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INTERNATIONALLY, Colonel Gaddafi has been considered an untrustworthy maverick, but he seems to have been a fairly benevolent dictator among the majority of his people.

Okay, his cabinet consists of loyal yes-men. Even his son and daughter cannot talk sense into him, or they may be weak-minded and even frightened of Dad . But why bring an oil rich and fairly well educated Muslim country to this state of affairs?

When visiting Libya a year ago, I could only state in all fairness – even if surrounded by watchful eyes – we felt, as tourists, being in a fairly sophisticated Arab country.

On a college campus we enjoyed excellent camel steaks for lunch, etc. The occasional “transport police” preceded our coach, but that has happened in other North African towns as well.

The Leptis Magna excavations are quite outstanding and have earned UNESCO heritage status. When trekking over this fascinating harbour town, we were told that the Roman emperor Septimium Severus was born into a local tribe. We were then informed that this great man liked to visit his far-flung provinces and that he had died in York in 211 AD.

I could then tell our guide over this five-kilometre walk, that very city was in fact my home town. At present there is an ongoing memorial in York, as it celebrates 1,800 years since the emperor’s passing. It is a sad piece of irony that Colonel Gaddafi is close to “expiry” as well. The resilience of the new generations should not allow this country to hit the buffers.

Cultural challenge

From: G Ambler-Shaw, Carleton Drive, Boston Spa, Wetherby.

AT long last, the Conservatives have realised that multi-culturalism in Britain does not work. But it is not only culturalism that separates people, but more so the age-old matter of religion. “East is east and west is west, and ne’r the twain shall meet” is not just an axiom, but a truism.

The West, with its Christian religion, has never trusted Islam, nor the latter Christianity. Both have opposed the other for centuries. This cleavage still prevails to this day, exemplified by the growth of Islamic terrorism in many parts of the world.

It is not the fault of Muslims that millions of immigrants of their faith have been admitted into our small country, with the densest population in Europe, over the last 50 years, but that of myopic successive British governments who never faced up to the consequences, vis-a-vis the great cleavage of cultures and the infraction of immigrant people in many towns and cities.

Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in the 1950s warned of the “winds of change” relating to Africa, yet he failed to equate it to his own country too, as the “sands of time” have proven with transmogrifying effect, in comparison to what Britain looked like hitherto.

Unwanted privatisation

From: D Birch, Smithy Lane, Cookridge, Leeds.

WITH reference to the latest idea from David Cameron on the privatisation of council services.

Is this something else that was in the last election manifesto of the Conservative Party that I didn’t read, or was it something else in one of their “illusions” they forgot to tell us about? Or was it hidden in the few innocuous words that they are using to privatise the NHS?

Leeds is rather a large city and checking their services literature they have approximately 140, yes 140, different services listed.

Granted, a few are quite large and could become money spinners for private companies and there are many smaller ones that could not be profitable but are a necessity.

It doesn’t take much imagination to spot the big ones that will be targeted and their friends will then become beneficiaries.

Some months ago when the Liberals and the Conservatives ran the council and pushed our refuse collectors out on strike for a month, there was a large company, a private contractor, covering a fairly large number of Leeds City Council services.

This contractor went bankrupt very quickly, putting lots of those services in jeopardy and of course, the council had to pick up the pieces and pay the bill.

It’s always this way, because council priority is to look after its citizens. You never find it so with private companies. Plus the fact it’s what we pay our council taxes for.

Personally, I don’t need or want privatisation for my city!

Money wasted at the BBC

From: Geoffrey Allen, Hough Side Lane, Pudsey.

I COULD not agree more with Karl Sheridan (Yorkshire Post, February 24) the way BBC waste of the licence fee is getting totally out of hand.

I stopped watching Top Gear some time ago when the stunts the presenters were pulling and the foreign locations they were travelling to to film some of them went way over the top.

The BBC is also guilty of wasting our money when reporters are sent to stand outside Downing Street and other locations to face the camera and inform us of “breaking news” – usually news that we are already aware of.

Only a few days ago, a BBC Look North reporter was outside Full Sutton prison in the afternoon and then again at 10.30pm to inform us of the murder of Colin Hatch. Why could they not do this from the studio?

I am confident that most private sector managers could find many ways to reduce our licence fee without reducing the quality of our programmes.