Championing the farmers

From: Stephen Nichols, Leyburn Avenue, Lightcliffe.

I LOOK forward each Saturday to Tom Richmond’s column – one of his items recently was with regard to the new French President, Francois Hollande.

Hollande was championing the interests of the French farmers which none of our British MP’s appear to do and then switching to other foreign affairs asking, “did the US President, Barack Obama have nothing better to do than talk about the has-been-footballer David Beckham’s underwear range” instead of concentrating on the stalled Middle East peace process or the dire global economy?

Language shift

From: Robert Craig, Priory Road, Weston-super-Mare.

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GOOD news. The Queen’s English Society has thrown in the sponge. It has recognised that the war to preserve the Queen’s English is lost.

The Common English which the society promoted is a koine, that is, a widely spoken mixed language. This English koine is coming under all kinds of pressures leading to a rate of change not seen in vocabulary since the 12th century and in pronunciation since the early modern great vowel shift of the first Elizabethan age.

There needs to be a revival of Germanic English as the speech of the English folk. This is probably best represented by the dialect of Northumberland, Cumbria, County Durham, and North Yorkshire.

Status change

From: David H Rhodes, Keble Park North, Bishopthorpe, York.

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ADDING to Rodney Atkinson’s letter (Yorkshire Post, June 4) of the Queen being a suzerain rather than a sovereign, could we possibly show her the respect due and restore her sovereign status in her Diamond Jubilee year?

This would obviously entail a withdrawal of EU membership but according to media sources this is the wish of the British people anyway. I can only assume that this Republican government will deny us this opportunity to show our and their loyalty.

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