ON the government’s announcement that is it planning to make £22 billion of cuts to the NHS.

Posted by robertpaterson3: Once again we are getting only part of the story. Exactly what ‘cuts’, exactly where? We are getting only limited information.

Is no one interested in the details?

The NHS is being exposed to demands it was never meant to deal with when it was started. It was never meant to deal with people who wanted to smoke themselves to death or eat themselves into obesity.

We all allow it to be exposed to burdens it was never set up for. We also allow the pharmaceutical industries to exploit us all just like the banks.

And then we have the nerve to act upset when the obvious happens. We can’t afford the NHS the way it is run at the moment.

It’s our fault for not being ruthlessly efficient and honest about what the NHS is supposed to achieve. It has to be paid for. It is not free and never was.

On Ecotricity’s proposed £100 million Eco Park near Eastington.

Posted by Mister Champagne: It would help MORE people and be better environmentally if the sport and leisure money was spread between communities and used to improve existing facilities. Stratford Park Leisure Centre could benefit, as could facilities in Cam and Dursley and Nailsworth for a start. Destroying a large swathe of farmland in a location only accessible by car for most people is NOT eco-friendly.

On fishing as a hobby.

Posted by Mad in Stroud: This may be the most popular ‘sport’ in the UK but it is a cruel one. When you take a fish out of water, it is like putting a person or animal in a sealed chamber without oxygen.

Fish have a delicate membrane around their bodies which when damaged by handling can result in infection.

Keeping your trophy catch in a keep-net for hours can result in both physical damage to the fish, and because of the limited space for aeration, oxygen deprivation.

People should be dissuaded from this activity rather than encouraged.

If you need to fish to eat, that is one thing but the needless misery for fish caused by anglers bent on their own self-glorification is unforgivable.

Posted by forwords123: Leave the UK’s largest participation sport (involving more than five million plus people) in peace.