As usual we have the Stroud M.P. talking about something that sounds good but has zero impact on 99% of the population or even the minority of the electorate who voted for her. When did we ever see her writing about the obscenity of food banks in such a wealthy country? When did we see her explaining the appalling state of the roads? When did we see her explaining that the current state of the N.H.S. is as a result of underfunding by her colleagues over the last 13 years?

What we get is the latest distraction wheeze from the clowns in her government, to ban nitrous oxide, not because it causes major numbers of deaths or that they care about our health, but because the canisters litter local parks. At the same time we have the puppet P.M. saying there will be "zero tolerance to drugs". According to recent figures, in the last 20 years, there have been 56 deaths related to the use of nitrous oxide.

To put this into perspective, there were 8,974 alcohol specific deaths in the U.K. in 2020 alone. 552 people died from alcohol poisoning in the U.K. in 2020. There were 220 fatal drink driving incidents/crashes in 2020. 35% of all A&E attendances in England are alcohol related. Approximately 85,000 people are convicted of drink driving related offences every year in England and Wales alone. It is a proven fact that alcohol is a drug, but according to Rishi Sunak, his government has a zero tolerance to drugs. The cost to the U.K economy of all the damage and death cause solely by the use of alcohol is incalculable, but a few silver canisters in a park is the priority. Siobhan Baillie starts her column by saying, the anti-social crackdown has proven popular with the public. How does she come to that conclusion I wonder? It seems highly likely to me that graffiti, rowdy and noisy behaviour and vandalism have an alcohol content in the causes for them but if that was proven it seems it would just be brushed under the carpet. Supermarkets, off licences, pubs and clubs are all drug dealers but who cares? If there really was zero tolerance to alcohol the government would be afraid of being called "a nanny state" but in view of all the above stat's we seem to need a nanny very badly.

As a footnote, around 76.000 people die in the U.K. as a result of smoking but it's those pesky little canisters that need to be sorted out.

Howard Price.

Nailsworth