YP Letters: Columnist economical with the facts over Jeremy Corbyn

From: John G Davies, Alma Terrace, East Morton, Keighley.
Are Tony Blair and Gordon Brown still to blame for the economy?Are Tony Blair and Gordon Brown still to blame for the economy?
Are Tony Blair and Gordon Brown still to blame for the economy?

BILL Carmichael’s economics are somewhat awry (The Yorkshire Post, September 30). He repeats the canard that “Tony Blair and Gordon Brown .... brought this country to the very brink of total economic collapse”. That was due to the dodgy activities of the banks, a scenario that appears to be repeating itself with Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank.

The mistake that Blair and Brown made was to continue the weak regulation of the banks that previous Conservative governments had installed.

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Secondly, his facile criticism of “Jeremy Corbyn’s tax and spend policies” is clearly politically biased and ignores the fact the all governments have to tax their citizens to pay for socially essential structures. How on earth is the NHS funded? How are new roads constructed? Who is going to pay for Trident?

He must be a “glassy-eyed disciple” of Ayn Rand to believe that we can run a decent first-world country with an ever shrinking tax base.

Finally, all governments borrow money to pay for large projects, just as we do to buy a house or build and extension. The important thing is the interest rate, for the UK, Germany and France it is low; for Greece and Portugal high. With the current incredibly low rates, a government would be daft not to borrow for important projects.

From: Tim Hunter, Farfield Avenue, Knaresborough.

I DO wish that lefties wouldn’t smugly refer to themselves as ‘progressive’ politicians.

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I don’t see anything particularly progressive about going back to trade union domination of industry, returning to pacifist, non-defence policies, reintroducing punitive taxation and profligate public spending, and, desiring to continue being in the EU (resulting in unlimited immigration).

Pricier to buy in Britain

From: Paul Rouse, Main Street, Sutton upon Derwent, York.

WHEN I hear that the car manufacturers expect a handout if they end up paying a tariff to export into Europe following Brexit, I admire their audacity.

Currently, someone in New York State can buy a British-made supercharged Range Rover for £20,000 less than we can, even after paying local taxes. This, remember, despite our not yet having a trade agreement with the US.

Any tariff imposed on our goods by the EU must surely be matched by a corresponding tariff on theirs. As they export to us far more than we export to them, we will get a tidy income from this arrangement, from which we can easily afford to compensate UK companies whose profits suffer as a result of tariffs paid to the EU.

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However, the car companies can’t have it both ways. We should expect to pay less than other countries for British-made products, not more.

The UK is not just England

From: Keith Jowett, Silkstone Common, Barnsley.

IN discussing overcrowding and immigration, your correspondent Ian Oglesby makes a common mistake (The Yorkshire Post, September 30).

He states that the UK has four times the number of people per square mile as France. The comparison is roughly correct if we compare the density of population in England with that of France, but the figures are very different when including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs estimates for 2012 give the following figures for population density: France 118 per sq km, UK 268 per sq km, England 413 per sq km.

From: Shaun McMurrough, Harrogate

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SO there we have it. Nissan in Sunderland are demanding compensation if tariffs are applied. Another tax to subsidise all those that voted Leave to keep their jobs.

Time sport cleans up act

From: Jake Logan, London.

WITH Sam Allardyce and others, the “beautiful game” has taken a battering.

I suppose MPs will be glad the heat has been taken off their goings-on.

What with drugs in athletics and dodgy dealing in football, professional sport seems anything but sporting.

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We must have a massive clean-up or people will lose faith in sporting competitions.

From: Andrew Suter, Ampleforth, York.

WHILE the Football Association agonise over what to do over the recent allegations about Sam Allardyce and others, might I make a suggestion.

Rather than investigating 
long-dead or nearly-dead sex abusers, might the police like to turn their fire upon this subject?

The common law offence of misconduct in public office appears to fit the the circumstances perfectly. The maximum penalty is life imprisonment.

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This type of investigation, and a possible long stay in prison, would sort the matter out in double quick time.

Numbers don’t add up

From: Elisabeth Baker, Leeds.

YOUR correspondent writing about telephone call blocking is incorrect in saying that all numbers beginning with 0203 are commercial (The Yorkshire Post, September 29).

I have friends “down South” whose numbers begin 0203 
(or, more correctly, 020 3XXX XXXX).

It is used where other 
London numbers are running out, just as some numbers in Leeds now start with 3 or 8 instead of 2, which we all used to have.