What should be done about drug dealers in London?

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Reader says colleagues should talk to each other on the train

What a sad world we live in when people would rather catch up on emails than have a little chat to a colleague on the commute (Metro, Tue).

No wonder there are so many suicides among younger people these days.

And if the lady, Molly, quoted in the
story is in no state pre-work to hold a conversation, she is probably in the
wrong job. Karen, via email

Another reader backs colleague ‘gossip’

I don’t remember a time where talking about work and its problems wasn’t done pre or post-work. Back in the day colleagues loved a good gossip.

I think people have become sensitive and antisocial and work in toxic environments. I totally understand that people need the downtime, though, and to not have to talk to anyone while travelling in, as you do need to mentally prepare for the day. Vanessa, West Midlands

Reader says ‘users and dealers’ should be dealt with by the police

Wada (MetroTalk, Wed) says they can always smell marijuana being smoked in London and that it should be legalised so the Treasury gets tax revenue rather than drug dealers get rich.

As a Londoner, I am all too aware of the extensive drug use which blights my city.

The answer is clearly for the police to do their job and arrest users and dealers.

We have gangs of young men blighting the stairway where I live – smoking drugs, drinking and urinating.

Residents have reported them to the police many times but they fail to turn up and arrest them.

I am sick and tired of the rot that has been allowed to happen to my city. It’s high time the law was enforced on this urban blight and not made worse by legalisation. Chris, London

Another reader is offended by the ‘smell of marijuana’

The smell of marijuana is literally everywhere. I can’t walk through my local park or down my street without getting a hit of it smack bang in the face.

Driving in my own street with my daughter recently, we both felt like we had a marijuana smoker in the car with us owing to the extremely strong odour coming in from outside. Its use is rife and negatively affects non-users.

Time for the government to wake up and smell the grass! Maggie, Harrow

Reader says phone snatchers need more than ’30 minutes on the naughty step’

Steve (MetroTalk, Mon) jokes that the solution to the phone-snatching epidemic would be the return of phone boxes, where people could make their calls in safety.

I have a better solution. What if those found guilty of this crime had to face the consequences of their actions with something more than a few harsh words from the judge followed by 30 minutes on the naughty step. Maybe this would deter them from doing it again. Mick, London

Some ‘charity CEOs’ are ‘earning more thna the prime minister’, says reader

Ruth (MetroTalk, Tue) believes that money raised through charity shops 
goes to the charity and therefore the 
high prices they charge nowadays 
are justified.

The reality is that much of their profit is used to pay the salaries of fat-cat CEOs. A quick search online shows that some are even earning more than the prime minister.
Robert, Leeds

‘We are once again in a housing crisis’, says reader

We are once again in a housing crisis, due to 14 years of Tories and little or
no building.

Can we please take a leaf from the post-war Labour government, which managed to build more than a million homes in a few years. Thousands of prefabricated units were built in small areas. Hounslow Heath had about 100 of these small U-shaped closes, each of between 12 and 22 units. Units all had electricity. My aunt, a war widow, with her two children, lived in one of these prefabs from 1947 until the late-80s. There were 16 units in her close, each with small gardens.

They were very cheap and built very quickly, great places to live and brilliant for community building. Tony B, Axminster

Reader says athletes collapsing is just one consequence of the climate crisis

Unfortunately, it’s only going to get more and more common to see athletes like tennis player Novak Djokovic collapsing in extreme heat as he did at the Shanghai Open last week.

These are the consequences of the climate crisis. We need to make a massive effort to reduce our carbon emissions – the less carbon dioxide in the air, the less global warming.

One place to start is to ask our pension providers to stop investing in fossil fuel companies. Ryan Cooper, London

Resident punny reader has competition on their hands…

I was expecting an important call, so slept with my phone under my pillow. The next morning, when I awoke, my phone had vanished and in its place was a shiny new 50p piece. Damn that Bluetooth fairy! Julian Self, Wolverton

Further competition, it seems…

I’ve just driven to my local garage to put air in the tyres. Couldn’t believe it’s gone up from 50p to £1! Still, that’s inflation for you. Dave Hughes, Chigwell

Reader wants ‘one day a year’ when only positive letters are published

Would it be possible, for say one day a year, to have a truce on MetroTalk and only print letters highlighting good things? I could start things off by mentioning a lovely walk we had by the Thames at Greenwich near the O2.

We came across some very interesting sculptures, varied architecture and ended with a picnic in the Ecology Park. All in all a very pleasurable walk and all free.
Richard Lasowski, London

Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments

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