Watchman I can just about remember the first Remembrance Day event I was ever involved in decades ago in Glossop. I was walking in a parade to a service in Norfolk Square brim- ming with pride as a seven-year- old cub. I felt the surge of pride more than 70 plus years later when I joined the crowds on the Square on Sunday. It was pride in seeing hundreds of other people from across the town gathering in a united act of thanksgiving for the brave Glossopians who fought and gave their all defending our country’s freedom. It was an emotional coming to- gether of people who all wanted to pay their respects and say thanks. We all came from different walks of life, most of us hardly knew each other. But for an hour or so, we seemed as one. Comment That is why next year, whatever the weather has in store for us, I hope to be back in Norfolk Square for another Remembrance Sunday, attending with great gratitude. It was no doubt the same in other towns all across the High Peak and Tameside - all over the country in fact. It has been a time of great Re- membrance across Tameside and Glossop, and once again commu- nities have been out in force to pay their respects to the fallen. With war never far from the headlines at present in Ukraine and the Middle East, Remem- brance continues to resonate with everyone, young and old. But it is especially rewarding to see so many young people attending to mark the occasion and learn about the past too and the importance of Remembrance. After a time for remembering, a time for giving will soon be with us. Your Tameside Reporter and Tameside Radio are proud once more to partner with Action Together to help and promote this year’s Toy Appeal. Each year, local charity Action Together facilitates the annual Tameside Toy Appeal and this year it’s back to support the fami- lies in need across Tameside. The appeal has now been running for numerous years with the aim of providing children and young people living in poverty with at least one gift this festive season. As a cost of living crisis contin- ues, it can be difficult for everyone to find that little bit extra, but the incredible generosity of everyone across Tameside never fails to shine through, with the appeal always proving to be a success. The appeal officially launches this week, so keep an eye on our website and tune into Tameside Radio 103.6FM to find out ways of how you can help make a real difference this Christmas - and for full details of how you can be a part of it visit https://www.action- together.org.uk/tameside-toy-ap- peal-2023 22 LETTERS
November 16, 2023
A time for tolerance and moderation We are deeply concerned about the situation in Israel and Gaza. At the start of October, 1400 Israelis were killed, and around 240 are being held hostage. According to UN OCHA, in the last month over 10,000 Palestinians have been killed, and many more have been displaced. Over 100 UN staff members and over 40 journalists have been killed. Large parts of Gaza have been destroyed and left without adequate water, sanitation and health care. The UN have consistently called for all parties to respect international law amidst concerns that war crimes are being committed, and for the release of hostages. The UN has also called for an im- mediate ceasefire, which is backed by 75 per cent of the British public. We support all these calls. Violence and oppression is not limited to Gaza. Israel continues to oc- cupy the West Bank in direct violation of international law. Thousands of Palestinians, including 150 children, remain detained without charge or access to legal representation in Israel. Violence by Israel and settlers towards Palestinians is now spreading in the West Bank, where they already have a long history of displacing Pal- estinians from their land and destroy- ing their property. We are also concerned about the ef- fect that the conflict is having on com - munities in the UK, including in High Peak, and the rise in both anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim racism. We are concerned that some politicians are using the conflict to delegitimise those who are calling for peace, amongst whom are Israelis and Jews in many countries. In particular, in High Peak we are deeply concerned about the inflamma - tory language used by the Conserva- tive MP for High Peak Robert Largan. We reject his characterisation of peace demonstrations as being pro-Ha- mas. We reject his incendiary language that characterises Palestinians as less deserving of protection than Israelis. We are deeply concerned by the manner in which Mr Largan’s com- ments might encourage racism in our communities. On behalf of all our members, and – we believe – the majority of people who live in High Peak, we ask that Mr Largan moderates his language and avoids the deliberate mischaracteri- sation of those calling for an end to violence. JOANNA COLLINS, High Peak Green Party ROD HOLT, High Peak Stand Up to Racism LINDA WALKER, High Peak Green New Deal JOY HALLSWORTH, Glossop Peace Group GWYNETH FRANCIS, High Peak Unite Community DEREK CLARKE, Glossop Labour Club. The right to protest What a marvellous sight it was to
Crackdown on offenders It was good to see the action taken by our police officers in Tameside last week with some serious crimi- nals who bring misery to our streets arrested and hopefully removed from our communities for a long time. We also had action targeting traffic offences. Most of us see it every day now on our roads with reckless driving and not just with high speeds. We still have lads on motorbikes with their faces fully covered riding wherever they want to, including on the pavement putting others at risk. The technology we now have needs to be used to help get them arrested and the bikes confiscated or returned to the original owners, as my guess is they will be stolen bikes. What we do know is every time our police engage in a huge effort, it always results in lots of prosecutions or fixed penalties being issued. If you’re a law abiding driver you will know just how much your insurance is going up each year and how we all have to pay extra to pay for the uninsured drivers who can be taken off the road when we put police officers on those roads checking vehicles. CLLR JOHN TAYLOR, Dukinfield. We are what we consume It is very unusual for medical experts to all agree on things. However they are all in unison about the dangers of ultra processed food. Every person reading this including medical people will eat plenty of pro- cessed food. The problem is that lots of people will eat far too much. It is the major cause of obesity, cer- tain cancers, diabetes, heart issues etc. The people who are aware of it primarily think of fast food and this of course is the epitome of ultra pro- cessed food. However, many other foods like yoghurt, cheese and ice cream etc... are preservative foods A real clue is when foods can be bought dated several months ahead. Lots of children in our country eat ultra processed foods Very few doctors ever give in depth advice about processed food dangers so the public tend to be unaware of the danger to our health. The challenge to the NHS is to ed- ucate the public more about processed food. The irony is when people go into hospital they usually are given processed food to eat. Ultra processed food tends to be quick to make, and is relatively cheap. Of course lots of people will ignore medical advice on ultra processed food. However at least people should be educated on the dangers of it so they can make an informed decision. Ultra processed food is especially prevalent in our country where people have gradually become addicted to it. The trend must be reversed in some way, to alleviate more health problems in the future. HARRY SINGLETON, Ashton.
