YP Letters: Leeds and its transport '˜do it on the cheap' culture

From: ME Wright, Harrogate.

LEEDS City Council “... seeks answers to transport farce” (The Yorkshire Post, July 19).

A farce is funny; the woefully obsolete state of Leeds public transport is more of a tragedy. Holding an inquest into what went wrong and why is pointless.

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That has been transparently obvious for years. It has been thoroughly and endlessly dissected and chewed over in The Yorkshire Post, who seem to have a much better grasp of the city’s realities than the council has.

Ever since the 1950s, Leeds has been stricken and infected with a “do it on the cheap” culture when it comes to public transport.

The petty cash “silver lining” of £173.5m left over from the trolleybus fiasco strongly suggests that this is set to continue.

If the city council and MPs of every stripe show Westminster that they mean business, is there any reason why one or two of the promised Brexit billions might not be used to build a desperately-needed, 21st century tram system?

Sounds of a broken Britain

From: Craig Beaumont, Leeds.

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I SEE reports that a man is being investigated for placing a “cocky” child in a headlock after the boy refused to remove his feet from a train seat in Manchester.

When did it become socially acceptable to act like a tramp on buses and trains?

On Monday’s 770 bus from Wetherby to Leeds, I personally saw two youngsters with their feet on the seats, “jungle” music blaring out of a phone.

Of course no one had the courage to step in and ask them to behave in a more sociably acceptable manner.

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This is “broken Britain,” where such requests often result in verbal abuse or a knife in the ribs.

It’s about time parents started teaching this riff-raff some decent manners on public transport.

Close road for a litter pick

From: Andy Hicks, Station Road, Burley-in-Wharfedale.

I APPLAUD the last paragraph of Tom Richmond’s column (The Yorkshire Post, July 23) about the litter on the sides of our roads compared to that in Scotland, 
but he has clearly never walked along the grass verge at the side of the A9 on the Drumochter Pass.

The litter there is astonishing. If I had the power I would have it all collected, perhaps by the unemployed (one day litter collecting one day looking for work) and close the road whilst this was taking place for safety reasons.

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This would cause a major inconvenience to motorists and just might make them less likely to throw their litter out of their car windows.

Personal view of Orgreave

From: Les Arnott, Athelstan Road, Sheffield.

AS somebody interested in what was going on just three quarters of a mile from my home, and neutral, I strolled to Orgreave to spend an inquisitive hour, from a good hundred yards distant, on one of the ‘more lively’ days in the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike.

The behaviour of most miners was fine and the conduct of the police exemplary. They were well disciplined and stood up to enormous amounts of provocation without 
flinching.

Then, when the troublemakers really started to ratchet up their aggression – with objects thrown and some of the worst conduct and abuse that I’ve ever seen, the police remained the same –awesome in their formations.

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I was not there when police charges were made but must assume that the provocation had gone to even higher levels than what I had witnessed.

Assuming that to be the case, I must conclude that the police acted appropriately.

Had it been my call, on the day of my visit, I would have wanted to see arrests galore.

The behaviour of many miners was a disgrace. The police that I saw did not respond to extreme goading.

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Obviously, I only saw a snapshot of the events but it married with what others stated at the time.

A minister for social care

From: Mike Padgham, Chair, Independent Care Group, Eastfield House, Scarborough.

AFTER a generation of waiting, any hopes we had of new progress in social care have been swiftly dashed with the news that care of older and vulnerable adults has apparently been downgraded in importance.

The new Prime Minister has said she means to support the disadvantaged as she takes up the reins of Government, but the loss of a dedicated ministerial post for social care looks like a backward step.

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In my view social care should have its own Secretary of State and not be looked after by a parliamentary under-secretary of state for community health and care, however able he is, in a directorate that also includes digital, technology and local government.

Everyone agrees that social care is going through a crisis due to chronic under-funding and the impact of the economic downturn. As it settles to the tasks ahead, the Government needs to rethink this as social care needs to rise in priority, not fall.

Home-made home truths

From: A Wyatt, Pocklington.

WHILE I have never been serious about croquet, I am very serious about making jams, pickles, chutney, cakes and pastries.

This love of all things home-made was inherited from my mother.

What a pity that today’s generation have neither the time, nor inclination, to do the same.