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'Feeling ripped off for sticking with BT' - your letters, plus Walsall power station seen from the canal, 1964

From broadband rip-offs and water worries to council tax hikes and potholes, your views today...

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By Tania Taylor
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Supporting image for story: 'Feeling ripped off for sticking with BT' - your letters, plus Walsall power station seen from the canal, 1964
PICTURE FROM THE PAST: Walsall power station in 1964. This is a print in the Express and Star picture archive. The published caption pasted to the back reads: ‘Walsall Power Station, seen from the banks of the canal near Bloxwich.’ It has a date of October 8, 1964. Note the adult and child on a walk.

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​Penalising the loyal customer

An email arrived from the company which provides my internet connection and - since I'm an old geezer - landline. BT - for it is they - have some special offers for me, with full-fibre broadband There are various offers, but the top, super-duper, ultra-high-speed 900 Mb possibility will set me back a mere £74.86 a month for 24 months, albeit with the slight catch that it goes up to £78.86 on 31 March 2026 and then another four quid in 2027.

Cue a quick chat with my younger (and more techy) brother, who thinks I'm being royally ripped off. Now I turn to everyone's financial friend, the Money Saving Expert, Martin Lewis. What's this I see before me? Not the cheapest option, but there it is: BT 900 Mb broadband and phone at £40.99 (£44.99 from March), and a £170 cashback "reward". The catch: new customers only. Is anybody - the toolmaker's son and civil rights lawyer Starmer, the working bloke's mate Farage - going to legislate to stop this penalty for disloyalty?

Alan Harrison, Bloxwich

Rain today, ban for tomorrow

Woke up this morning to go to work and it’s raining again, but I’d like to make a bet the come June or July the water companies will be putting out a message to save water and operate a hosepipe ban.