Sponsored by
Remembering the wonder of Woolies – and broken biscuits
From: Brian Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.
LIKE Joan Fewlass (Yorkshire Post, December 5) and doubtless many other readers who grew up during Woolworths' heyday, I have fond memories of the chain, with its trademark red and white dcor, plain wooden floors and sweet smell of confectionery.
The Mexborough branch used to sell off broken biscuits. They were a cheap option for pensioners but I liked them because, having gone soft, they were agreeably chewy.
My mother knew an elderly woman who regularly bought them by the pound.
On one occasion, the young assistant was obliged to disappoint her: "Sorry, flower, we've sold out of broken biscuits."
"Can't you break me a few then?" asked the old lady plaintively.
From: Terry Duncan, Greame Road, Bridlington.
ENCOURAGED by the Government, millions of families have gone out and spent hundreds of pounds per household. However, this senseless Government cannot get it through its thick head that next month and months thereafter, that the same families will be drowned in more debt because they use their plastic bank cards and then incur swingeing increases in interest.
Yet, that same disastrous Government, which has blindfolded itself to the falsehood that spending and spending is a good thing for the economy, will certainly produce figures after this new year, but not a good one for the lowly paid, that all is well on the
high street.
If you believe what Gordon Brown's government spin, then Santa is a real person.
From: Jeff and Frances Blood, Guisborough.
AN excellent and insightful article by Mark Bradley (Yorkshire Post, December 6)
on why some high street stores are failing.
We recently visited family in Derby – we were staying a couple of miles outside the town centre and opted for the convenience of the adjacent Harvester Inn for our evening meal.
What a miserable experience it was – slovenly waiting staff – tables not cleared and poor food. When I said that my starter was inedible, the response was that it would
not be charged on the bill – hardly the point.
I agree so much with Mr Bradley's sentiments – good service will survive. We always return to places where I am made to feel that my custom is valued and would never change for the sake of price alone. When will they ever learn?
From: T Lawty, Driffield.
BRIAN Sheridan (Yorkshire Post, December 6) says that pensioners park for free at the supermarkets and then use the tram to go into Sheffield.
Why are supermarkets allowed to have so much space for free car parking? This must put city centre shops at a disadvantage as customers have to pay car parking charges in city centres.
Why is there one rule for supermarkets and another for city centre shops?
Call a halt on plans for new coal power
From: Chris Mackins, Yorkshire Against New Coal – delegate to the Cabinet Office meeting in Leeds.
IN response to the article "Coal industry has important role in keeping the lights on" (Yorkshire Post, November 29), Ed Miliband used scaremongering tactics by arguing we need new coal developments to keep the lights on.
As old coal and nuclear power plants start to reach the end of their operational lives, if not replaced, there will be an energy gap of about 25-30 per cent. However, in 2007, the Prime Minister announced that renewables could contribute to 40 per cent of our electricity requirements by 2020. So how will the lights go out?
As I put to the Prime Minister on Friday – if approval is given to the Kingsnorth coal power station then eight other coal powered applications, including Ferrybridge, are waiting in the wings to be built – spewing more carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
It's one thing for the Government to "support" projects such as the Yorkshire Forward carbon capture initiative – it's something completely different to encapsulate this within central Government climate change and energy policy.
Carbon capture is still an unproven and likely to be, hugely expensive technology. Furthermore, the technology to develop the Yorkshire Forward carbon capture initiative isn't thought to be possible until at least 2030. We need to be reducing carbon emissions now. Building new coal power stations in the hope that carbon capture will work at some point in the future is not a viable option.
If the Government accept Lord Turner's Committee on Climate Change recommendations, then quite simply there will be no short term future for the development of new coal power stations.
Mr Miliband needs to call a moratorium on the development of new coal power stations at least until carbon capture storage is a proven technology that can capture 100 per cent of emissions. In the meantime, it cannot be allowed to form a central role within the UK's climate change and energy programme.
Unconfined joy...
From: Peter Walker, Howe Road, Norton, Malton.
'TIS the season to be jolly. So your readers can only imagine my unconfined joy when the latest edition of the NY Times hit my doormat.
It is the illustrious organ of the increasingly egregious North Yorkshire County Council and now all of us lucky North Yorkshire residents receive a free copy, albeit unsolicited, on a monthly basis.
My enormous gratitude for this is, however, somewhat tempered by the fact that nowadays I am compelled to drive three miles through a busy town centre instead of just a few hundred yards in order to use the nearest recycling centre.
Moreover, my usually beaming countenance has been recently darkened by my fruitless efforts to negotiate footpaths rendered impassible by ice, a situation compounded and protracted by the conspicuous absence of grit. No doubt the closure of recycling facilities and the lack of remedial treatment to iced pavements are attributable to "cost efficiency".
Is it asking too much for resources to be diverted away from the production and distribution of the NY Times and towards the improvement of frontline services? Thanks to the NY Times, we are all well aware of what a marvellous job everyone is doing at County Hall. So is it really necessary to remind us of this each month?
