April 14: Folly to waste £100bn on next Trident

DEFENCE Secretary Michael Fallon’s disgraceful personal attack on Labour party leader Ed Miliband over the replacement of Trident demonstrates that the Tories have conceded the General Election (The Yorkshire Post, April 10).

Their policies are so weak and electorally unattractive that they have to resort to smears – incidentally, and unfortunately, Labour is not opposed to replacing Trident.

I say unfortunately because the cost of replacement will approach £100bn. This is at a time when the national debt stands at £90bn and the NHS is desperate for increased financial spending.

Yet the Tories and Labour are prepared to spend such massive sums on a missile system that will never be used. Such a waste of taxpayers’ money is pure folly.

Instead of nuclear missiles, what is required is increased spending on conventional weaponry to tackle terrorists, wherever they maybe, as they are not China or Russia.

Better a pub than a lounge

From: Brian Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.

HOW encouraging that many Yorkshire pubs are still alive and well, especially real ale houses (The Yorkshire Post, April 10).

The smoking ban, the breathalyser, changing demographics due to immigration and cynical property developers masquerading as pub companies – some of which do not even brew beer – are all responsible to some degree for the demise of pubs.

However, while cheap supermarket alcohol is possibly the main culprit, Joe Public must share some of the blame. I recently met an old friend who I hadn’t seen for many years and asked him which was his local these days. “Oh, we don’t go to the pub any more,” he replied. “We take it in turns to drink at each other’s houses.”

How sad; I don’t want to be committed to visiting friends’ houses. Nor do I want an obligation to invite them to my house. I just want to go out and sit in a pub corner with a pint and The Yorkshire Post when I feel like it.

Waiting game for postman

From: Eric Vevers, Turnberry Avenue, Alwoodley, Leeds.

I WAS amused when reading Mrs J Hart’s letter “More personal to use postbox” (The Yorkshire Post, April 8), and particularly the lady’s comment that letters popping through the letter box is a good start to the day.

Lucky Mrs Hart! Where I live (and only a few hundred yards from a sorting office), you are more likely to receive one’s mail at the crack of teatime. Mail deliveries round these parts of Leeds 17 vary between 1 and 5pm every day and how nice it would be to hear one’s letters popping through the letter box as a start to one’s day. Not round here, Mrs Hart. Count yourself lucky!

Just to aggravate those of us in LS17 even more is that the last postbox collection each day is now 9am. Yes, 9am. Any mail one drops into the postbox during a normal working day doesn’t now get collected until the next day.

Call this a public service!

From: Tim Mickleburgh, Boulevard Avenue, Grimsby,

THOUGH this is emailed to you, I still feel that Mrs J Hart made a lot of sense in her letter to you about more traditional forms of communication.

To begin with, there is nothing more personal than receiving a handwritten missive or card. Today’s youngsters may text merrily away, but won’t have the piles of love letters to look back at longingly in later life.

More seriously, the fact that technology is constantly evolving and that we don’t print off things will impede future generations of researchers who will as a result lack the documentation to investigate their specialism.

Perhaps pen and paper therefore has its advantages after all.

Pot luck on charity cash

From: Bernard J Powell, Mersey Synod, Cemetery Road, Southport.

NOW that you can withdraw money from your pension pot, many people will be thinking of donating to charity. Unless you know the charity you could be paying towards expenses and salaries.

Why not consider donating a defibrillator to a local school or community centre? You can see immediately where the money has been spent and it will be a legacy for years to come ready to save lives.

There are many cardiac charities. If you are unsure please contact your local ambulance service.

Fat chance of getting it right

From: Keith Jowett, Silkstone Common, Barnsley.

LIKE many people, I genuinely try to keep to a healthy diet. However, recently conflicting newspaper reports do not seem to help. A strong link between diabetes and obesity strengthens my resolve to keep my weight down. Now I learn (The Yorkshire Post, April 10) that obese people are apparently less likely to suffer from dementia. Perhaps I should stop reading reports about healthy lifestyles!