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Church needs to have faith in parishioners
From: Janet E Rowntree, Escrick, York. IT is not possible to express forcibly enough in words how distressed I am about the exclusion of parishioners from our Lady of Lourdes Church, Ackworth, Pontefract. What an insult to the memory of the local people who paid for it and built it (Yorkshire Post, September 15).
As a Quaker who lived happily in Ackworth for over 15 years, I had the privilege of attending joint village church services there and being with Catholic friends in their own setting. They obviously not only valued their church and attending mass there, but fully supported it.
I'm much distressed, too, to learn that the Holy Family Church in Pontefract and the RC church in Allerton Bywater are also victims of closure. It cannot be right that people who wish to join in with communal worship have their churches shut against their will. And it shows a tremendous lack of faith among church administrative officials.
Churches should be at the heart of all communities. Heaven knows, society needs their influence for good in this torn, divided world – a world in which violence, rather than that love at the heart of the Christian, and other major world faiths, rules supreme.
Surely, the Roman Catholic church should be urged to sell some of their valuable assets in order to fund churches for local communities. After all, Jesus lived simply, without expensive trappings, and He is the model on which we, His followers, base our lives. So far, I have encountered no better model to guide my religious beliefs and spiritual development.
No doubt, many of us would be happy to contribute financially, should those churches need that help from us in their endeavours to keep their beloved places of worship open. They will all continue
to be in my loving thoughts and prayers.
Olympians put the Great back into Britain
From: Jean Price, New Road, Woolley, Wakefield.
ON the subject of putting the Great back into Britain (Yorkshire Post, September 18), I have been much heartened in recent weeks by news from first the Olympic and now Paralympic Games in Beijing.
Firstly, I was surprised and delighted to witness on TV the quite superb ceremonies arranged by the Chinese government to mark the events. The time, money and effort involved were in my view quite unparalleled in the history of the Games.
Secondly, and this indeed is my main point, I was impressed by the skill, dedication and professional conduct of our own British Olympians. Whether diving, rowing, show jumping or cycling, no-one could fault the talent and enthusiasm they showed.
At a time when the world economy is unstable, hurricanes devastate the vulnerable (and the British weather has been shocking for months), I regard Beijing 2008 with pride and already a touch of nostalgia.
This summer, we showed the world a truly Great Britain!
'Eccentrics' going organic are safeguarding their health
From: William Snowden, Butterbowl Gardens, Farnley, Leeds.
I WAS amused to read the Yorkshire Post's polemicist in residence, Bill Carmichael's full-throttled assault on the "eccentricity" of eating organic and free-range food (Yorkshire Post, September 12).
It is, of course, a question of choice – and one of perspective. But it always strikes me as somewhat bizarre that some people are far more particular about the quality of the fuel and oil they put into their cars, than the quality of the food they put into their mouths.
It is equally bizarre that people baulk at paying a few pence more for a bag of organic carrots or pears, yet think nothing of spending tens of pounds on alcohol and cigarettes – and hundreds of pounds on technological gimmicks!
If Bill Carmichael chooses to consume a cocktail of chemicals, that is his prerogative. But he is wrong to assume that the cumulative effects can be anything other than detrimental to good health.
He also seems to have swallowed the unsubstantiated claim that GM crops will "feed the poor".
On the contrary, genetically modified crops may unbalance the natural, regenerative processes of nature, and have a detrimental impact on natural pollinators such as bees, whose existence is already threatened by climate change.
Poverty in Africa will only be relieved when that continent is cleansed of corruption, tribalism and civil war, which wreaks havoc through so many lands. Population growth also needs to be controlled.
Scientists are neither omnipotent nor omniscient. They, too, are subject to the inviolable laws of nature. Scientists should be encouraged, but kept on a tight leash, lest they overreach themselves, with potentially disastrous consequences.
Many scientific discoveries and innovations have been
to the betterment of man; others have been to his detriment. In the context of agriculture, DDT and BSE are examples of bad science and poor husbandry.
It is a curious fact that man, the dominant species, is the only animal on earth that knowingly and, in some cases, eagerly consumes toxic, poisonous and potentially life- threatening foods and substances.
Now that is a curiosity that may cause even Bill Carmichael to pause and ponder.Graffiti that defaces our world
From: J Roberts, St Johns Court, St Johns, Wakefield.
BY all accounts, High Wycombe police are having to look at local schoolchildren's books to try to locate the source of local graffiti artists who are defacing walls in the area.
The police are taking photographs of the graffiti for identification purposes. They might as well save themselves the bother, as the whole exercise is like chasing shadows.
These "tags" are a spurious attempt at individuality. In reality, these squiggles, to use a more apt word, are a symptom of a monocultural cult which although it makes a pretence of creativity, is all to do with aping US street gangs: this is why it has an implied threat of violence. If you look back, few of our towns and cities were defaced by this graffiti prior to the early 1980s. Now, it is ubiquitous, everywhere.
Historic buildings, walls, brick railway cuttings and bridges, few places are immune. Personally, I feel sorry for the skilled and hard-working Victorian artisans who built our railway infrastructure only to have it defaced by these gangs.
