Blair still in denial over terrorism

THE Yorkshire Post’s coverage of the 10th anniversary of the horrific London bombings was both moving and appropriate.

Fanatics with a twisted idea of faith caused mass murder but ot was disturbing to see Tony Blair still in denial of his role.

His support for the Iraq invasion sparked widespread concerns among Muslims.

At the time I lived in Ilford with its substantial Muslim population.

They showed opposition peacefully but worldwide some Muslims saw things differently.

Sadly Tony Blair and his acolytes used the “dodgy dossier” with spurious evidence of weapons of mass destruction to justify invasion.

This sparked paranoia 
among some Muslims, evilly encouraged by men with their own political aims, that led to the bombings.

More sinister, Rupert Murdoch pressed Blair to 
invade. Professor Anthony King suggests the ever-pliable Blair may have acted in fear of Rupert Murdoch’s press. (Who governs Britain?. Pelican 2015).

Murdoch was owner of the Sun, News of the World, 
the Times and Sky TV, and 
could use his media power to denigrate those who did not do his bidding.

Terrorists operate in an environment created by 
others.

When Western political leaders fail to consider implications of their actions, they are also partly responsible for what follows.

Case for wind blown away

From: J Taylor, Easingwold.

ALAN Johnson is currently conducting a pro-EU campaign using the Siemens offshore wind turbine project in Hull and the East Riding as a positive while hoping to attract the Green voters.

However the costing, life span and maintenance of these turbines has been grossly inaccurate.

There are problems of variable output, ranging from nil 
when there is calm, through to nil on very windy days because they have to be isolated from the grid.

Hence there has to be an enormously expensive back-up system due to the difficulty in storing electrical power.

Wind turbines are a passing phase, as Germany has decided, but influential land owners have enjoyed massive benefits. This is revolting.

As for the Greens, their ideas work in theory only and it is time they went to Earth.

We can never understand 
why the Greens cite problems directly related to the 
rapid rise of global population 
yet they never mention population stablisation, where China is light-years ahead.

Right-to-buy concerns

From: John Chilton, Grange Avenue, Spofforth.

I FEEL very strongly that the intention to allow housing association tenants to buy the properties that they live in is misguided and goes against the whole principle of that system.

The housing association estate in our village is a mixture of partly owned and rented properties. Residents in the partly owned houses start with 20 per cent of the equity and are allowed, over a period of time, to purchase up to 80 per cent which they are allowed to sell back to the association at a reasonable market price. This means that the association retains control of the tenancies and is required to give preference to new buyers who have direct connection to the village in some way. As a parish councillor, I promoted the scheme because it was apparent that the younger generation were being forced to move out of the area as was happening throughout the UK.

This was successful in the respect that the many of the tenants were the next generation of village families, including my own daughter.

If, under the proposal put forward by the government, the resident is allowed to purchase 100 per cent of the property, they will be free to sell it on to anyone, irrespective of their origins; the continuity will be lost and speculators will move in. The sense of community will be eroded and it may become the sort of “grey area” that is currently being talked about.

Balding backlash

From: Mike Dennis, Ripon.

RE Tom Richmond’s column on Clare Balding and the BBC’s Wimbledon highlights programme (The Yorkshire Post, July 6), I only hope some of the top brass at the BBC have read the article, which I guess has received wide support amongst your readership.

From: Patricia Schofield, Park Lane, Blaxton.

IF there is only the remotest chance of Clare Balding joining the Radio Four Today programme (The Yorkshire Post, July 8), I must plead with Jim Naughtie to stay, please do not go.

From: JM Lennard, Ripon.

WHEN I switched on the television news as advertised in the Radio Times, all I found was tennis. Surely there is more than tennis going on in the world? Counting up in the Radio Times, there are 27 commentators at Wimbledon. Tennis gets more than its fair share of television time, we don’t see a lot of football and cricket and I refuse to be blackmailed by Sky.