Letters To The Editor

Write to Frome Times, at news@frometimes.co.uk Please include your name, address and a daytime telephone number.

The letters page offers a platform for residents to share their views on a range of topics and to encourage open, respectful debate within the community. The publication of a letter does not mean that the newspaper endorses the opinions expressed.

Change to the voting system is needed

Dear Editor

We have recently had the results of various elections which I hope might matter to many people.  All the assessment of results used the First Past the Post system. The results are supposed to show the will of the people – but a cursory glance shows that they do not.   

The result of this dotty system is that we end up, more often than not, being ruled by a group who do not have support even from the majority of registered voters.  Talk of a Labour landslide in the last General Election is utterly belied by the overall numbers of votes, but allows Starmer and Reeves to think they speak for a majority. Anybody who is paying attention can see that the two – or even the three-party system no longer speaks to most of the population.  It is surely time for serious consideration to look at proportional systems.   

Juliet Solomon

Exceptional man should receive an award

Dear Editor

I write to express my admiration for the gentleman that delivers our copy of the Frome Times, Mr. Chris Hill.   Despite suffering from Parkinson’s, which appears to be quite advanced, he is always cheerful, courteous and pleasant.

Today I saw him litter picking In the Tesco Express area: yet another public-spirited activity, carried out with his customary determination.

The man is exceptional and outstanding. Perhaps he could be nominated for an award. He is so deserving of recognition, much more so, in my opinion, than many other recipients.

Victor Balsdon

In Response to Russia / Ukraine letter

Dear Editor

I have to agree with Dave Clark when he says, “No to War” (Being led by the nose FT 8 May 2025) But after reading the rest of his rant I was not sure whether he was having a joke or a crisis. There are certainly mixed motives in world politics, some open and clear, some clandestine and more than a little murky, but his contention that NATO is in the ascendancy and bent on world domination is straight out of the QAnon conspiracy theory playbook. If you add that conscription is the main element of its personnel recruitment plan, one enters the world of plain crazy.

Mr Clark also appears to be under the impression that a sovereign nation on the borders of Europe applying to join the EU and NATO is sufficient justification for Russia to start and continue a war of extreme brutality. Mr Clark’s implication is that Russia is trying to head-off an invasion of his country by NATO. Even Putin has not claimed this.

And the idea that the United States is going to order, encourage or otherwise inspire NATO to invade Iran, Russia and then China, with a combined population of three billion, is just nuts. Trump maybe irrational and prone to outbursts of applied insanity, but he is no fan of NATO and his increasing isolationism and withdrawal from the role of ‘world policeman’ does not feel like the start of a programme of world domination. 

There seems little doubt that Ukraine has been invaded by Russia in an act of what most would call unprovoked aggression. Of course, provocation is a subjective term and one person’s precaution is another person’s provocation. But Russia has a history of invading its neighbours. It has directly invaded or intervened militarily in six former Soviet states: Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Moldova, and the breakaway republics of Transnistria and South Ossetia, and of course Russia invaded the Crimea 11 years ago. Sometimes world events are exactly what they seem and the Russian invasion of Ukraine is clearly one of them. 

Richard Paul-Jones, Frome

Dear Editor

In the week we celebrated VE Day we should remember the role the USSR played in the defeat of Germany. The ‘western’ Allies did not ‘win’ the Second World War alone. But before the victory of 1945 we should not forget earlier events in the history of the USSR / Russia.

Ukraine experienced a famine [1930 – 1933] that killed just under three million. Some argue that it was deliberately engineered by Joseph Stalin to eliminate a Ukrainian independence movement. The Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 [jointly with Nazi Germany] was a military conflict without a formal declaration of war. As was, in 2014, the invasion of Crimea, a part of Ukraine following the dissolution of the USSR and again in 2022 with the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine itself were all committed without formal declarations of war. At least Crimea was not described as a ‘special military operation.’

Poland today [and much of Eastern Europe] does not recognise VE day as it suffered an occupation by the USSR until 1990 when Lech Walesa became President of the Polish Republic freed from the shackles of Moscow.

In all of the above events the USSR / Russia was the aggressor.

It is true that the West did not treat Gorbachev well and ridiculed perestroika, an opportunity lost, but it led the emergence of another dictator, in Putin, to follow in the footsteps of Stalin.

The peoples of Russia are not our enemies, nor are the Chinese, the French, the Germans. Our enemies are dictatorial governments of any nationality which undermine the rule of law wherever they may be.

