YP Letters: Belittling sex abuse insults all women

JOHN Riseley treats the 
women of Europe with 
disdain when he dismisses the attacks on them on New Year’s Eve in Cologne (The Yorkshire Post, January 13).

He forgets the attacks in Hamburg, Strasburg and
those in Denmark. His sympathies are with those committing these disgusting acts, which will leave these women scarred, in pain, and traumatised, probably for the rest of their lives.

We in Europe have continually been told to show tolerance towards these people, however they show no tolerance for our lifestyle or culture.

One would have thought 
that anyone who genuinely wanted to make a new life here 
would have shown a willingness to understand their new 
country.

They should be weeded out before they infect the true refugee. They should be made to feel marginalised, as this sort of behaviour is not acceptable. The perpetrators of these crimes must now be deported, they have lost they right to stay, regardless of what they tell us will be the consequences of their return to their own country.

By implication, Mr Riseley’s suggestion of ‘Angela’s Law’ is that women are to be blamed for the attacks.

That they should be accompanied by a male relative in what is a ‘free’ country’ with human rights is ridiculous.

I wonder what other sanctions he would suggest from his reality-free bubble in Harrogate, just so these sensitive marginalised people can feel at home. Perhaps our women should be placed under house arrest?

Very soon these people will have EU passports and will be free to tavel here.

I wonder how you will feel when similar crimes are being committed in North Yorkshire. Or will you still have your head in the sand?

Drive danger off our roads

From: ME Wright, Harrogate.

GREG Mullholland’s attempt to ensure condign penalties for contemptuous, dangerous drivers is long overdue (The Yorkshire Post, January 15).

An arrogant minority regard rules as being for fools and merely for their guidance. They will not accept that most of those with whom they share the road, are not blessed with the superior driving skills to which they lay claim.

If caught, they consistently escape with a financial wrist-slap and a few points.

Eventually, ‘totting up’ will bring a ban and we have to hope that they haven’t killed or maimed someone in the meantime. Except in the more dramatic cases, the media 
rarely gives details of past antics. Drunk driving etc is equated 
with TV licence evasion in the local Press court reports.

I’m told that lay magistrates have limited powers 
when it comes to banning boorish drivers.

Isn’t it time for a change, and why not have any ban followed by reversion to L plates and another test?

A lop-sided view of BBC

From: Ian Barnes, Blake Court, Wheldrake, York.

NEIL McNicholas (The Yorkshire Post, January 13) is a typical example of lop-sided and inaccurate reporting not only by this newspaper but the right wing Press in general, to try and make the general public think the BBC needs reforming in line with Tory wishes.

It’s the old adage, if you tell an untruth often enough and long enough people will believe it. 
Neil McNicholas makes the 
point that having reporters 
at the place an incident has taken place being a waste of time and money.

I totally disagree. By having reporters at the scene, the general public watching can see exactly what’s happening and in a lot of cases the severity of the situation, the recent flooding being a case in point.

However this type of reporting can expose Government failings, which doesn’t go down well at Westminster who want to control the information given to the British public.

Remember Michael Buerk’s report from Ethiopia in 
1984 regarding the famine. How many countless lives have been saved because we were exposed the terrible events unfolding there?

Ch-ch-changes can be good

From: Brian H Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.

THOUGH I usually disagree with him, your regular letter-writer John Watson comes across as a nice bloke who struggles with change.

It is a shame that he sneers
at the late David Bowie 
(The Yorkshire Post, January 
15). I would recommend 
him to Stephanie Smith’s 
tribute to the genius of the great man (Life and Style, 
January 15): “One of the 
most poignant tributes I heard came from a 12-year-old schoolboy musician on BBC Breakfast, who said that Bowie made him want just to be himself.

“No one seems to carry out research into the value of following your heart, finding your own path. In death, Bowie has reminded us what light and depth and wonder such a life can bring to us all. It’s the only (new year) resolution we truly need.”

Unshaven Coe looks the fool

From: Peter Hyde. Kendale View, Driffield.

WHAT fools men are. The 
sight of an unshaven Lord 
Coe on TV wriggling off the 
hook by denying knowledge 
of drug cheats is enough to 
put anyone off athletics for 
life.

The trend of mature 
men going unshaven just 
has the effect of making 
them look scruffy as their beards are always shot through with grey.

I find that men who try to follow a trend of youth just appear foolish.