YP Letters: Carry on with laughter from golden television age before PC

SOME of us were able to enjoy the frivolity of a hamper of 
‘Carry On’ films over
 Christmas.

Thank goodness for that era of British ‘holiday postcard’ humour to make us laugh and to get some sense of reality back!

It is funny how a group of adult men and women managed to work together in the 1960s and 1970s and make us all laugh. How did Messrs Scott, Syms and James manage all that titillation and innuendo without anybody screaming sexual harassment or intimidation?

How? Because they were all mature adults, enjoying themselves in the entertainment of others.

In today’s atmosphere of PC and not wanting to say, or do, anything that might be misinterpreted, our society is reducing itself to one of any inability to laugh at oneself and others for fear of being accused of sexual harassment, racism and prejudice.

Can we not all remember
the humour of Dave Allen, Frankie Howard and Peter Cooke? We could do with a
few Hattie Jacques and Thora Hirds today to re-establish
our sanity and a sense of proportion.

What sort of society have we created where one minute we are teaching our infants about same-sex marriage and their transgender options, when in the next breath adults are 
claiming sexual assault when they are helped onto a bus or train?

What a Carry On! Can we all try to be a bit more grown up in 2018?

Free parking only for fast

From: Brian Greenhough, Hemsworth.

I VISITED Pinderfields Hospital, arriving at 8.45am for a 9am appointment. After my doctor had seen me and I got to the ticket machine at 9.20am, the cost was £2.

Parking is free for the first 20 minutes, but it is impossible to get from the car park to the hospital to see who you are seeing in 20 minutes – and then back. I would like to meet the person who came up with the 20-minute time limit to see how old they are. I’m 73 and even a lot younger person could not do it. The car parks are a fair way from the hospital. I do hope you can help.

From: Canon Michael Storey, Healey Wood Road, Brighouse.

THE current queries on the finances of the National Health Service were given an airing by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt when he said there are “big questions on funding”. It is good to know that he is aware of this!

The same applies to the roads and railways, plus the likely cost of Brexit. I wonder when this Government will consider all these issues sensibly and come up with some scheme to make good the funding shortages?

A rise in income tax could make a start so that the population of our country pays for these things in a reasonably fair way.

Labour’s war on discipline

From: Bob Watson, Baildon.

MANY of us have been concerned for years at the lack of respect and discipline within our society.

There is no doubt that this has significantly deteriorated over the last 30 years or so.

We now read (The Yorkshire Post, January 4) that whilst 84 per cent of Conservatives believe that schools should teach children to obey authority, only a mere 31 per cent of Labour members backed such a move.

No wonder things have always got steadily worse under any Labour government when so many of its members hold such depressing views. This really is a hugely concerning statistic. No wonder society continues to go “down the nick”.

Phonics not the only way

From: John G Davies, Alma Terrace, East Morton, Keighley.

CHRIS McGovern makes the error of crediting the teaching of phonics for the improvement in literacy shown in the 2016 PIRLS survey (The Yorkshire Post, January 2). The survey measured reading comprehension, but studies have shown that there is little connection between that and phonic ability.

English is not a phonetic language, unlike Spanish and Italian, its spelling has developed in a haphazard way. Examples of this can be found in “basic” words like on, one, only, once and lone vs gone. In the past teachers used a variety of methods, such as “look and say”, as well as phonics. Unlike the highest performing country, Finland, where teachers are allowed to use their professional judgment, ours are hidebound by an untrusting Government.

Don’t pay our politicians

From: Edward Grainger, Botany Way, Nunthorpe.

IF the Home Office proposals to recruit volunteers to guard small airports and ports to bolster current staffing levels is a serious starter (The Yorkshire Post, January 1), this could effectively begin a whole new concept of public service, especially if volunteers receive no pay. Could this catch on? Candidates for early consideration could surely be politicians.

From: Tarquin Holman, Marsden Court, Farsley.

NO new “Lords” in the New Year honours? Reason: No vacancies! It’s fully occupied by ex-Labour MPs, with “standing room only” for many who were elected to get rid of that un-elected place!

Try tolerance

From: Brian H Sheridan, Lodge Moor, Sheffield.

HOW sad that Aled Jones should be outraged that an ancient church in the Diocese of Manchester, St Thomas Werneth, has been adapted to cater for muslims (The Yorkshire Post, January 4) amid appeals for religious tolerance. I’m afraid, this simply another case of “if you don’t use it, you lose it”.