Everybody caused this crisis

I AM writing in response to Mr Cockcroft’s letter (Yorkshire Post, December 7).

No, teachers and health sector workers didn’t cause this recession – everybody did.

If you took out a mortgage or borrowed money to buy a car or improve your home, overspent on credit cards, then we are all involved.

Yes the bankers lent too much money but that didn’t stop everybody asking for more, buying out houses, they couldn’t afford by falsifying what they earned.

Everybody was on the bandwagon.

All the bankers did was bring forward the problem by a few years.

Public sector workers pensions have never been affordable and you are living in a dream-world if you ever thought they were.

I’ve been in business for 25 years and have been putting into a pension for most of that time, and would be ecstatic to receive the pension you will get when you retire.

Finally, I didn’t see any union leaders threatening action when Gordon Brown raided private pensions to the tune of £25bn back in 1997.

From: David Collins, Lower Common Lane, Scissett, West Yorkshire.

I HAVE a great deal of sympathy for civil servants and the position they find themselves in.

However, all I can afford is sympathy as I am a pensioner on a money purchase pension and I cannot meet the high expectations of others out of my taxes.

The main point of my letter is to accuse all politicians and union leaders of cowardice. In that this situation has been known since at least 1997 and they have done absolutely nothing to remedy the situation. It has now got to a critical mass where unpalatable measures are necessary.

In 1997 Gordon Brown taxed pension scheme income which was the final straw, actuaries warned that final salary scheme contributions would have to double or triple.

Many private companies either closed schemes in favour of money purchase ones or amended schemes significantly. In some cases businesses went to the wall because they couldn’t meet their obligations.

This Brown tax was the final straw as pension schemes had been the target of Government avarice and ridiculous legislation for years.

What have the politicians and union leaders done apart from protecting their own pensions? Well the answer is not a lot. Now the present civil servants must bear the brunt of 20 years of lunacy.

We can’t afford for the public sector to operate in ways that the private sector can’t match, that way Greece lies.

From: Godfrey Bloom, UKIP MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire,.

KEN Clarke is at least honest. He believes the United Kingdom should be governed by unelected Brussels bureaucrats and he has no compunction about saying so.

He is also the true voice of the modern Conservative party. Which, of course, leaves UKIP as pretty much the only game in town or should I say The City.

From: GJC Reid, Mayfield Road, Whitby.

WHY, oh why, oh why do I get the feeling Mr Cameron is about to sell us down the river?

From: Terry Duncan, Greame Road, Bridlington.

SURELY the time has come for David Cameron to admit that he should go to the country?

Problems with car parking

From: Stephen Davis, Barncliffe Close, Fulwood, Sheffield.

HAS the world gone stark raving mad?

On Saturday, November 26, it was necessary to seek urgent medical attention for my wife due to severe chest pains.

My first and nearest port of call was the walk-in-centre at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital where we were told: “This place is for minor injuries and if you want to see a doctor (NB we were actually inside the hospital building) you’ll have to go to the other walk-in-centre in Sheffield (Broad Lane).” So off we went.

On arrival there, the only parking facility was 24 hour council-owned. Sheffield is swift to act on non-payment of parking fees and I, being anxious not to contravene parking regulations even in the present circumstance, undertook to pay the required fee.

There was a problem with the coin machine so I then attempted to pay by mobile phone. The faceless voice informed me of my car registration number, and before being able to do or say anything more I was astounded to be told that I possessed a Maestro Card and it was out of date. (Utterly untrue). I assume that in addition I was photographed.

Upon returning home, I dispatched an e-mail to Sheffield City Council, voicing my concern and requested an immediate full and satisfactory explanation, plus refund of the £1.60 parking fee ultimately paid (I managed to find a machine that did not malfunction).

After three more e-mails the present state of affairs is that I am the proud possessor of three council correspondence references along with a statement that my complaint has been passed on to the parking services manager.

I am also asked to complete what is referred to as a Customer Satisfaction Survey which asks for (presumably meaningful and relevant) details such as gender, age, postcode, ethnic origin and if I would describe myself as black, or white (or even green perhaps?).

Green I am most certainly not.