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Official figures on obesity that don't carry much weight
From: Richard Bedford, Ellis Court, Scalby Road, Scarborough. I AM writing to say that I am fed up to the back teeth with reading dubious reports about obesity, particularly where children are concerned (Yorkshire Post, November 17).
I encounter many children in the course of my work and very few could be described as overweight. Indeed, I tend to see more who appear thin and under-nourished.
Instead of accepting at face value the "figures" put out by the Government, I would like to know precisely how their information was gathered, by whom it was collated and exactly how many children were involved.
The same applies to the "predictions" by "experts" regarding adult obesity. Names of "experts", please, qualifications, salaries and details of whom these faceless ones are working for. Incidentally, as I understand it, maths is an exact science – you can't have "about 1 in 5." It either is 1 in 5 or it's something else.
We seem to be sleepwalking into a control-freak led society, blithely absorbing the twaddle pushed at us by teams of manipulative number crunchers with hidden agendas. It should never be forgotten that we do not elect governments to regulate every aspect of our lives.
I believe that this problem facing us has arisen because so many people perceive that our present party political governmental system is now outdated, inadequate and pointless. The obsession with surveys, percentages and predictions therefore has a deeply sinister side. Government is desperate to divert attention from all its many failings and control means survival.
We must know far more about the countless unelected "policy institutes" which seek to shape life in this country. Baroness Sayeeda Warsi enticed one representative out of the woodwork (Yorkshire Post, November 17), but this can only be the tip of the iceberg.
We all should continually question things far more deeply and demand proper answers.
Accept nothing less and, above all, remember the ultimate irony – they who occupy the seat of power, who were elected to serve their country, most emphatically have no intention of ever doing so.
From: Lisa Curtis, Graham House, Kirkstall Brewery Residence, Broad Lane, Leeds.
IT infuriates me that there is so much pressure on young people to be skinny, which this "new research" into the "escalating childhood obesity crisis" ("Parents blamed over soaring child obesity", Yorkshire Post, November 20) adds to.
Suggesting people should not enjoy food is ridiculous. Nice tasting food was invented to be enjoyed. I can tell you from experience after following a strict eating plan which consisted of no snacks for six months, that it damaged my health severely, and I became clinically depressed, aged 17.
The media's take on child obesity is going too far – the easily influenced young people are being encouraged to judge people on their size. By focusing so much on children's image, you can guarantee the amount of youngsters with anorexia nervosa or bulimia is "soaring".
While I realise being obese can damage your health, I think the amount of studies, articles and research into "overweight" children is beyond the acceptable and money should instead be spent on boosting children's self-esteem.
What happened to our superb new bus network?
From: S Stevens, Harrogate Road, Leeds.
WITH each new report about the Leeds Supertram project (Yorkshire Post, November 16), there seems to be new reasons to believe that the process which led to it being junked was at best confused and at worst fundamentally flawed.
Decisions about the strength of the idea should have been taken at a much earlier stage instead of endless waiting while public money was poured down the drain.
What really annoys me though is that Leeds is still waiting for improved public transport. It is perfectly acceptable for Ministers to say that something does not offer value for money. They get criticised enough when they spend taxpayers' cash on ridiculous projects – remember the Dome? But that should not be the end of the matter.
When Supertram was killed off, Leeds was promised a state-of-the-art bus network that would be cheaper and quicker to get up and running than a tram. Apart from the odd bendy bus clogging the city centre, I have yet to see any evidence of this transport revolution and my journey to and from work continues to get longer.
Politicians who ignore the voters
From: Robin L Wilkins, Chantry Close, Doncaster.
THE letter from Richard Simpson (Yorkshire Post, November 17) echoes, to a large extent, what I have been hearing in recent conversations with people from all walks of life and from various age groups.
What comes across in the conversations is a feeling of utter disillusionment in the face of ever-increasing restrictions on our way of life, whether emanating from Brussels or from Westminster.
We now appear to have a breed of professional politicians and civil servants at all levels who can pursue their own objectives, regardless of the wishes of the electorate, in the sure knowledge that they will not be held to account and that we, the taxpayers, will be happy to pick up the tab.
The word billion is now part of the common currency in the language used by these people. Twenty billion – peanuts to bail out Northern Rock that, by the incompetence and greed of its managers and directors, has been brought to its knees. Hang on, though – 20bn is actually twenty thousand million pounds – a sum that is beyond the comprehension of the ordinary citizen and, it is our money!
Then we have the unedifying spectacle of an expert employed to examine security who, because he offered an opinion that is at odds with the views of those in power, is hauled into No 10 and forced
to recant.
Yes, we can mutter and moan among ourselves, but the fact is there is nothing we can do because the people in power on both sides of the political spectrum are intent on preserving the status quo which suits them very nicely.
True friends and foes
From: Terry Palmer, South Lea Avenue, Hoyland, Barnsley.
THE Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has launched a stinging attack on America, comparing it unfavourably with the British Empire at its peak.
Dr Williams condemned America for moving on from Iraq and leaving others to "put it back together". In an interview with a Muslim lifestyle magazine, the head of the Church of England also attacked modern society, saying parts of Western culture "eat away at the soul".
