YP Letters: Scrapping free TV licence for over-75s would be political suicide

From: G Cooper, Mill Street, Dronfield.
Should the TV licence still be free for the over 75s?Should the TV licence still be free for the over 75s?
Should the TV licence still be free for the over 75s?

MANY over 75s are concerned about the proposal that they should pay for a TV licence.

Bearing in mind that we “oldies” are most likely to vote, why would the politicians wish to commit political suicide?

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Remember that we’re the 60s generation. We have the ability and time to organise. What are our “leaders” to do when they discover that many of us can’t pay, and more of us won’t? Arrest us all? Chuck us in jail?

If they did, we’d be able to watch programmes for free anyway, and they’d have to get on at once with that “op” we’ve been waiting patiently for, otherwise our “human rights” would be infringed.

So don’t worry, it’s not going to happen.

The idea will be quietly dropped, and the BBC will have to find some other way of funding the salaries of the ex-public school “presenters”, “gardeners”, and “adventurers” who didn’t go into politics.

From: Hilary Andrews, Nursery Lane, Leeds.

SO the BBC is thinking of removing free TV licences for the over 75s. What a travesty this would be.

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Many older people rely on TV for companionship, particularly in this day and age when many families live far apart and visit rarely.

Why not take a few thousand pounds from so-called celebrities such as Graham Norton and Gary Lineker? I’m sure money could easily be made from such modest cuts of enormous salaries without depriving older people of their best friends.

Attitude that built railways

From: Michael J Robinson, Park Lane, Berry Brow, Huddersfield.

WHEN I read items and letters about HS2 (The Yorkshire Post, November 2), I often wonder where we would be today if the Victorians had taken the same ‘‘doom and gloom’’ approach to building the rail infrastructure which still serves us 150 years later. And they did it all without recourse to the sort of machinery available today.

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I stood at Bletchley station recently waiting for the rarity of a train which stopped on its way to Euston. I was astonished by the speed and frequency of the express trains which flew through in a continuous flow at intervals of only a few minutes. The system is stuffed full, allowing little scope for stoppers for the likes of Slaithwaite and Marsden. Heaven knows what would have happened if one of those trains had broken down.

The result of the Victorians’ ‘‘can do’’ attitude was the wealthiest nation in the world. Just the sort of spirit and attitude which will be necessary as we cut loose from the costly intransigence of the EU.

Burglary is a serious crime

From: Brian Sheridan, Lodge Moor, Sheffield.

CRESSIDA Dick, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in London, deserves praise for supporting Sara Thornton, head of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, who said: “I want us to solve more burglaries and bear down on violence before we make more records of incidents that are not crimes.”

I believe that burglary (Bill Carmichael, The Yorkshire Post, November 2) has been treated with astonishing laxity by the authorities in recent times. It has the potential for violent crime and should be treated as such.

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Too often have I heard reports of violent attacks, even murder, resulting from “a burglary gone wrong”. In any case, anyone who has been burgled will confirm that it is a always a sickening, personal shock.

Lives lost to gambling

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

SPORTS Minister Tracey Crouch has resigned from the Government (The Yorkshire Post, November 2) for it failing to clamp down on gambling machines.

Many statistics reveal that gambling destroys lives; two suicides a day has been a recent estimate. The public is faced with the temptation to gamble in the fixed-odds betting terminals, which seem to multiply in our high streets. Furthermore, when watching football matches on TV, frequent interruptions encourage on line gambling “while you watch”. I do hope that the Government introduces the cut in the maximum stake for fixed-odds at the earliest opportunity.

Questions of responsibility

From: AW Clarke, Martin Close, Louth.

IT was interesting to hear that the recent resignation of Amber Rudd as Home Secretary was due to her being wrongly briefed by a senior civil servant (The Yorkshire Post, November 3).

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It seems that the man in question has been moved to a different role. What is the betting that, when the time comes, that same civil servant will be included in the Honours List when he retires. Funny really, he gets ‘‘moved on’’ and the person who he is supposed to advise feels she must resign.

Tidal cost

From: Peter Hyde, Driffield.

WHILE I fully agree with John Goodman (The Yorkshire Post, November 2) that a Humber tidal barrier would be a wonderful answer to both flooding and power generation plus a gain in land mass, I can assure him that it will never happen in the near future for the simple reason of cost. We cannot afford an effective police service or a prison service or an effective health service for all, and we are already are spending billions on the unwanted and unloved HS2.