see hundreds of thousands marching peacefully in London on Armistice Day calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. What a testament it was to our vital right to protest. What irony that the only trouble causers at the Cenotaph were far right agitators no doubt spurred on by the appalling incitement by the Home Secretary, who even No 10 would not support, but who was slavishly echoed by our virtue signalling local MP, Robert Largan. What a shame he chose to follow her misrepresentations rather than the sound approach followed by the Metropolitan Police. Perhaps it shouldn’t just be Suella who is given the sack. DAVID PURCHASE, Buxton. Call me a Corbynista Why should anyone support the cur- rent government of Israel, Mr O’ Day Scott? This is a country which not only spitefully allegedly bombs hospitals, Palestinian Christian churches and murders thousands of children and seriously threatens world peace ,but could very well launch a nuclear attack against Europe if it goes under. Everything that happened on Octo- ber 7 has already happened to Palestin- ians at the hand of Israel. A pogrom in Beirut that involved Palestinian men women and children being tortured, raped and burned alive. 4000 death toll. 1982 - a long time ago, but that’s totally irrelevant. I respectfully suggest that Mr O’ Day Scott must think readers are as thick as the wall of China if they are going to swallow his one-sided history lessons. Mr O Day Scott thinks Corbynista is an insult. I’d sooner be called that than be a supporter of dangerous self-serv- ing narcissists such as Braverman, Trump, Johnson and Netanyahu, like Mr O Day Scott. DENTON READER, Name and address supplied. Fault lies with Hamas Anonymous from Denton objects to my use of the term Islamo-fascism to describe Islamist terror groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda and Daesh (Islamic State). (Reporter, 9 November.) For Anon these medieval forces aren’t the enemies of peace, it is Israeli prime minister Benjamin Ne- tanyahu and Donald Trump! More- over Anon regards Israel, the sole democracy in the entire Middle East as a threat to the entire world. This deranged thinking is typical of ‘anti-Zionists’. Here Anon conveniently overlooks the real threats to world peace, Rus- sia, China, North Korea and Iran, the real axis of hate. Anon sarcastically asks if I’ve ever heard of Adolf Hitler while failing to mention the Nazi Holocaust and mass murder of six million, mostly Jews. Perhaps Anon regards this as a mere historical detail. Anyone who has read my recent letters on the Hamas-Israel war since Hamas psychopaths launched their
unprovoked massacre of 1300 Israeli men, women, children and even babies on 7th October will know I’ve made a number of references to notorious Nazi collaborator Moham- med Amin al-Husseini, a man who fled Palestine to Nazi Germany in the 1930s, befriended Hitler and other senior Nazis and then appointed lead- er of the Bosnian Muslim Waffen SS who slaughtered tens if not hundreds of thousands of Christians in the Balkans. With Hitler facing defeat in 1945, al-Husseini fled to Egypt where he was greeted as a “hero” by Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. Another admirer of ‘hero’ al-Hus- seini was Muslim Brotherhood ideologue Sayyid Qutb. These three men - al-Husseini, al-Banna and Qutb - are the founding fathers of modern Islamism and Jew hatred and here is where the crucial links between Islamism, fascism and Nazism came to be forged. Al-Husseini, al-Banna and Qutb were hugely admired by Al Qae- da founders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, Daesh founders Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, terrorists responsible for many thousands of deaths since the 1990s. Remarkably, the violent Islamist doctrine these individuals advocated would have been recognised by the 7th century Arabian Kharijite sect, the very first Islamic sect to wage violent jihad against ‘infidel’ non-believers and Kafir (non-complaint) Muslims. The truth is hatred of ‘infidels’ and es - pecially Jews has a very long history in Islam. Now, Anonymous may not like these historical facts showing how Islamo-fascism came to be the force it is today, but the real facts are what they are. Finall,y while Anonymous may be relishing seeing tens of thousands of pro-Palestinians, Islamists and liberal and hard-left ‘anti-Zionists’ march- ing on the streets of Britain in recent weeks, many hundreds of thousands of Brits now see with absolute clarity the failure of multiculturalism, the liberal-left doctrine that since the 1970s has encouraged immigrants and their off-spring to segregate them- selves within enclaves where English is rarely spoken. It is here that grievances against ‘infidels’ fester, leading to huge societal divisions and the lawlessness we are witnessing on streets today with protesters calling for “jihad” (holy war against non-Muslims) and the violent “intifada from London to Gaza”. Against this background it is only a matter of time before the far-right elements also take to the streets, creating the seeds for a potential civil war. We are living in very dangerous times. And who is responsible? Not Netanyahu or Trump as Anon foolish- ly claims. It is Iran and its Islamo-fascist puppets in Gaza, for had Hamas not launched the worst massacre of Jews since the Nazi Holocaust on 7th Octo- ber, none of this would be happening, there would be no war and families in Gaza and Israel would be living in relative peace and not fleeing their homes. ALAN O’DAY SCOTT, Stalybridge.
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