Firstly, I don't remember the Americans leaving Iraq but I do remember his Muslim "friends" eating away at our Western Christian culture by their bombings and killings around the world and bleating about their ethnic status here in the UK.
It seems as though once again we have the head of the Christian church prepared to go to any lengths to placate his "Muslim brothers" by blaming all things Western. I note he makes no mention of Iran or Saudi Arabia where Christianity is banned and any Arab caught practising this faith could be punished by death.
I wonder why he makes no mention of this? No wonder his churches are all empty when he, as Christian head, is prepared to blame his own for the wrongdoings of others. Has he never heard of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Saddam Hussein and tyrants like Robert Mugabe?
A series of defeats
From: John Piper, West Burton, Leyburn.
HISTORY will not deal kindly with the Blair-Brown decade of government. First of all, the sell-off of gold reserves at rock bottom prices and then the huge raid on pension funds which bedevilled them ever since.
We were conned into the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the latter without any consideration of the lessons of history. No notice was taken of the unfortunate Dr David Kelly whose mysterious death casts a shadow over the whole affair.
Now, in spite of Tony Blair's fine words and red lines, we seem likely to suffer more loss of our sovereignty and a continuing increase in the vast number of immigrants for which the Government made no provision whatsoever. It is painfully obvious that deposed Tory candidate Nigel Hastilow is right. The problem is not racist, but about numbers which it seems we cannot, or will not, control.
The good old days of school teaching and learning
From: Douglas Hartley, Irving Terrace, Clayton, Bradford.
IN his column, "Schools need to get back to basics" (Yorkshire Post, November 9), Tom Richmond wrote: "Four out of 10 pupils (in Yorkshire) do not command a basic grasp of core subjects."
Introducing me to my first (primary) teaching post in 1949, the headmistress led me to a classroom, saying: "No one leaves Miss W's class unable to read properly." These were eight and nine-year-olds, in a lower stream, "2B". I heard some of them stand and read aloud, with obvious understanding.
In later years, I taught third and fourth years, "A" and "B" streams. In my classroom were shelves full of paperbacks. Three late afternoon half-hours each week we had silent reading. Children sat at their desks, deep in a story, or coming to the shelves for
an exchange.
Spelling and dictation were taught and tested using a graded book compiled by a professor in education. Children listened to poetry, maybe by Walter de la Mare, and then composed their
own verses.
In arithmetic, the children were familiar with tables of number and imperial measures. The headmistress would enter the lower classes, saying: "Sit up! Seven times eight? Pence in 6s 8d? Inches in a yard? Fifty-four divide by nine?" Hands shot up. Later, long multiplication and division were learned; vulgar fractions and decimals handled. One curious lad I remember set about calculating the decimal equivalent of one third. The experiment soon ended in laughter!
PT lessons came four days a week, sometimes using vaulting horses and climbing ropes (health and safety!). There was a weekly swimming lesson at a nearby pool.
Simple science/nature study/ local topic lessons were given. Following one series, I used to lead my class across a hill-top golf course to the Bradford Corporation Waterworks filtration plant where an official conducted us around, explaining purification processes. A colleague taught my classes history. I have photographs taken on a coach trip to a Brigantian camp at Stanwick, and a Roman fort near Bainbridge.
I hope these children had a rounded education. But, in the mid-1960s, a downward trend set in, with the appointment of a new head. Just before I left to teach English in an upper school, a lad in my fourth year "B" stream raised a hand and asked forlornly: "Sir, aren't we going to do long division?"
Formal teaching stifles creative writing, we are told. At the middle school where I ended my career, a modern-minded deputy-head once addressed me scornfully: "You and your grammar!" Fortunately, the head had been a classics master.
I remember setting a title, and asking for an imaginative essay, to be started then in rough, and written up at home. Two of the 34 essays I submitted to an early Ilkley Literary Festival, where they were on display with the work of other 13 and 14-year-olds: recognition of young people's creativity, undimmed by grammar teaching.
Hard workers in hospitals
From: Olive D Robinson, Primrose Court,
Guiseley.
WE hear so much these days about dirty hospital wards, but do we ever give credit to the army of cleaners who work
so hard in difficult circumstances?
I recently spent time in one of the old wards at the Leeds General Infirmary and saw how difficult it is to maintain high standards there.
I talked to some of the cleaners there and they said they often feel hurt, when in spite of their efforts, their wards are spoken of as being dirty.
So please, spare a thought for the people who do their best in wards which "are not fit for purpose", to quote the Government.
Curd answer
From: Connie Mowforth, High Hunsley, Cottingham, Hull.
AFTER reading again about the dearth of curd cheese (Yorkshire Post, November 22), the problem is easily solved.
Take one litre of milk, one teaspoon Epsom Salts, bring to the boil, cool and then strain for two to three hours. You then have 250g of curd cheese. I make it regularly.
Light relief
From: Ian Bloomer, Darrington Road, East Hardwick, Pontefract.
ENERGY-saving light bulbs. A good idea? I don't think so. Am I the only person who needs two or three bulbs lit to read the newspaper when
one normal 60 watt bulb will do? Where is the saving, or will we all go blind squinting to read?
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Friday 10 February 2012
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