A class war

11:00am Wednesday 22nd February 2012 in Letters

NEVER in all of the years I have been reading the Ledbury Reporter have I felt so enraged that I felt the need to write a response to a letter by Ms Victoria Crowe (No Benefit, 27th January 2012).

The comment “Although developers always promise that they will provide more jobs, these are not proper careers.

“They tend to be part time with no prospect for advancement... keep young people in small towns by providing proper jobs, not just shelf stacking” absolutely astounded me.

This is blatantly disrespectful to all of the hard working people that work in supermarkets and I find the comments highly offensive.

I take it that Ms Crowe has never shopped in Ledbury Tesco before? Or if she has, then how an earth would she be expected to buy the items without the shelf stackers or pay for the items without the checkout assistants – because apparently these are “not proper careers”.

Just like a job working in one of the town’s local shops, behind a till, in a cafe... are not proper careers I suppose?

With unemployment at its highest, there are people in Ledbury who are currently struggling to put food in their kids’ bellies and keep a roof over their families heads – I’m sure not many of them would turn down employment in a supermarket “with no prospect for advancement”.

I worked in a supermarket after leaving school and found this to be a very valuable credential on my CV, as most of my previous employers commented on how this position showed I was “willing to work hard”.

How very sad that what started out as a refreshing debate regarding whether a town should have another supermarket, has become a class war.

HAYLEY PONTER
Ledbury

Comments(11)

Tom East77 says...
4:55pm Sat 25 Feb 12

I completely disagree with Ms Ponter with regard to her claim about the issue now being a "class war".
I find such comments rather melodramatic and unnecessary.
The issue was about whether to bring a new supermarket into the town. Why try to turn it into something it isn't?!

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Pinkbabe1 says...
1:07pm Fri 2 Mar 12

I take it that you love to use the word "melodramatic" seeing as you have repeated this several times! I also might add that no one in Ledbury has ever heard of Brenda Smith or Tom East - rather strange isnt it?

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baboo2you says...
12:55am Sun 4 Mar 12

mmm or Pinkbabe1... its ok I am from the otherside.. of the hill ..which side tho

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Tom East77 says...
11:17am Sun 4 Mar 12

Not really sure what you are implying Pinkbabe1. I have never heard of most of the people who write in to the paper or add comments on this website, but then I am not interested in who they are, just what they said.
You have obviously spent a lot of time questioning the 5000+ residents of Ledbury about the identity of letter writers, which seems a lot more strange to me!!

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LoveLedbury says...
5:02pm Sun 4 Mar 12

Not sure why PinkBabe1 is so sure that no-one in Ledbury has heard of Brenda Smith or Tom East - I don't remember her asking me and no one I know has been asked either. Perhaps she doesn't know everyone in town.
Aside from that, I didn't realise that you can only express an opinion if PinkBabe1 knows you. Perhaps all future letters/web comments can be sent to her first and she can then give the Reporter permission to print them if she has heard of you!

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Pinkbabe1 says...
1:21pm Tue 6 Mar 12

Yes thank you LoveLedbury - I think thats a fantastic idea. May stop people writing into the reporter under false names to protect their identity.

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LoveLedbury says...
2:05pm Tue 6 Mar 12

Ok this is starting to sound like a bad episode of Spooks now.
You mentioned in your first post that no one in Ledbury (or rather no one you know) has heard of Brenda Smith or Tom East but you didn't mention Hayley Ponter who they were both responding to. I therefore assume that either a) you do know who she is or b) you are her, in which case this whole paranoia about false identities seems to be nothing more than sour grapes that someone dares to disagree with you (or her!)

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MissPonter says...
2:14pm Tue 6 Mar 12

Thomas East I have responded to your letter on your letters page - for someone who suggest that the situation needs to "calm down" I find it highly amusing that you have now become proactive in posting a series of provocative comments in order to gain a reaction I suppose.
And as for LoveLedbury - I suggest you get your facts straight before posting accusations on a forum. Do you actually think it is necessary to post this on my letter? Nothing in your comments is remotely relevant to my letter so im sure that the only reason for your post is to cause an arguement.

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MissPonter says...
2:16pm Tue 6 Mar 12

Or am I on the wrong site here? I thought I was on the Ledbury Reporter site where users commented on Letters - maybe you should try facebook or twitter if you would like to do abit of baiting?

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LoveLedbury says...
3:25pm Tue 6 Mar 12

I stand by my comments and was responding to equally irrelevant and self important posts about false names being used to write letters, implying that for some reason people would be too scared to give their name when responding to MissPonter. Note I have given her the benefit of the doubt that that is her real name as I have never heard of her either!
Anyway, MissPonter has now joined the debate herself (rather coincidentally), and rightly states that the purpose of this page is to comment on letters. I would therefore just like to respond to her directly and say that I disagree with the views expressed in her letter. My view is that Ledbury needs to attract a wider range of businesses to provide different careers for as many townspeople as possible, not just more shop work.

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MissPonter says...
4:34pm Tue 6 Mar 12

I've joined the conversation as I have seen that you are using my name and my letter to slander me on a public forum. I consider that abuse. Seeing as you are using a screen name instead of your own name LoveLedbury then I suggest you have no right to decide who is false and who is not. If you would like to find out if I exist I suggest you check my family history in ledbury which dates back far longer than you have been on this earth precious. How dare you comment on my letter suggesting I don't exist - who the hell do you think you are? As for your opinion on my letter - I suggest you read it properly and then comment - the main issue in my letter is the support of supermarket workers after a fellow letter writer condemned someone for working in a supermarket. I also agree that there needs to be more jobs in Ledbury but if a supermarket provides jobs then a job is a job and it should not be sniffed at. But then again your obviously too busy questioning whether I exist to read my letter properly. How pathetic.

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