In his article (Yorkshire Post, August 12), he seems to suggest that Russia is in a position of power today because all the Right-wing governments of the world have allowed them to gradually re-assert themselves after the demise of the Warsaw Pact and the breaking up of the Iron Curtain. Is it because he was sacked by Tony Blair?

The two truths are these. Our Armed Forces are over-stretched in the operations which Mr Blair committed them to, without having the proper equipment to fight
with. Mr MacShane might like to ask Messrs Hoon and Browne how many British tanks and Harriers jump jets are operational at this time? Our border controls have been all but removed, by their amalgamation with the tax office.

Mr MacShane might like to ask Mr Straw how Alexander Litvinenko would have been killed in London if we had had proper immigration controls. And because our national power supplies of coal, nuclear and oil have been neglected by Mr Blair, we have to go cap in hand to foreigners, which leaves us vulnerable to political blackmail.

Secondly, this Labour Government has chosen not to confront the big aggressors in the world, because they have given up any political influence that we ever had.

Remember the Tibetans in China; the East Timoreans in Indonesia; the people of
Darfur in Somalia, and the people of the Ukraine. And
how many people have died
in Zimbabwe? For goodness sake, we even pulled out of Basra and left it to the Americans and Iraqis.

So how can Mr MacShane suggest that the Foreign Secretary has an iron fist, when the man in question remembers nothing about history and the lessons that we should learn from it. More like a toothless tiger.

David Miliband, and Margaret Beckett before him, have done nothing to suggest to our enemies that they have anything to fear from the United Kingdom, particularly if they promise to continue to supply us with natural gas!

The world now belongs to Russia, China, India and the
US and we are barely a nation state.

From: Duncan Anderson, Mill Lane, East Halton, Immingham.

RUSSIA claims it is acting as a peacekeeping force, but as has been expressed by experts, Russia was able to mobilise troops, tanks, aircraft and provisions etc extremely quickly. In fact, Russia behaved as if it knew what was going to happen.

Georgia claims it was responding to acts of terrorism.

So is Russia a state sponsor of terror? And if they are, should the West be negotiating with them?

Radical policy over grim
toll of drugs

From: Terry Morrell,
Prunus Avenue, Willerby, Hull.

IT has been reported that Britain has the highest level of illegal drug usage in Europe. It must also occupy at least 80 per cent of police time and is no doubt the biggest precursor to generating crime of all types, including gun and knife cases. It also occupies the majority of our border control and customs services as well as being a problem for our troops in Afghanistan.

Our Government, through its agencies and other authorities, has tried to arrest the problem for decades with so little effect that even they admit the situation seems to get worse no matter what measures are taken.

So what can be done? Even the consultants and experts appear totally nonplussed by the problem.

It is my belief that we have arrived at a point where anything should be tried, no matter how bizarre it may appear at first sight. The Dutch tried legalising drugs some years ago. One wonders what happened there as a result?

The problem, as I see it, is that while there is money to be made (and big money at that) then we will continue to have trafficking, dealing and pushers. What it is currently costing the British taxpayer in all of its eventual forms must represent a mountain of money that could be used for some other strategy.

So, if the Government bought in drugs and handed them out to users through clinics where people could get a reasonable quantity without the need to resort to criminal activity and gently advised about treatment in all its forms without the heavy pressure, may be we could slowly reduce the "cool" image and – because the pushers would disappear – prevent the next generation from taking up this terrible habit.

Of course, there could be other benefits – the Taliban would lose a major source of its income, our troops could come home, the Afghan farmers could sell their crops on a fair market, but most of all we could rid ourselves of huge levels of devastating crime.

But what government would be brave enough to implement such a radical policy?

A fantastic proposal

From: Michael J Barker, Cawood Road, Stillingfleet, York.

REGARDING the drive-on rail route (Yorkshire Post, August 8), what a fantastic proposal this is.

