Dear Editor, My poor mother passed away in December 2019, and was laid to rest with my late father at Charlton cemetery in January 2020. To date their grave has not been flattened and remains an eyesore. We have communicated with Test Valley Council, through emails and phone calls. We have had several promises that this would be sorted to no avail. The excuses range through Covid, weather, supply of turf – none of which are believable as newer graves have been flattened. It isn’t as though no one has been working up there as unfortunately burials have continued. My sister has tried to contact local councillors to no avail.
ACROSS the country, thousands of children and young people are subjected to horrific exploitation and abuse every year. They are groomed by predators with offers of friendship, gifts, cash and status then coerced using terrifying threats and violence into crimes like trafficking drugs in ‘county lines’ operations. Children are also exploited for sex and some are forced to work in premises like car washes and nail bars. In the South East in 2019/20, gangs were identified as a risk 1,860 times in assessments of children referred to social services, while trafficking was deemed to be a factor on 340 occasions, both indicators of child criminal exploitation.
This week s Bromsgrove and Droitwich Standard letters droitwichstandard.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from droitwichstandard.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Are you registered to vote?.
It s time to bring back civics lessons One of the most depressing things for me about last week s local elections was the incredibly poor turnout yet again. The public doesn t really take much interest in local government unless it affects them personally. A lot of people don t even know or care what councils are responsible for or what councillors do and this needs to change. I don t know if civics is taught in schools these days but if it isn t it should be. Everyone should learn how they are governed and by whom. And I m very much in favour of the kind of voting system used in Australia where if you don t vote you need to provide an acceptable reason.