Cameron’s EU poll trick won’t work

I NOTE our dear Prime Minister is now thinking of the possibility of an EU referendum during the next Parliament (Yorkshire Post, July 2).

Isn’t that what David Cameron promised us before the last election, surely the public are not going to fall for that old con trick again are they?

I’m not!

From: David Quarrie, Lynden Way, Holgate, York.

BECAUSE of the euro, Germany, and especially her Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is like a woman trapped on a bridge burning at both ends, with crocodiles in the river beneath her: She cannot go forwards, nor can she retreat, and she cannot jump off. She is a slave of the status quo.

From: Peter Hyde, Kendale View, Driffield.

I WAS always under the impression that we lived in a democracy but I now realise that that is not the case. The majority of people I know want a referendum on Europe and Mr Cameron, when he was canvassing to be elected, inferred that we would have one.

No way can we be trusted with such an important decision. The majority want to see criminals punished but Ken Clarke says no, that is not the way and Sir George Young says Parliament cannot even debate it (Tom Richmond, Yorkshire Post, June 30).

George Osborne has changed his mind so often on what and what not should be taxed that he is rapidly earning the name “Spinner”.

From: Maxwell Laurie, Victoria Terrace, Cockfield, County Durham.

YOUR correspondent Michael Mycroft (Yorkshire Post, June 29) expresses his concerns of Germany trying to take over Europe. Has he forgotten that France and a certain Monsieur Bonaparte also tried to take over the whole of Europe?

From: Michael Booth, The Birches, Bramhope.

I SEE (Yorkshire Post, July 2) that our erstwhile MPs are wanting to go on a four-day week. What a good idea. That will be one less day per week for them to make a hash of things.

West Riding’s railway role

From: John Goodchild, The John Goodchild Collection, Drury Lane, Wakefield.

YOUR feature on the Middleton colliery railway (Yorkshire Post, June 25) serves to emphasise the immense contribution of the West Riding to early railway history. Not only were the world’s first successful locomotive used here from 1812, the rack rail invented and first used here, the first railway enabling Act of Parliament passed for a railway here, but the basic idea of a railway company and of a publicly usable railway, were first implemented here in the Lake Lock rail road.

Near Flockton there is a surviving railway tunnel of the 1790s and beyond it a 20-arch viaduct, probably in existence by 1803. At Greasborough, iron clad rails were in use by 1766 – before those at Ironbridge in Shropshire – and at Lofthouse Gate is a unique railway bridge where two early railways cross over one another.

On the still used Leeds and Selby railway, wide bridges still show provision for four sets of tracks, had it not been decided to use steam locomotives for its opening in 1834, and near Wakefield is the Denby Grange colliery railway, where extensive remains illustrate the use of two sets of double inclined planes with stationary winding engines, sets of reversing necks, a tunnel and lines intended for use by locomotives at its opening in 1854, the locos from which went to the Front in the Crimea.

So the West Riding has made its vital contribution to the international development of the railway – and the physical remains of much of this are still evident today.

Insurance cover ended

From: John Barnes, Woodhead Road, Honley.

I HAD a Barclays Additions account and the premium I paid monthly gave me cover for multi-trip travel insurance.

I checked with my local branch that my insurance cover was still valid before recently going abroad and they informed me that I was covered for as many trips abroad as I wished.

However, I now discover that Barclays have discontinued their Additions accounts and although I was still paying the monthly premium I was no longer covered for travel insurance. I was never informed by Barclays about this and it seems that the local branch staff had no knowledge of this either.

So beware if you are going abroad and think you have travel insurance with your Barclays Additions account!