LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Airport potential not been fully explored

Now a closer matter, Clive Phillips’ assertions. For a person with such forthright opinions on the Green Party it is surprising how little he knows of us.

He describes us as a loathsome political party seeking power at any cost. What we are is a small organisation of people with an interest and accurate belief in environmental stability, the regulation of capitalism, democratic rule by the people, and an end to violence as a means of rule. Because of these beliefs we are usually classed as left wing.

There are organisations with similar aims and ambitions in a number of developed countries, also calling themselves Green Parties, but despite our similarities, and the occasions that we do sometimes support each other at international functions, we are entirely separate. Indeed some of them are more akin to the  Greenpeace organisation than ours.

For a committed opponent of environmental action and a total supporter of the world dominating and destructive fossil fuel lobby his description of us is hilarious in the extreme. Incidentally, apart from revealing the untruths in his ridiculous assertions a few weeks ago about  Brighton and Hove, I have not called him a liar. What I have previously said was that the accuracy of any “facts” from him should be treated with suspicion unless the source of his information was known and checked. It was Comrade Phillips who stated in his reply that he would not reveal his sources as the checking of them would show him to be lying; in short he accused himself.

As to the rest of his letter, a warning about his description of Monkeypox. This disease, thankfully rare so far, is endemic to West Africa, is another of the growing list of diseases that can be caught from animals (not necessarily monkeys), has been around since the early eighties, long before Covid, and is a distant relative of Smallpox, though usually far milder, however death can occur in some extreme cases. His description of it as a shingles like side effect of the Covid vaccination is inaccurate and dangerous. Anyone wanting to know the truth about the disease should either research it on the internet, or contact their doctor, or the NHS.

Charles David Foulstone, Rotherham Green Party