Coalition cannot have it both ways on tackling child poverty

From: R K M Bridge, Market Place, Snaith.

WHILE the move and focus by the coalition is to reduce child poverty targets, it will not mask the effect of how its cuts have been targeted at the poorest in our society.

Whether you use a consensual, income or subjective method makes no difference to the food on the table.

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The coalition protest that it is services rather than cash, especially for the under-fives, that are one of the main determinants of a child’s prospects.

They cannot have it both ways though when they removed the ring-fence for Sure Start funding, resulting in numerous closures across the country.

Indeed, when you take into account the measures announced last week and the reduction to 70 per cent of childcare costs, it is difficult to find a tangible policy introduced by the coalition that aids the fight against child poverty, irrespective of how you measure it.

Nick Clegg’s comments that this government would not “balance the books on the backs of the poor” ring hollow indeed.

From: Phil Hanson, Beechmount Close, Baildon, Shipley.

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I FIND all the reaction of the trade unions to Jeremy Clarkson’s comments on The One Show crass. Far from taking the hump at his comments, they ought to stop and think about all the ordinary men, women and children who the strike has cost pay for having to take a day from work as a result.

The facts are simple Clarkson said what many people felt.

From: Fiona Lemmon, Clifton Byres, Clifton, Maltby, Rotherham.

I WAS very interested to read Adam Shergold’s article (Yorkshire Post, December 1) about community leaders standing in for teaching staff on strike at Ormiston Victory Academy near Norwich.

I think this is a brilliant initiative and one which I would support for schools nationally.

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Indeed, I would endorse the inclusion of non-teachers to contribute to children’s education as part of the standard school process. There is a wealth of human resources in every community which can provide added value to what the teaching profession offers.

There are the well-educated, the well-qualified, the well-experienced and, above all, those people whose life experiences can touch the hearts and minds of young people and help shape their personal development. What a refreshing and exciting practice this would be.

From: Alan Freeman, Heather Gardens, Bramley, Leeds.

KENDAL Wilson criticises the destruction of manufacturing and heavy industry in Britain (Yorkshire Post, December 1) and with my full agreement I would add. Unfortunately, Kendal’s letter becomes a little confused and totally omits some obvious points.

Reference is made to the fact that so much was lost that cannot be replaced, and again I agree, but then criticises Messrs Blair and Brown for failing to arrest the decline.

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As a respecter of old-fashioned Labour values of a fair society, I was no great admirer of the New Labour project but I would suggest that to a great degree we had reached that point of no return for industry by 1997 due to the wilful damage caused and irrevocable seeds sown by the two previous Prime Ministers and the administrations led by them.

That was their agenda and we are now seeing the long-term consequences taking shape.

From: David Warnes, Maple Walk, Brandesburton, Driffield.

YOUR correspondent Harry Malkin (Yorkshire Post, December 2) asks if he is alone in thinking Ed Balls looks and sounds like John Bull when at the dispatch box.

Yes, I would suggest he is indeed quite alone and that the said Ed Balls looks and sounds more like John Cock and Bull.

From: Paul Emsley, Newton Way, Hellifield, near Settle.

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AS the people of Britain in the private sector work and watch their colleagues in the public sector exercise their right to strike, who gains from the fact that single mothers will have to lose a day’s pay because they can’t afford to pay for a childminder?

The reality is that the British public have to pay to get us out of this financial mess. The private sector had their personal pensions raped by Gordon Brown in 1997, to the value of £5bn per year.

Now the public sector has to pay more and work longer to get less – which is the case for most of us in private pension plans, actually. So, how do we all register an effective protest, given that not all the financial threats to our wellbeing are national?

My theory is that we demand that our public finances and accounts are made more transparent, so that we can see – for example – how much is wasted by the MoD on their major contracts; the real cost of the aborted NHS personal data IT system; the real cost of the West Coast Main Line project.

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Then we demand that the project directors are sacked and have to repay one per cent of the overrun costs.

If individuals know and fear that financial losses and risks will cost them dear, personally, perhaps they would be more careful with our money.