October 3: Stakes raised over devolution: South Yorkshire goes it alone

Chancellor George Osborne clearly wants to inject some positive momentum into his much-touted Northern Powerhouse ahead of the Tory conference.

This announcement is also a terminal blow to those who believed that this area’s future economic prospects were best served by the whole county speaking – and acting – with one voice in order to maximise the priceless value of Yorkshire brand. It can only be hoped that this decision is not viewed, in the years and decades to come, as a missed opportunity. Yet, while leaders in West, North and East Yorkshire continue to finalise their future leadership model, the focus is now firmly on the south of the county.

The challenges are formidable after political leaders in South Yorkshire chose to align themselves with their counterparts in North Nottinghamshire and North Derbyshire. It is imperative that there is no duplication of effort – it will be a betrayal of the public purse if the new set-up leads to increased management costs. This must not happen, and enhanced public scrutiny will be key. However it remains to be seen whether the area’s elected mayor will command the confidence of residents when just 35 per cent of Sheffield voters backed this leadership model in the 2012 referendum. How ironic that the city with the least public backing for a Boris Johnston-style leader is now one of the first to accede to Mr Osborne’s desire for mayors to be created in every city-region.

And who should be mayor? Should it be a political veteran, like David Blunkett, or can an entrepreneur be persuaded to provide the type of dynamic pro-business leadership so often lacking in local government? Either way, it is vital that this blueprint works and delivers lasting economic growth. For, if the intended benefits fail to materialise, it won’t just be Sheffield 
and South Yorkshire that will be left paying a heavy price – the whole of Yorkshire will suffer too. That is why so much is now at stake.

Police in the dock

IF most police forces can deal with complaints in a professional and prompt manner, why has West Yorkshire been unable to do so until now? This is the most pertinent question emanating from statistics pointing to a 53 per cent increase in allegations levelled against officers, a rise attributed to the fact that the constabulary was not previously following the correct protocols when claims were made.

Trust is critical – public confidence in the police has been rocked by a number of scandals nationally – and these disclosures come at the end of a week in which West Yorkshire Police has come under fire for refusing to refund 16,000 parking tickets that had been issued erroneously by police community support officers as a result of an administrative error.

Yet, while there is probably a correlation in South Yorkshire between the increase in complaints and the child sex grooming scandal that continues to haunt the force, it is imperative that a complaints procedure is agreed for every force and applied consistently across the country.

Nothing less will suffice is the police are to regain the trust that has been lost in recent years. The sooner the police recognise the need to go the extra mile to restore public confidence, the better.

Stamp of approval: The lost art of letter writing

WITHOUT the letters written by our forebears, and great literary figures like Sir Winston Churchill, Britain’s history would be incomplete – their correspondence has helped piece together the great events of the past with a level of detail, and insight, which cannot be provided by tweets, restricted to 140 characters, and other electronic forms of communication.

However the importance of letter-writing, a lost art in an impersonal world, does not end here. Simply receiving a hand-written letter can a make a lasting difference to the wellbeing of the elderly and lonely according to research undertaken by the University of Leeds whose overseas students were paired with pen-pals.

Long may such schemes prosper. For, if these letters do survive for the benefit of posterity, they will reveal that 2015 was the year when attitudes towards the lonely started to change. All it takes is the cost of a stamp – and some humanity. Is that too much to ask?