear with hormone suppression. Allowing male-born athletes into female categories...
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Civic

  Dear Editor, During recent canvassing in Alsager Central for Reform UK candidate Dave Mahoney, many residents I spoke to raised concerns about the high – and still rising – level of Council Tax in the town. While I congratulate Phil Williams of the Liberal Democrats on his election victory, these doorstep conversations highlighted a broader issue: the pressure of ever-increasing taxes on households that can often ill afford them. One clear example is the continuing programme of ticketed events at Alsager Civic. From indoor boot sales to tribute bands, the venue offers a wide range of entertainments. Yet, to my understanding, the Civic has run at a loss for years. Taxpayers are effectively subsidising these activities, deepening the financial hole. Is it really appropriate for the council to operate an entertainments venue that competes directly with private sector businesses – using funds extracted from local residents by compulsion? ...
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