Anyway, my mood is upbeat as I prepare for the festive season. I'm doing my bit for re-cycling. I've cut my latest copy of the NY Times into squares and placed it adjacent to my WC. No one can say that the publication is totally useless!
Trading rules still apply
From: James Wagstaff, City Walk, Leeds.
NICK Martinek claims that the UK does not need to be a member of the EU in order to trade with it (Yorkshire Post, November 24). That is true. We don't.
Norway, Switzerland and Iceland all enjoy free trade agreements with the EU. However, none of these countries has any say in the laws governing this trade between European countries – that is the sole responsibility of the EU member states.
Those European countries outside the EU, but wishing to enjoy free trade with it, must play by the EU's rules.
Should the UK leave the EU and enter into a similar agreement to that between the EU and Norway, Switzerland and Iceland, then the UK would still have to abide by the very same EU trade laws that it does now. The difference being it will no longer have any say in how those laws are made.
Perhaps Mr Martinek thinks that would be a good thing, I think that would be crazy.
Public places order would help to protect city's green lung
From: Albert Slingsby, Rein Road, Morley, Leeds.
I WISH to support the Designated Public Places Order for the Woodhouse Moor, Leeds and surrounding open spaces.
Such an order would protect the interests and welfare of the many thousands of visitors to this very popular green lung of our fine city, not only for Leeds residents, but all those visitors from the other towns and villages of West Yorkshire and visitors from abroad.
This order has been a long time in coming to be recognised by all concerned with the power to enforce it.
Woodhouse Moor was only the second public open space, after Birkenhead on Merseyside, to be acquired by Leeds City Council in the 1800s. This gave the working- class people of Leeds some hope of a breathing space away from the appalling and cramped living conditions of the many slums that were thrown up in order to cope with the huge population increases of the Industrial Revolution during last century.
A quote from Charles Dickens during his visit to Leeds: "Leeds is the nastiest city I've seen!"
It would do the city of Leeds a great harm generally, if the Woodhouse Moor area was allowed to become just another ghetto like the experimental Brockwell Park in Lambeth, London, where the local authority, aided and abetted by the police, seem quite happy to allow any street drinkers, druggies, rough sleepers, etc, to stay at this public open space without any supervision from the authorities.
The order would protect the decent people's simple pleasures of walking, mothers with prams and young children, from the irresponsible drinking of a mindless selfish minority who think they can use the open space around Woodhouse Moor for anything, including a toilet.
Woodhouse Moor is one of the few jewels in the crown of our fine city's open spaces. I ask you all to do everything you can to save and protect this unrepeatable commodity of ours, please.
Outrage at trust's report over faith schools
From: Rev Neil McNicholas, St Hilda's Parish, Whitby.
I WAS outraged by the recent Runnymede Trust report on so-called "faith schools" (Yorkshire Post, December 5).
Schools legally designated as voluntary aided are now being referred to as "faith schools" which is a total misnomer.
Roman Catholic voluntary aided schools (and here I specifically refer to them as a Catholic priest and ex-chair of governors) do not exist to be "faith schools" in that their primary purpose is not to teach the Catholic faith.
They are part of the state's overall schools provision, though they do include within their curriculum specific instruction in the Catholic faith (in addition to the more general religious studies of the national curriculum). In return for this concession, they have to fund a percentage of their capital costs from monies provided from the local Catholic community.
What the report doesn't immediately acknowledge, if at all, is the proven academic and disciplinary track record of "faith schools" which is reflected in the fact that, certainly in the case of Catholic schools, there is a constant demand for places on the part of non-Catholic parents.
When the report claims that the admissions policies of "faith schools" are at odds with their history of challenging poverty and inequality, it fails to acknowledge the fact that the Church, and specifically its religious orders, historically involved itself in providing health care, education and social welfare services simply because at the time there was no such state provision.
For the report to call for an end to "faith schools" selecting pupils on the basis of religion defies comprehension. As long as members of a particular
local faith community are contributing in part to the capital expenses of a voluntary aided school (not to mention the rest of its costs through their taxes), then they surely have a right to expect that its religious input will favour the faith of that contributing community. At the same time, other pupils will be admitted if places are available. "Faith schools" are not exclusive in that sense – national schools admissions policy does not allow it.
It would appear that the Runnymede Trust is merely jumping on the bandwagon of attempts to dumb down the place and influence of the Christian church and "faith schools" in this country and especially when, by comparison, they show up the failings of national academic and moral standards.
Email to a friend
Print this page- Three-inch blanket of snow heading our way today
- Alan Shearer in list of favourites for Leeds and England jobs: Latest odds
- Barnsley’s Keith Hill invokes Fawlty Towers over link with Leeds job
- McCormack feels United search can be narrowed down
- Redfearn throws down gauntlet as queue builds at Elland Road
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
