Coalition Government should be Labour and Conservative

THE Government of this country in the present international economic crisis should be a coalition of the Conservative and Labour parties, not the Liberal Democrats.

The Liberals’ lack of experience of being in power and their lack of knowledge of how to create policy and to use power effectively means that they are only of minor use in opposition.

David Cameron should have gone into coalition with Labour so that their Ministers, who were originally responsible for parts of the national economic mess, could be judged as to how they would resolve it.

The Conservatives would have been judged on how they would manage the wider issues of economic policy internationally, while dealing with the ongoing matters of the European Union, fighting a war in a foreign country and securing national energy supplies, in an environmentally sensitive way.

The electorate should be able to judge the Government on its performance in a very difficult environment and to judge the individuals, who would have had to drop any self-interest that they coveted, within the greater need to manage and improve the United Kingdom as a whole in the future.

I would like to think that most people in this country have a strong sense of what is right and wrong and the correct balance between looking after the individual in society; but also to understand that society has greater needs and priorities than for one individual.

As individuals, we need to understand that and then demonstrate that we don’t need legislation to ensure that we continue to participate in our society, of which we are all equal parts.

From: William Snowden, Butterbowl Gardens, Farnley Ring Road, Leeds.

THE intemperate and spurious comments of Rick Sumner and Richard Billups, together with David McKenna’s misguided advocacy for appeasement (Yorkshire Post, January 24) reveal an abject failure to accept economic reality.

In order to survive (let alone prosper) all companies and all industries must compete with their competitors (at home and abroad) in the quality, cost and supply of products.

That is how orders are won. That is how customers are satisfied and retained.

The corollary is the neglectful companies or industries will inevitably decline and fail.

The mindless militancy of the NUM, which was the catalyst for the collapse of the British coal mining industry, should serve as a salutary warning.

From: MP Laycock, Wheatlands Road East, Harrogate.

ED Miliband is being opportunistic in now calling on David Cameron to block Stephen Hester’s bonus payout after his Government approved Mr Hester’s contract when he was put in charge of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

People are rightly angered by bonuses paid to Sir Fred Goodwin and others, whose bad decisions brought about RBS’s downfall but, without backdating a new law, there is no legal way to reclaim those bonuses.

Stephen Hester was not part of this failure. Far from being bailed out, he was part of the bail out. He already had a well-paid job with another company. His pay package was designed to pay him for giving up that job and taking responsibility for protecting taxpayers’ investment in RBS.

If Mr Miliband thought these provisions were excessive, he should have objected when his government approved this deal.

From: Kenneth Wright, Eskdale Avenue, Altofts, Normanton.

WHEN will our leaders cease this endless banging on about “fairness?” Life is not fair and never has been. God did not include it in the commandments “thou shalt be fair” because he knew the human race could not achieve such a goal.

What we do have in abundance in our society is greed, avarice, envy and utter selfishness.

“Equality” is another abstract concept. How can everyone be equal? The mystique and charm of human life lie not in its similarities but in its differences.

What we must do is make the best of what we have been dealt. Life itself is precious. Why should we waste what is our one chance of owning it? What we must do is strive to make life better for those who have been dealt a “poor hand”.