Plea for tolerance

How happy I was to read James Gray's letter (SA, December 23). I totally concur with everything that he writes.

Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus and all the things that we feel so important to do this, the over the top consumerism in expensive decorations and excess in food and drink has nothing at all to do with it.

This does not mean that I am impervious to all the above I love seeing all the beautiful lights and enjoy the food but each year it seems that we get further and further away from the meaning of what we are celebrating.

I also agree with Mr Gray's comments about Mr Johnson and the Government.

It seems that whatever they decide to do it is wrong in so many peoples' opinion.

I think that they forget that the situation regarding the Covid pandemic has never happened before and in hindsight maybe some things might have been handled differently.

Let us put ourselves in the government's shoes and consider whether we would be able to make the right decisions first time round.

Let us all be more tolerant, try to obey the restrictions and live as well as we can until the Covid weakens to tolerable proportions.

I wish everyone a happy Christmas and a very much better year in 2022.

Veronica Garside,

Wharf Road

Wroughton

Praise for store staff

I would like to thank through your newspaper the person who handed in my bank card that I dropped in Aldi’s car park on December 16.

Also Aldi staff for being so helpful.

Merry Christmas to you all.

M Humphries

Gainsborough Way

Freshbrook

BT building like fury

With record demand on our broadband and mobile networks – and periods of extreme weather to contend with – I’d like to thank all our front-line colleagues for keeping our customers and communities connected during a challenging year.

The pandemic has accelerated the UK’s shift online. We’ve learned new terms like ‘Zoom calls’ and ‘vaccine passports’.

With the average home predicted to have 50 connected devices by 2023, families need better and faster connections, no matter where they live.

To future-proof our networks, BT Group confirmed plans to invest around £15bn so Openreach can extend their ultrafast, full-fibre broadband network to 25 million UK homes and businesses by 2026. Six million premises can already order full-fibre, with more than a million already enjoying ultra-reliable, ultrafast speeds.

Our mobile network, EE, has already reached around 40 per cent of the UK’s population with 5G, with plans to offer the service in every corner of the UK by 2028. And on 4G, we’ll expand our network to 2,000 more rural communities by 2025, including 250 in the South West.

This ultrafast connectivity is being expanded on a daily basis. We’re building like fury, and we know there’s more to do.

To make sure this digital future benefits as many people as possible, we published a ‘manifesto’ for the next decade, setting out how we’ll support responsible technology, become more inclusive and do more on climate action, including electrifying our vehicle fleet.

Despite these challenging times, we’re working hard to bring next-generation networks and digital services to millions more in the coming years.

Jane Wood

BT Group,

UK Nations and Regions Director

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