From Detroit to Doncaster, from Camberwell to Cumbernauld, from Sydney to Sydenham, from Peterborough to St Petersburg, from Rome to Reading, from Macclesfield to Milan, it's everywhere. It is often inspired by drug culture and, more recently, computer games. Some graffiti is witty and funny; some political and thought-provoking. This, though, is mindless in the fullest sense of the word.
Proud to be 'ignorant'
From: Coun Ron Haigh, Thornton Dale and the Wolds Division, Main Street, Wombleton.
I WOULD like to comment on your article re the pellet plant at Wombleton (Yorkshire Post, September 20).
As a county councillor living in, but not representing, Wombleton and one of the "ignorant and selfish" minority Sir Ben Gill refers to, may I say how delighted I was that Ryedale District Council listened to our not very silent but well-informed arguments against this project.
I would be delighted to arrange a meeting with some of the people involved, and Sir Ben, so he can hear the facts behind our argument, not the rather spurious ones from Peter Teasdale and his cronies.
All the residents of Wombleton have tried to do is keep this beautiful tourist area free from industrial development and damage to our roads and countryside by heavy lorries, something I would have thought Sir Ben would be keen on, being an ex-farmer and one of the guardians of our countryside. If anyone is ignorant, sadly Sir Ben, it's you.
Coun Keith Knaggs has said the council is more than happy to work with Land Energy to identify a site in Ryedale to suit their needs. If they are so convinced of its merits, I suggest they do that.
The Labour laughing stock
From: Robert Bottamley, Thorn Road, Hedon, East Yorkshire.
BEFORE the Labour Party's 2008 conference, the National Executive Committee broke its own rules by refusing to distribute nomination papers for the election of a new leader.
Clearly, the decision was intended to protect Gordon Brown's position. In reality, this dishonest and essentially childish manoeuvre has diminished his authority as leader of the Labour Party (and therefore, as Prime Minister) even further.
Disturbingly, experience teaches that corruption, avarice and incompetence in a government are not necessarily barriers to its re-election.
But whatever else authority might endure, it cannot retain credibility with the laughter of the public ringing in its ears.
This New Labour Government and its Prime Minister have become laughable: consequently, both are finished.
Of course, it is possible (even likely) that Messrs. Brown & Co. will limp on to a 2010 General Election.
In which case, the months between now and then might profitably be spent persuading other political leaders who would replace Mr Brown that more of the same is (as they say) "no longer an option".
From: R Jackson, Aire Road, Wetherby.
I FEEL it is most unfair that Gordon Brown should take the blame for the chaotic state that Blair left the country in. I do not vote Labour and never would – after seeing Blair's antics.
No time for favouritism
From: Alan Sayburn, Kirk Croft, Finkle Street, Cottingham.
IF the takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB goes ahead, it would seem regrettable but inevitable that there will be job losses.
Alex Salmond of the Scottish National Party insists firmly that Scottish jobs be protected. However, when the Halifax and the Bank of Scotland combined, the former was, and is, the larger partner (the reverse of the situation when the larger Royal Bank of Scotland
in effect took over the NatWest).
Any necessary Yorkshire head office and other branch redundancies should surely be in proportion and without favouritism towards Scotland.
Nuclear is the only solution
From: David W Wright, Little Lane, Easingwold, North Yorkshire.
JOHN Walker (Yorkshire Post, September 18), in his defence of wind farms, cannot be serious when he advocates that our few remaining valleys and open spaces should be covered with those inefficient, costly and obtrusive turbines.
If he wishes to avoid domination by foreign powers of our power supplies, and to avoid pollution, then there is only one way forward, and that is to adopt the forces of nuclear power and to make 100 per cent sure of the safety aspects before the power stations are developed.
Surely we have enough scientists to develop a fail-safe system?
Tougher laws on texting
From: Allan Ramsay, Radcliffe Moor Road, Radcliffe.
ACCORDING to RAC Foundation director Professor Stephen Glaister, "research clearly shows that a motorist who is texting is significantly more impaired than a motorist at the legal limit for alcohol".
So why has the Foundation called for an urgent high-profile campaign to warn motorists that texting and driving puts them, their passengers and other road uses (not least cyclists) at "unacceptable risk".
Why not tougher penalties, like the penalty for drink driving times three? Namely a 36-month driving ban.
Fresh face, same result
From: Les Arnott, Athelstan Road, Sheffield.
SO the fresh-faced David Miliband is likely to topple Gordon Brown. This is the same man who conspired with Brown to take away our promised vote on the EU Constitution – the Lisbon Treaty.
He has been at the centre of all Labour's policy making decisions for a number of years. If Labour swap, all it means is that we get more of the same – but prettier.
That should shave a couple of points off the massive Tory lead!
Honour gliders
From: Ken Hartford, Durham Mews, Butt Lane, Beverley.
WITH reference to AJ Stacpoole's letter about Arnhem (Yorkshire Post, September 19), I am always disappointed when the Paras get all the praise and the glider pilots are forgotten. It was they who took most of the men and landed them, together with their equipment.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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