Re' Huw Niland's dismay at the closure of Barclays bank.

I have to say I was delighted at the news but equally surprised that there are people still so uncaring for the wellbeing of others they are prepared to support such a bank.

That it may be "seriously bad news for the people of Stroud and its economic future" is open to debate, I think.

I would hope that Huw and others will just look at the website Ethical Consumer and draw their own conclusions but just to give a couple of examples in case they don't.

Since the Paris Climate accord was signed in 2015 Barclays, has put $118 billion into the fossil fuel sector. They are the world's tenth biggest funder of fossil fuel expansion. 

Between 2014 and 2018 the financial regulator in the UK said "they had failed to treat customers fairly" in relation to chasing debts and as a result they fined Barclays £26 million.

Huw may think a bank closure in Stroud is bad news for the local people, but unless it starts to behave responsibly for its customers and those they currently seem happy to exploit around the world and that little matter of the future of our planet then the complete closure of Barclays is something we should all look forward to.

Howard Price

Nailsworth