If the police are not out on the streets, fewer knife crimes and stabbings will be detected - Yorkshire Post letters

ON national television on Monday night, Theresa May stated that the dreadful rise 
in knife crime was not related 
to huge reduction in police officers in this country. To paraphrase Mandy Rice-Davis during the Profumo scandal, 
she would say that, wouldn’t 
she?

She was the hugely unpopular Home Secretary (within the Police Service) who started the cutbacks when all forces were asking for increases.

Those cutbacks have continued at a rate and we 
are served by a police service which is understaffed, underequipped and under great pressure.

Of course, if the police are 
not out on the streets, less 
checks will be made and fewer knife crimes i.e. carrying an offensive weapon, will be detected before the chance of their use.

From: Barrie Crowther, Walton, Wakefield.

UNFORTUNATELY we are now reaping the rewards of Britain’s ‘open door’ policy of the last Labour government (The Yorkshire Post, March 4).

There can be no doubt allowing people from virtually lawless countries to come and live here has led to an increase in violence and knife crime on our streets.

The children of these no-discipline families are now in their late teens and early 20s, showing no respect or responsibility for their actions.

Warn mobile phone users

From: Hilary Andrews, Nursery Lane, Leeds.

ONCE again the question of how to stop drivers using their mobile phones whilst on the road has arisen (The Yorkshire Post, March 4).

Why isn’t it possible for other drivers on the road to help the police by telling them the number plates of the offenders?

A warning letter would then be sent informing them that they had been seen and further transgression would result in prosecution. This would stop many from repeating their behaviour.

MPs blinded to climate crisis

From: David Cragg-James, Stonegrave, York.

I WONDER if your readers are aware that an important debate around climate change and related issues took place in the Commons last week during which Zac Goldsmith and Caroline Lucas, to name but two, made substantial statements underlining the gravity of the crisis we find ourselves in concerning climate change.

Whilst the point is moot, it is at least doubtful that there is a more important subject for debate than this, which concerns the precarious nature of our very future upon planet Earth.

What is, to say the least, disappointing is the paucity of members present, and one wonders if our representatives are blinded to the big picture by virtue of the fixed nature of the Government term of office. Were our local MPs present? If not, why not? Are they deniers – a dying breed?

Time to stop donations?

From: Paul Morley, Ribblesdale Estate, Long Preston, Skipton.

PERHAPS David Lammy, the Labour MP, is right when he thinks we, whites, are being condescending towards countries in Africa and the developing world. So, let’s stop giving to all these charities, get rid of Red Nose Day and other televised scroungeathons, get 
rid of TV ads trying to get me to pay for children to have operations to save their sight and rectify hare-lips in countries that manage to afford space programmes and nuclear deterrents.

Let’s get rid of the foreign aid budget as well while we’re at it. I’m sure I’ll be a better person for it.

Watershed for bet adverts

From: Brian H Sheridan, Lodge Moor, Sheffield.

HIGH profile Sky Sports TV personalities Jeff Stelling, Phil Thompson, Paul Merson and Charlie Nicholas deserve credit for their charity work for prostate cancer.

However, their lapel badge for the cause is insignificant compared with the overwhelming exposure they give to a betting company. Actor Ray Winstone is another famous face whose work for the prostate cause is much less well known than his promotion of the gambling industry.

Commercial TV sport is constantly interrupted by gambling publicity: little wonder that gambling debt is an increasing social problem. I would like to see a ban on TV betting adverts at least before 9pm. The token closing caution – “And please, gamble responsibly” – is pathetic.

Fund unlikely to help towns

From: Roger Backhouse, Upper Poppleton, York.

HAVING visited most of Yorkshire’s cities and quite a few towns in the last nine months, I’d say almost all are suffering. Problems include economic uncertainty, limited spending, major retailers closing and out of town/internet competition. Facilities are all too often shabby reflecting the dire financial position of local government.

The Government’s planned Stronger Towns Fund is unlikely to help (The Yorkshire Post, March 5). It is a fraction of what the Government has robbed from Yorkshire local government since 2010, a case of far too little, too late.

It may be a Brexit-related bribe. I suggest it also shows how out of touch the Conservatives have become in government. They have no idea of the damage their cuts have caused to the fabric of society. The Stronger Towns Fund is little short of an insult.