April 23: Why people are not inspired to vote in this election

WHO to vote for when you are in your mid-70s and just managing to last out these last gruelling five years?

It won’t be for the promise breaker or his schoolmate the Abacus Kid. The latter can’t get into any darts team as he’s never hit a target yet. If only I had been born in 1965 or later it would be much easier as 80 per cent of 50-year-olds don’t bother to vote.

For this the finger points directly at Westminster, both Houses – the so-called elected one and the unelected old pals one. The plan now being put forward is compulsory voting or be shot at dawn.

The ‘50s and under club would rather be shot than be seen going into a polling booth. I suppose I will spin a coin and if it comes down heads I will vote for the Queen.

Us “oldens” have got to stick together, haven’t we Your Majesty? And we won’t let them grind us down.

From: David Woosnam, Scartho, Grimsby.

WELL, the dust has settled on the latest TV Election debate, and the general view seems to be that Nicola Sturgeon is winning them all at a canter. Haven’t the Scots Nats missed a big trick here?

They should have put up a candidate in all 650 seats, and they would have swept the country in a landslide win.

Then they could have changed the name of the UK to “Caledonia”, and achieved immediate independence.

QED, eh?

From: Terry Duncan, Greame Road, Bridlington.

I HAVE just returned from an Inverness-based Highland holiday. In Scotland the preference is to rid the country of nuclear Trident submarines.

On the way home we drove past Rosyth where there lie numerous rusting relics of nuclear submarines of yesteryear. Both bases are costing the UK trillions of pounds.Also, they are a threat to the UK, dead or alive. So, the SNP has got it right.

From: Terry Palmer, South Lea Avenue, Hoyland, Barnsley.

SORRY to hear of the death of one of Barnsley’s own, Lord Roy Mason, at the age of 91 (The Yorkshire Post, April 21). A proper Labour politician and Barnsley MP who you just knew, unlike many of today’s Westminster ladder climbers, would never have ever betrayed the working classes.

Margaret Thatcher told us all we needed to know about Roy Mason when it was suggested to her that she ought to make him the Coal Board chairman. She replied “no, he’s not one of us” and gave the job to Ian MacGregor. How true – he was never “one of them”.

From: Eanna Ni Frithile, Clonard, Wexford, Ireland.

THE current level of welfare provision in the UK, about £65 a week, is regarded with genuine shock, here in Ireland, where the basic welfare payment is twice as much. Yet we are told that more welfare cuts are on the way. This quite brutal regime is, of course, also being applied in Northern Ireland. The question must be asked: where is the money going?

If Ireland can provide a basic payment of £140 a week, why can’t the UK, with, in fact, a lower unemployment figure?

From: David Treacher, Hull.

WE hear of several A&E departments in Britain where many patients are left on trollies for many hours waiting to be seen, which is upsetting, not only to them but to relatives and friends. It ties up the ambulance staff, often for hours, leaving other staff to cover while short in number. It’s not on.

But people in this situation should complain to whoever they can, and with the election approaching, it would be interesting to see which candidates are actually interested.

From: Les Arnott, Sheffield.

THE Bruges Group assessed the total costs of the EU to the UK, over and above our membership subs and came to the staggering, costed sum of £55bn per annum for 2008 (heaven knows what that would be now!) With much of its information coming from the Government’s own Pink Book, the figures seem fair but understated.

The TaxPayers’ Alliance claimed in 2013 that the actual figure was more than double – with much of their information coming from the Open Europe publication. There seems no doubt that the truth must fall, rather frighteningly, between these two figures.

Simple conclusion – we cannot afford membership of the EU. Paying huge amounts to obey rules designed to work for the better interests of everyone but ourselves is self-destructive.

Why is Ukip the only party which does not hide the truth?

From: Ruthven Urquhart, High Hunsley, Cottingham.

DO many of our self-opinionated politicians fully understand the real meaning of the words “pledges, promises and guarantees?”

I can genuinely comprehend why a lot of us are found to have become utterly unsure, and somewhat apathetic, when faced with the opportunity to vote for any party, and switch off accordingly.