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As integrity vanishes, Britain loses its place in the world
From: Len Fincham, Warrels Road, Bramley, Leeds. BRITISH banks were the envy of the world, London the world centre for money, its uses and investments – but not today, nor will it ever come back.
The reason for its past position? Just plain integrity, and firm banking procedure by bowler-hatted men and women who put honour
before self.
Non-profit building societies were allowed by a Labour government to turn into profiteering banks who have broken the bankers' code – "no loans without collateral" – encouraging people to borrow without the hope of paying back.
This, in turn, exacerbated the steep rise in house values and the difficulty for people to even get a house.
To me, this is a very serious national crime for a few very greedy people to destroy many people's lives. This catastrophe will no doubt cause many family breakdowns and possible suicides.
They cannot blame the United States, only their dishonesty and lack of moral wisdom – putting self-interest first before that of their customers is the appalling consequence.
They should be stripped of all their personal assets, houses, cars, yachts etc including those put in wives' or partners' names, to be sold off and passed to the Treasury.
They should never be allowed to becomes executives in any business again, but allowed to claim a Jobseeker's benefit and a job if they can find one.
In my lifetime, this kind of event has happened twice
and I had to continue working until I was 79 to be able to have a moderately comfortable old age.
This is the second time, and should have been seen by this Labour Blair/
Brown Government when so many leading figures in the country were
shouting about the housing problem.
Even the media did their best to keep everyone informed right through Blair's disastrous period.
It was Brown who allowed the building societies to become "banks" without any restrictions. The "blood" is on his hands.
From: Peter Broadley FCCA, Broadley & Co, Stainland Road, Greetland, Halifax.
SO Gordon Brown spends my money and (more importantly) my children's money to buy shares in the greedy banks. It may be the only solution to arrest the problem that the lack of supervision by the Bank of England, the Treasury and the Financial Services Authority has caused.
To show how seriously the Government are taking the mess they have partially created, one has only to listen to Yvette Cooper (Mrs Balls by another name), on Newsnight the other evening.
Asked what the banks had agreed to justify the great bailout, she replied: "The banks have agreed to return to the lending levels of 2007."
Yes Mrs Balls, 125 per cent mortgage loan to cost, six or seven times self-certified income of the borrower. That recipe Mrs Balls, is just what we need again!
How about the tried and tested method – 80 per cent of the lower of cost or value and net weekly income to cover monthly repayment?
It worked before and it will work again.
Remember Mrs Balls, the money you (as a Government) have invested, has been borrowed, bearing in mind Gordon Brown's previous "form", when do you plan to repay it?
I think Mrs Balls, it sounds like you haven't a clue what you are talking about.
Tight-fisted Whitehall still holds back the railways
From: Colin Foster, Scalby Beck Road, Scarborough.
YOUR correspondent John Roberts (Yorkshire Post, October 13) accuses Dr Beeching of undermining our railway system through his report.
In fairness to the man, I think he was only doing what his paymasters, the government of the day, employed him to do: give justification to their plans for cuts and closures.
The late Sir Peter Parker – who was probably the best boss our nationalised railways ever had – said in a television interview that the greatest hindrance to railway development was "the dead hand of the Treasury". It was apparent in those days of state ownership that the railways were under-funded because of this.
Things seem to be no better now, despite the advent of "privatisation".
Because of the complicated structures for franchising the train operators, it appears that the Treasury, through the DfT, still holds the purse strings. I am told by people in the business, that it is the Treasury who ultimately control the building of new trains and more tracks.
If this is so, it seems that the train operators do not have the free hand at improving the system that privatisation would infer.
So, long after the days of Dr Beeching, the ability to plan ahead with vision and imagination is still being constrained by the tight-fisted attitudes in Whitehall.
We shall not have a first class railway system that copes with public demand until there is the political will to loosen this control.Cash down the drain over hospitals
From: Phil Bland, Brooklands Lane, Menston, Ilkley.
YOU report (Yorkshire Post, October 15) the news that the NHS is planning to spend 3.3m on a new community hospital on the site of the old Coronation Hospital in Ilkley, due to the run down nature of the old cottage hospital and the urgent need for new facilities for the good people of Ilkley.
Well, just five miles down the valley in Otley, there exists a brand new community hospital which those of us living in the area know to be grossly under utilised and, despite the protestations of the local NHS Trust to the contrary, is being slowly starved of new business so that presumably it can be sold off to the private sector in due course.
Of course, Wharfedale Hospital at Otley is managed by the Leeds NHS Trust while Ilkley's new facility will be managed by Bradford & Airedale Teaching PCT.
Whatever happened to the Government's promise of joined up thinking? How can the NHS justify spending this money?
No doubt the triumphant noises announcing the eventual opening of this new facility will be accompanied by the simultaneous announcement of the closure of Wharfedale General at Otley and another few million in closure costs.
The sound of empires being built, axes being ground and cash going down the drain is deafening.
Life on the poverty line
From: R Clarkson, Grosvenor Park, Chapel Allerton, Leeds.
