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Friday's Letters: The untainted Speaker we should have got
SURELY the nominees for the Speaker should have been selected on the basis of whether they have been fair with their expenses. Not so.
John Bercow, who lives 48 miles from London, flipped the designation of his main and second homes between London and his constituency and designated each as his main home when he sold it. He paid no capital gains on either sale.
He then voluntarily paid the taxman 6,508 plus VAT. He claimed 143,445 in allowances from 2001 to 2008. He is unpopular within his party so why on earth has he been chosen?
Why was he even allowed to stand along with the odious Margaret Beckett, of "600 for hanging baskets" fame?
Compare this to Ann Widdecombe who lives 42 miles from London and stays in London when working late but otherwise commutes home every night.
Her expense claim amounted to 858 on her second home.
Whether you like Ann Widdecombe or not, she is fair, firm and honest and would have stood no nonsense and has stated that if she were to become Speaker she would not let anyone get away with blaming the system.
Perhaps this is why they did not select her – and the fact that she is a woman.
From: Janet Berry, Hambleton.
Dairy farming runs risk of disappearing
From: Terry Palmer, South Lea Avenue, Hoyland, Barnsley.
IN answer to David T Craggs's question, "What is happening to dairy prices ?" (Yorkshire Post, June 24) the answer is simple. Foreign imports are cheaper than our dairy farmers can produce – at the moment.
Just as we all stood by and watched steel, engineering and coal closed down and given away to foreign imports without as much as a whimper from the general public, the same can be said of much of British farming which will be forced out of business by cheaper imports.
We were told that our coal and steel was too expensive to produce and therefore had to go. Is this the same excuse now given regarding our farmers, that their products are too expensive to produce so they will have to go?
Is that why our own people prefer to buy cheaper imports than our own more expensive British produced items? Of course, when our own farm producers are "killed off" by
our fellow EU friends then prices, as with coal, steel, etc, will rocket. And make no mistake we will still stand idly by and let it happen.
Reporter shows his ego
From: Terry Duncan, Greame Road, Bridlington, East Yorkshire,
THE BBC's bumptious John Simpson surely played no small part in getting the ire up of the Iranian government with his persistent posturing like a pompous peacock puffing out his chest in front of a mass of protesting Iranians while reporting their opposition to the recent election result.
Can he not, like talented frontline journalists, just give his commentaries alongside the camera instead of always expanding his extensive ego right in our faces via our TV screens?
No wonder he was sent packing out of Iran. Maybe the BBC should also show him the front door?
Council has lost its way
From: Professor JA Double, Carlinghow Hill, Upper Batley, West Yorkshire.
I FOUND the article by Fiona Evans (Yorkshire Post, June 23) highly amusing and very apt. I also strongly agree with the comments made by Marie Clair of the Plain English Campaign and Matthew Elliott of the TaxPayers' Alliance.
Kirklees Council's advertisement for a Director of Organisation Development is pure gobbledegook and for the council's Director of Human Resources, Cliff Stewart, to say that it "will mean a lot to the sort of people who are looking at this", simply compounds the stupidity and almost certainly means that the council is creating yet another "non job".
It is hard to see and would be impossible to justify how such a position would result in improved services to the council tax payers of Kirklees.
The real problems in the public sector have been created by the establishment of directorates and layers of administration at the expense of reducing the numbers of "frontline workers".
The notion that bringing in a person at a salary of 119,000 per year simply shows that the council has completely lost its way and the poor council tax payers will have to continue to pay for their folly at a time where such a sum of money could clearly be put to a better use.
Aggression from cattle
From: Ann Younger, Saxford Way, Wigginton, York.
FOLLOWING the tragic death at the weekend of a walker near Gayle, there has been much discussion in the media about the effect that dogs have on cattle, especially those with calves.
This is understandable but we have walked in several parts of the country, never with a dog, and have noticed in recent years that cattle have become more aggressive towards us. We are always quiet and try to keep away from the cattle but have had to beat a hasty retreat on several occasions as they began to run at us.
It does not seem to make any difference whether there are calves with them or not, or whether there are two of us or a larger group.
Having discussed this problem with family and friends, it would appear we are not alone in experiencing increasing aggression from cattle. At the very least it is spoiling what should be an enjoyable pastime in beautiful countryside and at worst results in tragedy as we saw on Sunday.
