YP Letters: Manchester's example to the world after arena bombing

From: Don Booker MBE, Monk Bretton, Barnsley.
Britain has been united in grief following the Manchester terror atrocity.Britain has been united in grief following the Manchester terror atrocity.
Britain has been united in grief following the Manchester terror atrocity.

WHEN readers will be asking why such things as the Manchester tragedy happened, let me offer a few words I received from Mother Teresa of Calcutta. At Heathrow Airport there is St George’s Chapel across the road from Terminal Two and is used by all denominations. I attended mass while waiting for a flight and was joined by a party of nuns wearing the famous blue Indian saris and recognised as Missionaries of Charity.

Then in walked Mother Teresa and joined in the service. At the conclusion I told her people of the world admired her work for the poor of Calcutta and in fact the rest of the world.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Her reply as she grasped my hand was this: “It is not the lack of food or money that is the poverty of the world, but the lack of love and friendship.” Love and friendship are powerful words and one can add prayer. The people of Manchester set an example to the world by responding in such a supportive way.

From: John Watson, Rowan Court, Leyburn.

AND so it has come to pass. Government policies over the 20 years have aided and abetted what happened in Manchester.

At the fear of being branded a racist, which I am not, somewhere in the Muslim community there is a jihadist who not only knows how to make a bomb but has the means of brainwashing a 22-year-old youth to press the button on such a device. Whenever an act of terrorism occurs, the Muslim leaders are the first to come on TV denying any knowledge of such a thing, followed by our political leaders shocked at what has happened and they usually end by saying the terrorists will not win.

But they are winning. Even the loss of one innocent life is a success to them and a tragedy to us. It seems there are quite a lot of young Muslims in this country going out to fight alongside IS in Syria. Why do we allow them back in this country? I would suggest, as jihadists, they are potential terrorists and it is the dreaded human rights legislation which has tied our hands.

From: Ian Senior, Kennedy Close, Dewsbury.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

I AM not a violent man, but if I was a father of one of those innocent children, who were killed or maimed whilst at a concert, I would not be responsible for my actions.

How much longer do we have to put up with a handful of radical Muslims killing us or chanting hate to us, the people of this country, who have let them enter here?

I do not understand why they hate us so much. If they do not like it here, why don’t they go back to where they came from? At the end of the day there is, in my opinion, one person to blame for these problems: Tony Blair. How does he sleep at night?

From: Nick Gray, Wynford Drive, South Elmsall.

SO Mrs May is supplementing the police force with soldiers.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

I wonder why that is? Perhaps it is to secure sites of possible attack or is it to help out a police force whose numbers have fallen from 256,072 staff ready for duty in March 2010 to 192,072 staff ready for duty in March 2016?

Who was the Home Secretary during these years? Oh our ‘strong and stable’ leader Mrs May. No wonder we have to draft in soldiers as the number of police officers has been reduced by a fifth. These cuts are a real danger to the people of this country in times when we clearly need more, not fewer police.

From: Ian Richardson, Railway Street, Beverley.

SO the reprehensible Katie Hopkins calls for a ‘final solution’ to the problem of terrorism.

Even if one can overlook the inappropriate use of a term inextricably linked to the Holocaust, it should be made clear that any moves towards finding a solution to these complex issues does not lie in the kind of inflammatory approach and language of Ms Hopkins.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Sadly there will be no final solution to human evil and fallibility but it would be one step in the right direction if Hopkins was treated with derision. As a proud Mancunian myself, we owe it to the victims of this awful tragedy to strive for measured and cerebral responses.

Let pupils visit farming show

From: Mrs Hazel Bramley, Ingleby Drive, Tadcaster.

AS suggested by David Behrens (The Yorkshire Post, May 20), I am very much in favour of schoolchildren being allowed to visit agricultural shows –especially the Great Yorkshire Show in July – without the risk of their parents being fined.

When I attended Appleton Roebuck Primary School, near York, in the late 1950s, the school was closed on the Thursday of the show, so that pupils would be free to visit.

Author would have approved

From: Nicolas Hawkes, Vice Chairman, JB Priestley Society.

MEMBERS of the JB Priestley Society were most interested to see Greg Wright’s column (The Yorkshire Post, May 13) invoking JBP’s legacy as a communicator against the “digital deserts”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

By chance some of us were making the Society’s annual spring walk the very next day, so read your piece with vivid memories. JBP did not always welcome all aspects of modern technology, but I’m right with you on this.

Day of rest is so important

From: B Murray, Halifax road, Sheffield.

WHAT an excellent article by Father McNicholas on Sunday trading (The Yorkshire Post, May 20).

He is right in saying that Sunday trading should never have been allowed – as a non-church going friend said to me the other day it makes sense to have one day off to rest and be with the family.

Perhaps the rise in mental health problems may not have been so great if everyone rested on that day.