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Wednesday's Letters: Public transport across the country is going off the rails
DOUGLAS Hartley (Yorkshire Post, December 22) may be able to quote an EC Directive but in saying it was responsible for rail privatisation he is wrong.
Network Rail, at present, is a not-for-profit company, and the East Coast Main Line is being run by the Government.
Railway privatisation was rushed through as a panic measure by John Major in an attempt to show an improvement in the nation's finances, but still left the taxpayer paying millions of pounds in subsidy each year.
This, of course, followed on the anti-nationalisation philosophy of his long-term mentor Mrs Thatcher.
Like many others, he unfairly compares travel facilities on the Continent without looking at the reasons for the disparity.
These countries never stopped investing in their public transport systems, unlike here.
Early in his letter, Mr Hartley appears to be disenchanted with Europe, but suggests in his last paragraph the Europeans should come and sort us out.
He should know that under a fragmented privatised system, no government can impose any kind of universal fares structure.
From: JW Smith, Sutton-on-Sea.
From: Bob Morrisson, Halifax.
REGARDING the lack of honour about the allocation of new railway carriages, we look forward to something which we need and are entitled to, and suddenly it is not being provided to deal with the ongoing growth in train usage in West Yorkshire.
I know politicians are trying to appear to be "trustworthy". This, frankly, says they are not, and furthermore they are totally out of touch when talking about being "green" and providing an alternative to traffic jams, nay gridlock.
I really thought Transport Secretary Lord Adonis would make a difference. He is both knowledgeable and passionate about the railway. I wonder what he will make of this? It does not happen anywhere else on the network.
From: John A Ramsden, Bath Road, Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire.
I CAN'T believe it. Some people have to work on Christmas Eve. I
wanted to find out the time of the last 268 bus on Christmas Eve between Dewsbury and Cleckheaton, so I looked online.
On the Metro website, there was no information about when the last bus actually ran. I emailed them on Friday, December 18, and got no
reply. I then looked on the Arriva bus company website, there was no information so I emailed them, but once again I got no reply.
Undeterred by this, I went into Dewsbury bus station on December 23 at 16:10. I thought that the travel office run by Arriva buses would have to know. I asked the woman behind the counter: "What time is the last 268 from Dewsbury to Cleckheaton?" She said that she had no idea, even though the bus was an Arriva bus and ran out of Dewsbury bus station.
She decided to ring the depot in Heckmondwike and asked them what time the last bus was running on December 24.
She told me all they could tell her was at that all buses were due back in the depot between 19:00 and 20:00, and the last bus could be as early as 18.00
I just cannot believe it.
From: Simon Taylor, Guiseley.
CAN anyone explain why public transport in the South of England grinds to a halt at the first sign of snow, while people living in areas like Leeds simply battle through the elements?
I've never been able to work this out.
From: Tim Mickleburgh, Littlefield Lane, Grimsby.
ONE reason snow and icy weather causes more disruption than in the past is that so many people have to travel to their place of education or work.
When I was young, I walked to school, sometimes going with my father as he went to his job at another school.
Meanwhile, my grandfather was employed at a printing works in the small town where he lived.
Problems during periods of extreme cold are a natural result of lives not concentrated in the immediate locality of your home.
From: David Mercer, Ilkley.
STRANDED Eurostar passengers have complained about a lack of communication. The Channel Tunnel operator has obviously taken lessons from Yorkshire's rail firms.
Hunting for the political solution
From: Norman Wall, Wallsend, Newcastle.
IF hunting stalwarts Kate Hoey and her cronies believe the present Hunting Act isn't working, why then are they pressing for it to be repealed as a priority if hunting crony, David Cameron, God forbid, becomes our next Prime Minister (Yorkshire Post, December 26)?
Wily Blair and Brown privately had no qualms about blood sports but realised that just a mere hint to outlaw hunting with hounds was a massive vote winner always.
