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Thursday's Letters: Do-gooders who excuse the moronic yobs
MANY readers who visit Bridlington will be familiar with the cliff-top field situated mid-way between the north promenade and Sewerby village.
While strolling there on Sunday with my dogs, I paused at the picnic table in the middle of the field, where several lager cans had been tossed on to the grass.
I walked across the field, intending to sit on the brand new sturdy log-construction wooden bench which the council has provided in recent weeks, only to find that its right leg had been literally dug up and the bench top smashed off and laid beside.
In the nearby copse, I discovered the ground scorched by fire, ripped branches hanging off the beautiful trees, and a large pile of beer cans, bottles, food containers and sundry dumped junk.
My wife and I then visited a local ings, where the colourful information board was found laying upside-down in the undergrowth.
The sad remains of the once-useful structure revealed that its baseplate was constructed of concrete and its top was fortified with steel mesh and steel bars which once held it firm within the concrete. Its robust construction proved no match against its enemy, who must have put considerable time and great effort into destroying this amenity.
In viewing the weekend's mayhem, my immediate thought was to wonder what exactly goes on in the single-cell brains of the perpetrators?
My instincts guided me to think of these people as obnoxious, moronic yobs, but I felt better when I recalled the words of our many do-gooder liberals who advise us that these people cannot ever be blamed for their actions.
We can only feel sorry for the poor guy, as he digs up an innocent bench and flings his lager can aside, and think that, perhaps he was sadly mentally scarred when shouted at by a teacher when six years old.
From: Adrian Booth, Trinity Avenue, Bridlington.
Waiting for a decision on Trident
From: Dr K Swann, Summerdale, Gomersal, Cleckheaton.
SO much attention and effort is being made by our Parliament regarding the issues surrounding members' allowances and the future necessary actions, now compounded by the revelations regarding BBC executives receiving more than our Prime Minister, that there is little attention being directed to more important issues. One being the future of the Trident missile system.
Readers will remember that during Tony Blair's period as Prime Minister he took the decision to renew the UK's Trident system by replacing the existing Vanguard class boats with a new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines to carry nuclear weapons, at the same time agreeing to take part in the United States's programmes of new generation of missiles to replace Trident.
Over such a sensitive issue, it is perhaps not surprising, bearing in mind the recent steps towards global non-proliferation, that the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee has said the Government needs to better explain the reasons for the Trident renewal decision.
The committee has published a report calling for an update on the progress of the renewal timetable and has urged the Government not to take any decisions that would push the design process of the submarines through the next stage until Parliament has carried out detailed scrutiny of the issue.
Bearing in mind rising levels of public debt and a shifting geopolitical landscape some politicians have changed their minds about Trident renewal.
Indeed, the Liberal Democrats have become the first mainstream party to say they would not renew Trident with an equivalent system. We await the view of the Government and the Conservative Party and the considered views of the United States on this delicate issue following further discussions by our Government.
Aunty's way with cattle
From: Patricia J Mellor, Rowan Lane, Hellifield.
WITH regard to cattle (Yorkshire Post, June 26), my father used to tell a tale of walking through fields between Carleton and Elslack, near Skipton, in the 1920s.
He was with two sisters and great aunt, a retired farmer. Upon reaching the middle of one pasture, a herd of cows galloped towards them and
my father and sisters ran to safety.
When they looked round they were astonished to find aunty in the centre of the herd, shouting: "Nay, they're nobbut stirks". Stirks being small bullocks.
Lively or frisky cattle are often mistaken for aggressive cattle, but that is not usually the case. There are numerous factors which contribute to such behaviour in the beasts – for example inquisitiveness, being recently released from confined spaces like over-wintering indoors and transportation in cattle wagons or trailers.
Others are being protective of their calves and can be aggressive. This is innate animal behaviour and probably has not changed since the beasts were first domesticated in the Neolithic period about 4,000BC.
From: Trisha Lawty, Field House, Driffield.
TO cows, dogs are wolves and cows will protect their young from these "wolves". They always will. It must go back to a time to when cows were living in wild herds and had to protect their young from marauding packs of wolves.
The cow is a docile animal usually, but like any animal will protect its young (Yorkshire Post, June 22).
Each breed of cattle has its different traits. The Hereford was docile and easy to handle (usually), but Herefords seemed to fall out of favour with the meat-buying public. Farmers now have different types of cattle, some of which are continental and are not so docile. When I was young it was known not to go into a field of cattle and definitely not to take a dog in among a field of cattle.
I live on a farm and when we go into the shed to feed the bullocks we know not to turn our backs on them. Also bullocks think they are playing with you but can cause a lot of damage because they are so strong.
No farmer would want his cattle to harm anyone. All farmers want to do is keep healthy stock and produce food. My heart goes out to the family of the walker who died.
How Hitler got to power
From: John Abbott, Newland Avenue, Hull.
IF Alfred King (Yorkshire Post, June 23) really thinks the BNP aren't fascist, I fear that living in Worcestershire may have left him a little short of information.
Granted, he might be expected to have heard of the BNP's line on repatriation – they say it would be lawful, humane and voluntary when it would be none of these things.
Yet he would have to have tried a little harder to be aware of Marlene Guest, the BNP Euro-election candidate in the Yorkshire and Humber region, who has questioned the extent of the Holocaust, or to be aware of her successful running mate Andrew Brons MEP's dodgy fascist track record.
No. Giving "someone else" a chance got Germany Adolf Hitler, gas chambers, and many years as a global pariah. That isn't being a major player, Mr King – it's the sort of thing you get for electing fascists. Do we really want it here?
More balanced outlook needed from the media
From: Keith Wigglesworth, Mead Way, Highburton, Huddersfield.
I SWITCHED on the television to watch my favourite programme, the Six O'Clock News, to hear the announcer state that "the whole world mourns the loss of Michael Jackson", but after 15 minutes of the same, I switched it off again.
People interviewed were, "distraught", "gutted", "beside themselves with grief" etc.
I understand that Terry Wogan devoted his whole programme to Michael Jackson music, stating again "the whole world is devastated".
Let's be clear about this: the whole world isn't "gutted", "distraught" or "devastated".
I for one, and I cannot imagine I am alone in this, apart from a natural sympathy for his family on their loss, remain totally unmoved and am heartily sick of being lumped in with "the rest of the world" and so-called celebrity views and opinions.
Farrah Fawcett, who has also died after bravely battling an awful illness, has had her passing sidelined by the media mass hysteria over Michael Jackson.
There is tragedy and strife around the world of a much greater magnitude than this and it should be put into perspective with a much more balanced outlook from the media.
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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