YP Letters: Farmers must lead the fight against fracking

AGRICULTURE has been the primary industry of every nation since the beginning of time, a fact which highlights the importance of food production. In England it is now facing the greatest threat it has ever known, from one of the most dangerous industries ever known to mankind – fracking for shale gas.

Yet, our own dictatorial government is hell bent on forcing this upon us, and will stoop to anything to get their own way.

I urge all farmers to learn more about it, because being a lifelong farmer myself, I feel deeply concerned about the enormous risks involved.

Our MP Kevin Hollinrake says it can take place here, because he will ensure it is done safely.

What an irresponsible statement.

Besides the terrible disturbance and defacing of Yorkshire, our precious pure air and water supplies will be in grave danger.

Whichever commodity we produce, be it cereals, beef, milk, sheep or vegetables, it will take just one hint of contamination for our buyers to immediately reject our produce.

This is not scaremongering, this is the stark reality of fracking. Our businesses will fail and our land will be worthless. Will Mr Hollinrake compensate us? The answer is no!

It is quite clear that the future wellbeing of our wonderful land, of our agriculture and its allied industries and of our communities, rests entirely on our own shoulders.

Brexit bias at the BBC

From: Martin Gott, Otley.

JAYNE Dowle says ‘in an uncertain world there is one thing we can rely on, and that’s BBC Radio 4 (The Yorkshire Post, August 11).

Mmm, I wonder. Like her I’ve been a Today listener for many years – Jack de Manio was presenting when I first started listening – but I’ve been struck by the programme’s increasing liberal-left bias and in particular by its not-so-subtle anti-Brexit stance in the recent referendum campaign.

Nowhere was this more obvious than in the 8 o’clock news bulletin in June when Lloyds Bank announced branch closures and job losses. It was the main news headline and was presented thus: “Lloyds Bank announces job losses and branch closures following Brexit vote.”

I wrote to the BBC Complaints Department drawing attention to the fact that the Lloyds decision was not linked to Brexit and had been made before the referendum (when all the polls were predicting a vote for ‘Remain’). I might add that, to my knowledge, two journalists of national broadsheets had made similar observations.

The reply from the BBC was a load of guff about presenting the same story “across all news platforms” but, importantly, not acknowledging that there was any merit at all in my claim.

Incidentally Jack de Manio lost his job at the BBC because of his anti-EU views – plus ça change…

Labour lacks business sense

From: Don Burslam, Elm Road, Dewsbury Moor, Dewsbury.

JUDGING by recent speeches, I am afraid Labour, like the leopard, will not be changing its spots. Its policy, such as it 
is, seems to boil down to how best to distribute the nation’s resources rather than how to generate or encourage wealth creation.

This does seem to be attractive enough to some sections of the voters, but Labour does seem to be reverting to its historic priority of putting the emphasis on increasing expenditure with insufficient attention to finding the extra money required. Raising taxes stifles business.

Mr Corbyn played a large part in the Brexit vote by his failure to mobilise his party’s support for the EU, but the resulting damage to the economy hardly helps him to achieve his aim to increase spending by the state.

Labour’s parliamentary party seems largely composed of people with little experience of business or the supply side of the economy so there can be little confidence in their ability to improve the economy before they start spending the proceeds.

Ukip are not all ex-Tories

From: David Daniel, Landseer Avenue, Tingley.

IT was interesting to read about my MP for Morley and Outwood, Andrea Jenkyns, in relation to the “Leave” campaign (The Yorkshire Post, August 13).

However, the media never seems to state that Brexit only came about due to Ukip’s campaigning over the last 20 years.

I have been active in public life since 1959, and Nigel Farage said I have more political knowledge than any other person in Ukip.

I knew Alice Bacon, Harold Wilson, Hugh Gaitskell, Denis Healey and many others, being a Gaitskellite, but left the Labour party due to it being in favour of staying in the failed, undemocratic EU.

It gets up my nose when the media say that Ukip are all ex-Conservatives. I hope they are more accurate in future.

Homes hope

From: Mr D Morgan, Summerbridge, Nidderdale.

SURELY the front-page headline “North of England hit worst by house price fall” (The Yorkshire Post, August 11) would have been better phrased as “Hope for first-time buyers in North of England as house prices fall”.