Chris Wildridge , Frome

Dear Editor

I do not agree in any way with letter purporting to offer clarity on Ukraine headed “being led by the nose” It does nothing of the sort, it merely appeases Russia the violent invader.

Ukraine is a democratic sovereign country invaded in 2014 and more widely in 2022 in a fictional “special military operation” that is of course a full-scale war.

Russia will not stop until it is either forced to do so economically/militarily, or achieves its aims which will not stop there. Other near neighbours and former satellites of the USSR which were gained by its land grabs, that are now Sovereign countries, are now and will be even more so under the same threat, if Russia gets its way in Ukraine. China and others would also be emboldened to do the same as Russia.

Previous appeasement of dictatorial invaders who murder opponents and shut down democracy and free media, has surely taught us the consequences of doing so, particularly so on the 80th anniversary of VE Day.

Ian Jones, Frome

Dear Editor

I love the Frome Times and consider myself a pacifist, someone who deeply believes in the urgent need to end war. However, I was disgusted and appalled to see Dave Clark’s letter published during the same week as VE Day – particularly for any Ukrainians in our town who may have read it. I feel compelled to speak up and say: not everyone in Frome shares that view.

While I respect freedom of expression and welcome open dialogue, many of the claims made in that letter are not only misleading but dangerous. Ukraine is not the aggressor – it is a sovereign nation defending itself from an unprovoked and brutal invasion.

Countries like Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, and Romania did not join NATO because of pressure or threat. They joined because of the existential fear they felt after seeing what Russia did in Chechnya and Georgia. NATO and the G8 made every effort to work with Russia – right up until the 2014 annexation of Crimea made that impossible.

It’s also important we understand the role modern disinformation plays. Social media has become one of the most powerful propaganda tools in history. Some estimates suggest that one in five posts online about the war in Ukraine may be part of a coordinated Russian disinformation campaign. These narratives are often designed to sound reasonable, but they distort reality and sow confusion. We must be careful not to repeat them.

Regarding the military-industrial complex, while Eisenhower’s warning was valid at the time, today the military-industrial complex is dwarfed by the massive influence of American social media corporations. Their profit-driven models thrive on division, misinformation, and the promotion of conflict. The profits generated by online division now exceed those of the military-industrial complex by factors of ten. This new battlefield of misinformation plays a huge role in distorting our understanding of events, and it’s crucial we recognise this shift.

I feel lucky to have had a history teacher who taught me the difference between primary and secondary sources. This war is different. We can now live stream the frontlines and hear directly from people affected. Facts matter – and so does how we share them.

My grandfather fought in World War II, and his best friends died in that fight. They didn’t want to kill – but they knew they had to protect their loved ones from fascism. Ukrainians today are doing the same. A quarter of their country is under siege. They’re not just defending themselves; they’re holding the line for all of Europe.

I want to sincerely apologise to every Ukrainian living in Frome who read that letter. You deserve truth, compassion, and solidarity – not excuses for the bombs falling on your homes.

To suggest that NATO expansion somehow justifies Russia’s aggression is not only factually wrong – it is morally indefensible. If 25% of the UK were under attack, we would expect action, not rationalisation on behalf of the attackers.

The Ukrainian army is showing extraordinary courage. They deserve our support in every way we can offer it.

Appeasement is not peace. Repeating disinformation helps no one – it only fuels injustice. We must do better, for the sake of truth, for those under fire, and for our own conscience.

John Scott, Frome

Confusing new bus timetables

Dear Editor

I don’t know how many people are confused with the new D2&D2X bus timetables. Following comments on it, I went onto the internet to check. The FirstBus shows a very basic timetable listing only main bus stops but, when I went on Bustimes.org theirs was a much more detailed layout.

I’d also been made aware of comments from Peter Travis of Frome and Villages Bus Group (FAVBUG) that he was delighted “that D2 once again connects Stonebridge with Sainsbury’s and Critchill with Frome Medical Practice”, unfortunately that does not appear to be quite true according to Bus times.org, the nearest stop  for the D2 to the Medical Practice would be Windsor Crescent or the D2X to Northstead (being the nearest) which would entail changing buses in the Market Place with a 20min wait!

I was also told that the D2X changed to D2 on occasions when it got to Sainsbury’s; is this somehow connected to the two times there is a two-hour gap on each service – now even I’m getting confused!!

I will say I have not travelled on any of them since the new times came in, so I am only going by what I’ve been told and seen on the website.

Ruth Wilkins, Frome