Two points re the following - bringing back the trains would be a far easier option (though I can't for the life of me think which Somerset railway or station closed in 1968) and we haven't been to the Moon since 1972 - and are unlikely to ever return now!
The cruellest cut for Somerset villagers
Pensioners in a Somerset village are losing their weekly bus due to cuts. Brigid has a solution
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I've had a despairing letter from a reader, Brigid, who lives in a Somerset village, three miles from the nearest shop and pub. The railway closed in 1968, the village shop in 1970, but in 1997, in came the darling Labour government and gave the elderly villagers free bus passes and one bus. Every Wednesday morning this bus whirled through all the back lanes picking up stranded villagers and taking them to the nearest town for their shopping. Heaven. The bus was always popular, with between 20 and 40 passengers, "all pensioners, many disabled", who, over the years, had all chummed up and adored their weekly outing. It was a lifeline, almost a party. You can guess the ending. This bus route has been cut.
Brigid is one of the lucky ones. She has a car and can drive, but for how long? She's 78 and getting a bit past it. Soon, she and loads of country pensioners will be stuck indoors and wretched. But what's the point of begging the council to subsidise their buses? They'll only whinge on in the usual way…"£45 million budget gap…huge consultation with passengers…" blah blah. The pensioners want to pay for their ride, but an EU directive forbids it. So they're stymied.
As a possible solution, Brigid is suggesting compulsory euthanasia for everyone over 70. But in a positive way. "The savings would be immense," says she. No care homes needed, huge numbers of NHS beds freed up for younger persons in need. More generous pensions would help, so that the elderly, who will no longer need to save for their very old age, could spend like mad in the shorter time available, and revive the economy.
"On your call-in day to the euthanasia centre," suggests Brigid perkily, "you could hold a big party, with lots to eat and drink and unlimited drugs and cigarettes, until you collapse on the floor in a heap and are carted off to be put down." She will vote for the first party to adopt this policy.
Her last Wednesday bus runs tomorrow. You can get to the moon, but not to the shops in Somerset.
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