April 3: Soaking the rich won’t help anyone

VARIOUS letters to The Yorkshire Post make it plain that Christians, in the view of the correspondents, should vote for the party which believes in high wages, welfare benefits for all out of work people and so on. These are easy to promise – tax the rich etc.

One wonders how much a person should be paid for building a business and creating employment for a number of people? Would you expect such a person to receive a salary commensurate with the numbers employed, or a set rate?

If the employees are prepared to work hard and find ways of reducing the time it takes to make the items he/she is employed to make, then that person deserves extra high wages. If the person expects a ‘Living Wage’ i.e. a high wage without putting in the extra effort to make the items competitive, then the employer will be unable to sell his goods and the firm will go out of business, so there would be no wages for anyone. It all boils down to being able to sell the goods.

We’ve been though this so many times, but there are none so blind as those who will not see.

From: Alan Chapman, Beck Lane, Bingley, West Yorkshire.

I HAVE always thought it difficult to include state pensions as welfare. After all, most recipients have paid in varying degrees of premium throughout their working lives, a type of savings account.

At normal retirement we expect to receive the state pension, so classifying it as welfare appears to me to be a misnomer. When it comes to the rest of the huge annual welfare bill there are two types of groups involved – those who receive it and those who pay for it. I am a tax-paying OAP, thus I am in the latter group, funding other people’s lifestyle.

The Labour Party is the party of welfare, as so clearly demonstrated by the previous Labour government that borrowed billions to overpay boosted welfare to anybody who put in a claim, few questions asked, as long as recipients voted Labour.

The coalition Government has been forced to rein in the excessive number of claimants and the amount they receive. Labour now claim it is the poorest that are being hit, and they want the taxpayers to clear the national debt, instead of the recipients. Robin Hood robbed the rich to pay the poor, Gordon Brown copied him. Ed Balls and Ed Miliband want to carry on depleting middle England.

Town needs visionaries

From: Charles Jones, Jones Steel Ltd, St Peter’s Street, Huddersfield.

YOUR article on the “unhealthiest town in Yorkshire” (The Yorkshire Post, March 31) is disappointing but of little surprise. As a resident of Huddersfield, it is obvious that the mushrooming of pound shops, charity shops and take-aways has seriously blighted the town. Add chewing gum on the pavements and spitting in the streets and the word “unhealthy” seems terribly apposite.

There is nothing wrong with Huddersfield town, nor its people. There is still a beauty in the town which even our incompetent councillors have not yet destroyed.

The solution? Perhaps that lies with the University. I have no knowledge of whom it is run by or how. I am only aware from friends and students that it is a great success. Can the people running the University be persuaded to take over the running of our town? Can people come in who are prepared to take responsibility for what they do, people with vision and ideas, people who do not accept third-rate as the norm but will fight to secure a decent town for Yorkshire?

Compensate for blood blunders

From: A Wills, Dulverton Road, Ruislip, Middlesex.

I’VE read your articles on how contaminated blood blunders have taken a tragic toll. Some 34,000 patients in Britain were infected, mainly because the blood was brought in from abroad from high-risk paid donors, such as prisoners.

A family friend from Halifax was infected with hepatitis C in 1986 by an NHS blood transfusion. From 1984 blood could be screened for hepatitis C and HIV, but to save money some hospitals chose not to use screened blood. So this was not an unlucky accident – it was preventable. Our friend lost his successful career and was left physically disabled by the medical drugs given to treat him in hospital.

Anita Roddick – founder of The Body Shop – was infected with hepatitis C by an NHS blood transfusion during childbirth and later died from the side-effects of the treatment. Most of these sufferers received no redress or even an apology. It has been covered up for too long and compensation must be paid.

A waste of police time

From: Hugh Rogers, Messingham Road, Ashby.

For a little known provincial police force, the temptation to have a go at Jeremy Clarkson, with all the publicity that would ensue, must seem overwhelming. Indeed reports suggest that the North Yorkshire force has already wasted some of its constables’ time on this petty matter. The views of the CPS who would have to prosecute such a case at great public expense, are not, of course known.

If I was a North Yorkshire resident, I would far rather the force devoted their resources to investigating matters more immediately relevant to me, such as making an effort to catch real criminals.