BBC double standards exposed

CAROLINE Thomson, the BBC’s chief operating officer, said at a recent conference that the use of expletives was acceptable in the name of comedy and one of its objects was to cause offence and make viewers flinch.

This being the case why did the BBC feel the need to apologise profusely for the use of the word “fairies” or “coloured” when referring to footballers?

Words we all must have used at times without causing distress to anyone.

Surely a case of double standards or have I missed something?

From: Jim Beck, Lindrick Grove, Tickhill, Doncaster.

IT is inevitable that the meanings of words change over time but there is something wrong when Alan Hansen has to apologise for describing ethnic minorities as “coloured”.

Today, I am not allowed to say that my wife and I have a beautiful coloured niece; I have to say that she is black, which she is not. And to say that Halle Berry is black, when she is a delicious shade of café au lait, is equally absurd.

So how is it that millions of African Americans choose to belong to the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People? I smell hypocrisy.

Case for ‘no more shops’

From: Gerald Hodgson, Spennithorne, Leyburn.

THE Government’s planning proposals include a presumption “in favour of sustainable development”.

The word “sustainable” is completely meaningless in this context and it is essential that this presumption is scrapped.

Its effect would be for every powerful developer or supermarket company to appeal every refusal contending that their proposals were “sustainable”.

The planning authorities would not have the resources to contest these appeals and the planning system would become powerless to the great benefit of planning lawyers and disaster for the rest of us.

You have only to see what happens when a country gives up on effective planning control by looking at the situation in Ireland or Spain. Yes, the operation of planning control has become too bureaucratic and needs streamlining but proper planning control is essential.

If we are going to have a presumption in a new planning code, I suggest it should be a presumption against any further retail development “unless an over-riding need can be clearly demonstrated”.

The last 30 years has seen a huge increase in retail selling space. Basing an economy on shopping has proved a disaster and most of our high streets have empty shops. Add to this the onward march of internet shopping which will greatly reduce the demand for retail selling space over the next few years and you have an unanswerable case, in my view, for “no more shops”.

How do we compete?

From: Steve English, Lawrence Street, York.

MANY of us watched the pre-Christmas documentary showing Chinese women making cuddly toys for British shops at a labour rate of £1.30 per hour.

We are constantly told by our leaders that we must compete with the “rest of the world” as the Camerons and Osbornes flock to the Far East to “expand business opportunities”.

We are also told as a nation that we are lazy and would rather claim benefits – cue the excuse for more labour from eastern Europe with people who are willing to take our jobs earning an average of five times their wages back home.

How is it then that we read (Yorkshire Post, December 29) that a recruitment company called Totaljobs has reported that “23 people are chasing every vacancy”?

I have recently been made redundant from a construction company, building an Ocado distribution site at Dorden near Tamworth. It was common knowledge throughout this site that the Jobcentre at Tamworth has already been informed that no British labour will be considered for employment at this depot once it is up and running and that the whole place will be operated by eastern European labour.

A Lithuanian labourer I worked alongside on this site told me that the average household expenditure in eastern Europe was £50 a week.

Would someone please inform the people of Britain how we are supposed to compete with all this?

Restoring trust in MPs

From: John Blakey, Park Villas, Roundhay, Leeds.

MARK Stuart (Yorkshire Post, December 30) gives us a list of suggestions for restoring trust in our MPs. This lack of trust is said to be serious, although I do not know anyone who ever had trust in them, to be restored.

May I suggest a few other ideas to help the process?

First of all we could cut costs, why Mark wants to give them even more money is beyond me. Their wage without expenses, puts them in the top 95 per cent of earners. Let us put them on the minimum wage, after all they expect lots of others doing important jobs to survive on it – carers for one. Oh and a free (second class rail ticket).

Since the product that they offer, over-complex regulation and inefficient distribution of national funds is not really wanted, let’s see them do it for the minimum cost.

Belgium seems to have done quite nicely for 535 days without a government. To avoid cronyism make them sign a contact that they will not work for the government for 10 years after they leave Parliament. Let all laws be independently monitored and if they are ineffective make them provide new laws but do not pay them for the time. No one else gets paid twice for a defective product.