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Thursday's Letters: Airport decision will give vital boost to region
THE announcement (Yorkshire Post, July 24) by Leeds City Council's Planning Committee that consent for a £28m development of Leeds Bradford International Airport's (LBIA) passenger terminal has been granted is welcome news for Yorkshire's business community and notably the region's property market; particularly given the present troubled global economic climate.
As a property professional focused on helping to promote Yorkshire as an attractive place to live and work, connectivity to the rest of the UK and mainland Europe is a key factor when trying to encourage new inward investment into the region.
Historically, it has been harder to promote Leeds as a natural gateway onto the Continent; especially with Manchester Airport being in such close proximity.
The broader range of travel destinations offered out of and connectivity to Manchester Airport are often cited as a major factor for businesses locating to the North West.
Therefore, these expansion plans will undoubtedly help to build LBIA's competitiveness and, in the longer term, will enable the airport to become a stronger challenger in terms of attracting further inward investment into Yorkshire and the North East.
While any such growth programme does not come without its challenges, I appreciate that environmental concerns have already been strongly voiced; these expansion plans also intend to, and indeed must, address the much-needed improvements to public transport links.
For any city like Leeds that has aspirations of being a leading UK centre, it is paramount that investment and development of the region's travel infrastructure continues. I feel this is essential to facilitate growth in both commerce and tourism, thus benefiting the area economically for many years to come.
From: Jeff Pearey, director, head of Leeds office, Jones Lang LaSalle,
St Paul's House, Park Square, Leeds.
How can they try to cut soldiers' cash?
From: John Watson, Hutton Hill, Leyburn.
I DON'T know how the Ministry of Defence – and the MPs associated with it – can stand up and argue for a reduction in compensation for our severely injured soldiers, some of whom have lost several limbs and most of their faculties and who will have to depend on carers for the remainder of their lives (Yorkshire Post, July 29).
Do these people ever sit back and think what our soldiers are up against? Compare that to some of our politicians, who were instrumental in sending our troops to Afghanistan in the first place and compare that to some of our MPs abusing their expenses.
If there is ever a motion in Parliament on the question of reducing compensatory amounts for badly injured soldiers, they should all vote against it. To do anything else would be insulting and obscene.
Clever Powell overlooked
From: John A Martin, Westfield Close, Hotham, York.
HOW very right are Mr John Watson and AB Collier about the state of this once-great country of ours (Yorkshire Post, July 23). Enoch Powell was indeed the cleverest politician of the last 50 years.
I recently watched a recording of his famous speech and sure enough, everything he forecast has come true.
His words were backed by true working-class British men and women, many of whom wanted Mr Powell for Prime Minister.
The fact that Edward Heath had him dismissed from the Shadow Cabinet was nothing short of a disgrace.
Weak politicians and "do-gooder" institutions have made this country a joke.
The sadistic, arrogant murderers of Pc Sharon Beshenivsky should have
been put to death for their evil crime, but what will we do? Keep them warm and well-fed in jail for eight, 11 or 35 years at a cost to the taxpayer of about 12m.
How reassuring it must be for us all to read the idiotic ramblings of Alan "out of touch" Johnson when he says "I do not lie awake at night worrying about a population of 70m". He goes on to say that he's "happy to live in a multi-cultural society".
Well, I've got news for him. Most of the people I talk to are not.
From: Peter J Teal, Union Road, Thorne, Doncaster.
THE trial and sentencing of another person involved in the fatal shooting of Pc Sharon Beshenivsky and wounding of her colleague, Pc Theresa Milburn, has rekindled my thoughts and opinions on this tragic event.
Why did it have to be necessary for these two women to be sent on this emergency call to the travel agents in question on a dark November evening?
For instance, I wonder why an armed response unit could not have been sent?
True measure
From: Mrs Hilary E Holt, Executive Committee, Yorkshire Ridings Society, Fenwick Lane, Fenwick, via Doncaster.
IT was a pleasure to read Brian Dooks's report on the Yorkshire Rainforest Project (Yorkshire Post, June 10) and the further information about Betty's celebration of 90 years (Yorkshire Post,
July 16).
Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate has pledged to save from destruction an
area of rainforest the size of Yorkshire.
This area is stated in Brian Dooks's report to be 3.7 million acres.
Yorkshire has 3,889,432 acres – this being the True Yorkshire of the North, West and East Ridings.
Every single acre will be included in the Yorkshire Declaration of Integrity on Yorkshire Day, August 1, this forthcoming Saturday.
The Declaration will be read to celebrate the 1,134 years of continued
existence of Yorkshire's broad acres since the first written record of the Ridings in 876AD.
May we invite your readers to celebrate Yorkshire Day on August 1.
And may we also hope that every single acre of Yorkshire's Ridings will be included in the Yorkshire Rainforest Project.
Compensation campaign sets worrying precedent
From: John Wilson, Wilsons Solicitors, New Road Side, Horsforth, Leeds.
WE lawyers are supposed to deal with the law as it is, not campaign to change it. So I really must reply to your recent article by Jamie Hanley (Yorkshire Post, July 24).
The article begins by painting a word picture of somebody dying of mesothelioma, which is very distressing. However, pleural plaques are a form of scarring of the lungs. They are not mesothelioma. They may or may not lead to mesothelioma, and if they do then it is right that people should be compensated. But what is at stake here is the argument that people who may never get any sort of ill effects from their pleural plaques should nevertheless be compensated simply because there is a chance that they might.
Mr Hanley's article asks how it can be right that people who have been negligent get away without having to pay compensation. But in our law you can be as negligent as you like without having to pay a penny in compensation, unless and until somebody suffers as a result. Why should pleural plaques alone be treated any differently?
Being completely internal, you do not even know you have got pleural plaques until somebody tells you about it. In recent years, it would seem lawyers have been getting together with doctors to go around telling people about it, so that they can suddenly get very worried about it and be encouraged to claim that they ought to be compensated for the worry.
But the worry is not caused by the plaques, it is caused by being informed of them by so-called professionals with a financial interest in getting you to make a claim.
If this campaign succeeds then, in theory, it would be a good business option for a law firm to team up with some doctors to offer the service of cutting people open to see what else they never knew they might be able to claim for. The precedent will have been set.
Social justice for those in England
From: Oliver Healey, Sunningdale, Hadley, Telford, Shropshire.
BRITAIN'S democracy has only been part finished, its evolution not yet complete and its model of government smouldering in flames of contempt and voter distrust.
Devolution from Westminster and Whitehall has enabled the drumbeat of social justice to beat louder in Scotland and Wales and in Northern Ireland, but England, the majority partner in the British Union, does not get devolution.
Until the flame of English Liberty erupts from this barren soil and reclaims social and equal justice for every one living in England, no matter what colour or religion, England will not be the strong and fair community that will deliver prosperity for all its citizens,
but a bankrupt and socially deprived society.
Test for buggies
From: Barry Bevitt, Halfpenny Lane, Pontefract.
YOUR report on the latest police clampdown on illegal mini-motorbikes (Yorkshire Post, July 27) made good reading, but when are the police going to do a similar clampdown on these electric invalid buggies which are now running around our pavements?
While I know there are a lot of people who need these buggies as a means of independence, they should have, at least, some sort of capability test, and carry some insurance.
View of the past
From: Don Burslam, Elm Road, Dewsbury Moor.
HERE's a turn-up for the book. My sister-in-law was rooting through a box and found some negatives of my father when he was in French Guinea around the turn of the century.
On inquiry, I was amazed to learn that these could be developed, though they would need special treatment.
As these are now more than 100 years old, I await the results with interest. If anyone out there has any old negatives, they may be interested to hear these can now, apparently, be developed.
Old programme
From: Beryl Pearson, Gibson Close, Hambleton, Selby.
WHEN I saw the archive photograph in the Yorkshire Post of Leeds City Varieties, it reminded me that I have one of the last programmes of The Black and White Minstrel Show at Scarborough. I wonder if many people still remember them? It is a souvenir programme and gives details of all the artists. This show was apparently formed by Robert Luff.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Tuesday 07 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -8 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: -5 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
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