Poor can't be respectable

MAY I respond to the letter by Mrs Wilton of Tydd St Mary who wrote about the new 99p Store in Wisbech. In response to the letter I think it is quite impossible for any society (be it in respect of either any commercial interest or it s people) to progres

MAY I respond to the letter by Mrs Wilton of Tydd St Mary who wrote about the new 99p Store in Wisbech.

In response to the letter I think it is quite impossible for any society (be it in respect of either any commercial interest or it s people) to progress in one LARGE STEP from decay, dereliction and despondency straight on to the designer shop.

For one thing most people do not have the money to indulge in such frivolous luxuries and any such business would be all the more likely to fold-up within a month of its opening.

I particularly object to her reference to "down and outs and impoverished" who are largely so because of the attitudes of a society which has helped to create them, a society which she (apparently) craves all the more for.

Money, and the greed for it, has become synonymous with respectability, worthiness and even intelligence. The poor are deemed to have none of these. Remember the old saying: "I'm all right Jack?"

As to the marina the "decent chandlers" or the "camping shop" they would be there solely for the benefit of the tourist and add northing to the town at all.

Inhabited by wealthy newcomers, managed and staffed by the same we would have an area of town which existed solely for the benefit of itself.

That's the way people like to think nowadays. There is no "community" in that.

However, to close, the one thing I do admire about Mrs Wilton is that she has chosen to publish her name. So I suppose that puts her into quite a different category from Anon.

BARRY COLLIER

Money Bank

Wisbech