I NOTED with interest the letter from Bob Nelson (Yorkshire Post, October 16) regarding the "Boots for Bairns" and in particular the reference to the area bordered by the markets and Eastgate in Leeds.
I lived with my parents and brother and sister at the bottom of Union Street just opposite to the Millgarth police station. Yes conditions were pretty poor, the house being a one up and one down, but somehow we got by.
As I recall, we did have two or three gas mantles for lighting and a tap, although this only supplied cold water. Most of the hot water was heated in a large kettle on the fireplace and this was used for bathing in a tin bath which everyone had to use.
The lavatory was a few houses further up the street and all families took turns in making sure it was cleaned out. Toilet rolls no, torn up paper yes!
We were rehoused when I was about eight years old, being moved to a council house with a proper bath and water heated by a fireplace back boiler which was considered the height of luxury.
I cannot recall particularly the Boots for Bairns but I am sure many families did benefit from this particular charity.
Who needs a computer?
From: Michael Swan, East Causeway Crescent, Leeds.
IF there isn't a home computer in a house, some people say it's unfurnished. If I have a computer, I can easily contact the computers of companies etc and deal with my business quickly.
If I haven't it takes much longer. I have to listen to a "welcome" plus a menu and wait for the service or system I've selected to answer.
I may even have been "treated" to some music.
Take an opportunity to complain, ie about the latter, and it is usually ignored.
You may be lucky and passed then to that rare thing, an actual human. That, usually, solves the matter very quickly.
Why don't I and 30 to 40 per cent of others want one? No unwanted emails, phishing expeditions or being framed for a criminal offence at least.
If I want to contact anyone, there's always the phone.
Oh yes, I don't have a mobile phone either.
Value of water
From: Brian Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.
KEITH Wigglesworth berates Environment Secretary Hilary Benn for wanting to make water meters compulsory (Letters, Yorkshire Post, October 13). I would have thought that any attempt to restore a little austerity to profligate Britain would be welcome.
Yes, it would take a while to educate the children of the throw-away society but it would have the immediate effect of making a lot of people think twice about wasting this most under-valued of commodities.
My neighbours have had a meter installed and, despite having two children, have found that, with a little care and organisation, considerable economies can be made.
However, I was not aware that we might be the only civilised country to use pure drinking water to flush our toilets. I do know that dual-flush toilets and mechanisms whereby the length of flush can be controlled manually are common in France where metered water is compulsory. Also, the pressurised systems in the United States do a better job than ours with a fraction of the amount of water.
I, for one, would like to hear from some experts in this field.
Silence over energy prices
From: Bob Crowther, High Street, Crigglestone, Wakefield.
DURING the last few weeks, oil prices have been slashed by almost half. In view of this factor, airlines have already started to cut their fuel surcharges. Petrol prices at the pumps have also been slashed.
The silence from the household energy suppliers and food suppliers, is almost deafening. They were the first to jump on the bandwagon, increasing prices as the price of oil increased. Doesn't the same apply when oil dramatically falls in price?
Why doesn't the Government intervene, taking into account the misery these fat cats have produced for millions of people?
Strife on the ocean wave
From: Denis Lax, Shipley.
COULD someone in authority arrange for a white van equipped with straitjackets to collect the board of governors for Hull Teaching Primary Care Trust and take them to the nearest mental health assessment centre (Yorkshire Post, October 14)?
Anyone who thinks that the purchase of a 500,000 yacht is required to enhance the health of unemployed teenagers deserves to be ejected from any public office. The teenagers interviewed on TV all agreed there were much better ways to spend the money. How about some worthwhile instruction on basic DIY or cooking skills to enable these teenagers to help their families and others in these difficult times?
Job solution
From: C Horsman, Coppergate, Nafferton.
THE unemployment figure totals 1.8 million. There are 1.5 million foreign workers. There seems to be a reasonable solution here.
Let the law do its job and leave us alone
From: David Marsh, West Close, Pontefract.
HOME Secretary Jacqui Smith states an intention to keep a record of the time, place, caller and recipient of every phone call made, text message or email sent, and every web page visited by every citizen in the UK.
Apparently, this will be something like six trillion records a year. Another enormous, dangerous, useless database funded by the hard-pressed taxpayer.
She says "there are no plans to retain actual content of the calls" which, of course, is the politicians' way of leaving the door open to do it in future.
Who can trust this, or indeed any government? So called anti-terror legislation has been used to snoop on parents, and to brand Iceland as a rogue state for having failing banks.
This pronouncement by Ms Smith is one more step in the Government's apparent wish to turn us all into suspects rather than citizens.
What good will all this information do? It will certainly offer hackers an easier route to identity fraud, and supply the civil service with yet more of our personal data to lose. Some people say that if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear.
The Home Secretary is trying to force ID cards on airport workers next year, and provide private family information to the database behind it. The workers don't want it; the industry doesn't want it, yet still they persist.
Let the law do its job with those who are suspected of crimes. Let them be charged and judged fairly when there is evidence. But leave the rest of us alone.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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