The Hunting Bill, which finally reached the statute book in 2005, pleased nobody, nor does it save wildlife to any great extent. The ban is flouted on numerous occasions and hard to pin down as intended.
Should hunting with hounds be re-instated, what is there to stop lesser mortals seeking to revive cock fighting and the like? However much the public dislike New Labour, animal lovers are hardly likely to support a frustrated fox hunter come the next election.
From: Patricia Schofield, Park Lane, Blaxton, Doncaster.
IN January 2006, I wrote to the Yorkshire Post to congratulate Labour MP Kate Hoey on becoming chair of the Countryside Alliance.
Once again, I find myself congratulating her on her comments about the Hunting Bill. She is right. The Bill is not working, and could be scrapped by next Christmas.
I say hoorah to that.
Dark days in Afghanistan
From: David T Craggs, Sand-Le-Mere.
WHAT a depressing picture Paddy Ashdown's article paints of the scene in Afghanistan (Yorkshire Post, December 19). I had to read the article twice, thinking that I'd missed a glimmer of optimism on my first reading, but no, there was none.
I was also amazed that he made no mention at all of the potential involvement of India. One thing is certain; that country will not stand idly by and watch Pakistan's nuclear arsenal fall into the hands
of terrorists.
From: David Quarrie, Lynden Way, Acomb, York.
MUCH of what Paddy Ashdown says about the failure of the Allied mission in Afghanistan is correct. There is a lack of working together with a sole strategy and purpose and plan.
It is very similar in many ways to what happened in southern Italy in 1943 and 1944 – so many different administrative bodies, comprising representatives from the United States, Britain, Russia and France, all attempting to advise (though not dictate to) the Italian government.
It was chaotic and thus thousands of Italians starved to death, and it took the Allies many, many months of extremely hard and difficult fighting to drive the exceptionally talented and brave German Army right out of Italy. We do not seem to learn very much.
Help us save the birds of prey from illegal killing
From: Kate Humble, President, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
I AM writing to say a huge thank you to all the thousands of you who have put your names to the RSPB's call to stop the killing of birds of prey.
Birds of prey are some of the most spectacular and inspiring of our wild inhabitants, yet every year many are deliberately killed. Some are shot, or poisoned or trapped; nests, eggs and chicks are destroyed.
Why does this happen? There are many reasons. Some people feel that birds of prey like peregrines, white-tailed eagles and hen harriers have an adverse affect on their livelihoods.
This fear is often exaggerated or misplaced. That is not to say that sometimes there is not a genuine conflict, but there are other ways to deal with this. Killing birds of prey is, after all, illegal.
We understand that livelihoods must be protected, but so must our birds of prey, and we really believe it is possible to do both.
The more names we have, the louder the message we send to those who break the law, and those who uphold it. Together we can make this stop. Nature is amazing.
No leniency for drug smugglers
From: John Watson, Hutton Hill, Leyburn, North Yorkshire.
WHY are we interfering in the criminal justice system of another sovereign state? Why is everybody becoming so sanctimonious over the execution in China of Akmal Shaikh, a 53-year-old from London, for drug smuggling?
You don't have to have a high mental age to know that the peddling of drugs in some Far Eastern countries carries the ultimate penalty.
The gentleman in question was carrying 4kg of heroin. In Imperial terms, that is over half a stone. You don't carry that amount by accident.
I have never been convinced of the deterrent effect of capital punishment for murder, but I consider the fact that some people are making millions out of other people's misery to be a greater crime and it deserves the strongest penalty.
The importation of drugs into this country seems to be on the increase and nobody can stem the tide.
Why must we be so lenient with such a foul trade? I suggest we take a leaf out of some of the Far East and put a stop to this nonsense once and for all.
Your starter for ten...
From: Martin D Stern, Hanover Gardens, Salford.
READING Father Tim Jones's advice to the really needy (Yorkshire Post, December 22) makes one think that we have been wrong all along to talk of the "Ten Commandments". Perhaps they should be renamed the "Ten Suggestions".
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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