The whole idea does not seem to have any sort of flaw. The number of wagons that would be taken off the road resulting in less damage to our road network, the safety aspect, the jobs that would be created and the impact on the environment are some of the many advantages that this would bring to the economy of our county and country. Looking at the proposal from a cynical point of view, it is such a good idea that I do not think that the Government has the guts to back it and the comment from Yorkshire Forward saying that it would need "much more detail before it could back the scheme" just about sums up what this useless quango is all about.

The fact that it is such a good idea could be the reason for it never coming to fruition.

Hasty work at harvest

From: Phyllis Capstick, Hellifield, Skipton.

I AM sorry that the working farming contractors disturbed "early evening customers enjoying a beverage" (Yorkshire Post, August 11), but the inclement weather this year has meant every second of fine weather has counted in relation to farmers being able to harvest their crops, crops that are needed in the best condition possible to feed animals and ultimately ourselves.

This letter relates to an incident over a week ago, since when we have had almost continuous heavy rain.

This year, the windows of fine weather have been so minute as to be almost non-existent.

Round about the same time
as those contractors were
busy, a local farmer prepared a field of haylage to bale. He managed to bale
approximately 10 bales before he was rained off.

The entire crop is still there, absolutely ruined. Our farmers need our support, they produce our food.

Maybe one or two of those early evening customers could have taken it in turns to make sure the junction was safe for the desperate contractors to negotiate.

That is if they were really worried of an accident.

A day of chaos for travellers at the airport

From: Stephen M Day, Penny Pot Gardens, Harrogate.

BEING a Yorkshireman and proud of it, I was totally disgusted and embarrassed at the chaotic state both inside and outside the Leeds Bradford Airport terminal on Yorkshire Day. Many others were of the same opinion but are still probably abroad on holiday.

The disruption caused by the temporary
drop off/pick up point and changes being made to the car park shows a total lack of thought and attention to detail.

The utter mess greeting passengers departing from the upstairs lounge, flightside, was an absolute disgrace and several people resorted to taking pictures.

Besides there being a constant queue as there was only one person serving, every table was cluttered with stacked cups, plates and wrappers with not a single person clearing away. Eventually someone emerged and cleared three or four tables and promptly disappeared.

Anyone leaving Yorkshire from Leeds Bradford Airport that day would seriously think twice before returning.

We will fight against the barriers at railway station

From: Geraldine Roberts, chair, Residents Against Station Closure.

I was very pleased to see the article about the huge protest in Sheffield against East Midlands Trains' ill conceived plan to install ticket barriers (Yorkshire Post, August 6).

I have attended both stakeholder "meetings". They have been badly organised, in tiny inadequate spaces, called without any consultation on dates, without agendas, without participant lists other than those we pieced together afterwards, and without any notes other than the ones, we, as stakeholders wrote.

Stagecoach and the DfT have argued that gating is needed to control ticket-less travel and improve security. They have been unable to produce any evidence of the extent of the former in Sheffield, while the latter is quite wrong here.

There is nothing to suggest that the present open layout contributes to crime or vandalism and local residents, the majority of whom are also passengers and use the station, feel that having a good flow of people passing through the station using the facilities contributes to a feeling of security and supports a useful range of station trading outlets.

The barrier scheme will actually undermine all that, and Passenger Focus has confirmed to us that the station has a good customer satisfaction score of 82 per cent on security and an overall satisfaction rating of 87 per cent, both of which are significantly above comparable stations.

I am amazed that the spokesperson now describes these meetings as positive. They were fruitless. It is interesting that if EMT found them so useful they refused at the end of the meeting on July 31 to set further dates despite, having agreed previously to do so.

EMT seems to believe that consultation involves them telling us what they plan to do in terms of destroying the amenities this city currently enjoys and paid a lot of money for, at the station,
and us saying that's okay then, wreck our station,
we don't mind. Well, we do mind and we will fight this proposal all the way.