Can any of your readers offer an explanation as to why this
is happening?
Toilet plea for disabled
From: Sarah Hewitt, Fieldway Rise, Leeds.
AS a supporter of the Changing Places campaign, I think it is a disgrace that Leeds City Council doesn't provide public toilets that meet the needs of local people with severe disabilities and their carers.
People with profound and multiple learning disabilities need Changing Places toilets – with a hoist, changing bench and plenty of space. Without them, carers are often forced to change their disabled loved ones on dirty toilet floors.
Leeds City Council has yet to install a Changing Places toilet. People with profound and multiple learning disabilities should have the same opportunities as everyone else. Carers have enough to contend with – let's not make their lives harder by denying them the right to basic public facilities.
Rail has vital part to play in easing congestion
From: Coun Elizabeth Nash, City & Hunslet Ward, Leeds.
AS a Leeds city councillor representing Hunslet and the City Centre, I have been briefed by council officers on the proposed new trolley bus route.
I take the point of Geoff North (Yorkshire Post, June 23) that trolley buses are less polluting at the point of use, but I accept that they are quieter and smoother running than our noisy, jerking diesel buses.
However, my support for the introduction of trolley buses is qualified. At a fraction of the cost of providing this new mode of transport, all the closed suburban rail stations in Leeds could be reopened including the much needed Marsh Lane Station at the eastern side of the city centre.
I thoroughly support the reopening of the rail line from Harrogate to Ripon. It is monstrous that the fine city of Ripon should be denied access to rail transport. But, although desirable, the line from Ripon to Northallerton surely cannot be given priority over the problems Leeds has with commuter traffic congestion? Northallerton still has an open rail station on the main East Coast line with direct connections to London, York and Leeds, and to Harrogate via York.
Forty thousand cars come into Leeds every day and the people living in my ward take the brunt of it. It is proposed that the first trolley bus line from the south of Leeds will be in association with a park and ride scheme for cars coming off the M1/M621.
But we need to reopen rail stations in the Aire Valley and the periphery of the city – Arthington, which would serve not only Otley and the lower Wharfe Valley, and also Bramhope with a park and ride scheme.
Network Rail recently announced a 1.5bn profit. Some of that profit should be invested in reopening rail stations and much needed
rail lines.
Sanity in the power industry
From: Roger M Dobson, Ash Street, Cross Hills, near Keighley.
I WRITE with reference to the potentially explosive situation in the country's power industry.
Surely the workers at the Immingham oil refinery were aware that they had accepted the rules regarding any industrial action that might be deemed necessary by their union leaders?
It is obvious to me as an ex-employee that by going on wildcat strikes the oil refinery workers acted completely illegally, leaving themselves fully open to disciplinary action.
Therefore I must say that the workers who have been dismissed have brought this on by their own volition. In the interest of sanity in the power industry, all that remains to be done is for the sacked workers to return to work and eat humble pie.
Quango toll
From: Kevin Maguire, Hanover Street, Batley.
HOW many quangos are still in Yorkshire and the UK? The front page of the Yorkshire Post (June 16) gave us stark reality of how much it is costing the country with payouts such as those to Yorkshire Forward.
Surely the time has come to close down committees and quangos. As any Yorkshire man will say: "Enough is enough."
Life's lessons
From: Len Bentley, Francis street, Scunthorpe, North Lincs.
I TAKE it Becca Morgan (Business Week, June 23) will exclude babies, the elderly and the disabled from her "If you snooze you lose" dictum?
Young businesswomen are often too enveloped in their own "get what you can" philosophy of life. Thankfully, there is still a more thoughtful philosophy of life on the agenda.
Wrong word
From: Elisabeth and Edward Baker, Broomhill Crescent, Leeds.
IN your item on Pc Mohammed Aziz (Yorkshire Post, June 13), you noted that he had received an award in 2007 "for his work in diffusing tension" in his local community. As this suggests that he was spreading tension, perhaps you really meant to
say defusing?
Own goals
From: Trev Bromby, Sculcoates Lane, Hull.
I FIND it absurd that the Tories, and other parties, are baying for a General Election. It makes less sense than the clowns who bulldozed their way into taking over HBOS, the biggest, whitest elephant in the universe.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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