Crackpot proposals over trains

From: TE Marston, Cambridge Street, Otley.

I HAVE spent all my working life in the transport industry and in my spare time in the rail preservation movement, but when I write expressing my expert opinion I get ignored!

On the other hand, almost every issue of the Yorkshire Post contains details of crackpot railway/tram/trolley bus schemes from people who obviously would not know Dr Beeching from Doctor Who.

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The latest scheme is a tunnel under the centre of Leeds with a station in City Square! The person who thought of this only lives in Horsforth. Does he not know where Leeds Station is? This is only the start of it. He wants to carry the electrification on to Goole. Now, Leeds only sends one train a day to Goole so this would be a great investment as this is a way of abandoning a useless service without an Act of Parliament. They need this line for heavy freight to the power stations. I see it is “last orders” for HS2, or, as I call it, BS2 in the remote chance of the money being granted for this.

The next stage will be Yorkshire versus Buckinghamshire! No one is a prouder Yorkshireman than myself but I know who my money will be on.

A slip of the tongue

From: Brian Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.

AS a retired French teacher, I share Mark Bradley’s serious concern over the decline of modern languages in the school curriculum (“Britons lost for words in the true language of friendship”, Yorkshire Post, August 2). However, I can’t resist adding to his collection of examples of hilarity arising from imperfect communication in a foreign language.

Many years ago I was hosting a male teacher who had brought a party of pupils on an exchange visit from France. It was a beautiful, sunny morning as he was leaving with his party to visit Scarborough while I was due to swelter all day in the classroom.

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Hastening to express my envy at his prospective day out, I confused the verb “envier”, meaning “to envy” with noun “envie” which means “desire”.

I spluttered: “Oh, Pierre, que j’ai envie de toi”, causing him to raise his eyebrows.

French readers will know that what I had really said was: “Oh Pierre, I do fancy you.”

Language lessons

From: Terry Morrell, Prunus Avenue, Willerby.

FOR once, Ian MacMillan has got “political”, or to more precise “non politically correct” (Yorkshire Post, August 2).

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Of course, he is correct, “all words are made up” at some time or another, and although the establishment would like to us all to conform, it is a blow for sensibility that variations continue to expand and adorned the English language constantly.

The word “hello” was first brought into regular use at the end of the 19th century when Thomas Edison used it as a greeting when he developed the telephone having misheard the word “Hullo”. Was it someone from Hull?!

So there you have it – even the greeting word of choice by the elite must show its origins as a fairly recent starter in this glorious cacophony of verbal sounds – or should I say “inane babble”.

New threat to countryside

From: Dr Phil Greaves, Newall Carr Road, Otley, West Yorkshire.

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IF, like me, you love the sight of our beautiful local countryside, you may be shocked to learn that the Government has published a new set of planning rules which could give an automatic green light to any new development in the countryside outside the most protected sites such as National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

For over 50 years the planning system has balanced the need for new buildings and houses with those of the environment and local people.

But the new national planning policy framework contain a “presumption in favour of sustainable development” which, as Ministers are reluctant to tell anyone what “sustainable”might mean, looks like a default “yes” to development.

Local people will find it increasingly difficult to campaign against unsustainable development, nor will we get any appeal; green field sites will be concreted over. These are hardly the actions of a government aspiring to be ‘the greenest government ever’.

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I am supporting the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) in fighting these changes.

Leave these horses alone

From: Penny Heaton, Southway, Horsforth, Leeds.

I AM writing in support of Mary Bromilow’s letter (Yorkshire Post, August 1) about the imminent closure of the Horses At Work unit at Bradford Industrial Museum.

Anyone who has visited the museum and seen the delight on children’s faces as they interact with the two magnificent Clydesdales will know what an asset these horses are to the museum. Adults and kids alike queue up eagerly for the chance of a ride in the wagon pulled by Murdoch or Darcy – it is an admirable way to bring our social history closer to people.

I have heard many people say that if the horses were not there, they would not visit so often, or at all.

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The devoted staff who expertly care for the Clydesdales deserve better than this arbitrary decision, which seems to have been based on dubious financial grounds.

I call on Bradford Council to reconsider, before irretrievable harm is done to the Industrial Museum.