Friday's Letters: Big Society is a way of keeping 'peasants' happy

As far back as I can remember, governments have been telling us that they wanted to give more power to local councils, and through them more power to parish councils and hence to the people themselves.

But it has never worked because the national Government, whatever its political persuasion, has always lacked sincerity and wanted to hang on to the reins.

The reason for this is quite simple – they think that they always know best but, of course as all of us know, sometimes to our cost, they don't, as shown in the past when the poll tax was introduced, the 10p tax rate was scrapped, the war against Iraq was engaged, and just recently the mistake over child benefit where the present Government doesn't appear to know where it is going on the subject. I could go on and on.

There is, of course, an excellent example of Big Society involvement taking place at this very moment.

Groups of local people in the area in which I live are involved doing research, travelling many miles and using their own facilities and time, in order to stop the further industrialisation of Holderness, and hence maintain the quality of life and general wellbeing of the people who live in area.

The issue is, of course, wind farms – their general efficiency, or lack of it, others already have planning permission, both against the wishes of local people, and there are several planning applications in the pipeline, with the energy companies feeling confident about their outcomes.

In all these instances, the Big Society idea, where people get involved in looking after the area in which they live and trying to improve it, were, and are, quietly ignored.

The previous Government was grossly guilty of this, and it worries me that David Cameron's great idea will also become little more than keeping the "peasants" happy by pretending to give them power when, in fact, he is doing nothing of the sort.

From: David T Craggs, Tunstall, East Yorkshire.

Wilkinson's wake up call to politicians

From: David W Wright, Uppleby, Easingwold, North Yorkshire.

THE excellent critique by Peter Wilkinson (Yorkshire Post, October 5) on the state of Britain and its demise through problems of over-regulation, bureaucracy and the work ethic of Britons should be read and acted upon by David Cameron urgently and by all politicians who clearly are not listening or reading of similar experiences and opinions by Mr Wilkinson and other entrepreneurs.

This article is an indictment on politicians of all parties in allowing the UK to drift into almost Third World status, and for not facing up to the ever-increasing problems of our membership of, and subsequent control, by the EU while China, India, Germany and Brazil forge ahead. Perhaps David Cameron will seriously consider appointing Peter Wilkinson as a Government adviser to supplement the obvious lack of expertise and experience within the coalition.

From: Iain Morris, Caroline Street, Saltaire, West Yorkshire.

IT is fitting that entrepreneur Peter Wilkinson should be doing so well at Pace in Saltaire.When I worked on the shop floor of Salts Mill between 1974-1977, it was part of Illingworth and Morris which owned mills throughout Bradford (I was later to work at Daniel Illingworth's on Thornton Road) and formed what was part of the biggest textile group in Europe.

Mother, 86, left on flight

From: Mrs Susan Smith, Bracken Park, Scarcroft, Leeds.

I READ with interest your article (Yorkshire Post, October 12) relating to the pensioner left stranded on the aircraft after a flight from Limoges to Leeds Bradford Airport.

On Sunday, September 19, my 86-year-old mother suffered the same fate on Flight 2329 from Limoges landing at 16.00.

The flight was early, but after disembarking all other passengers, those requiring wheelchair assistance were left on the aircraft for an hour.

My sister arrived in good time to collect her and take her to Tadcaster and was obviously very concerned when our mother did not appear and she could not get any information from the airport staff.

Eventually, she was told that two other flights had arrived at the same time, but the airport did not have sufficient resources to offload the passengers requiring special assistance from the Ryanair flight which was left until last.

Problems were also encountered at the check-in desk the week before and it took 40 minutes to be attended to, by which time the flight was being called. Again, very distressful for an 86-year-old.

This was obviously very distressing for all concerned and not a very good image for the new airport owners to portray.

Use for spare car seats

From: RD Leakey, Giggleswick, North Yorkshire.

TRYING to cross a part of Yorkshire by bus landed me at a Skipton bus stop in front of rows of expensive taxis I could not afford when Saturday's buses to Grassington did not turn up.

I waited until midday at the cold bus stop when I should have been at a geological conference in Grassington (starting at 10am).

The roads were full of cars with empty seats, all as a result of bad management.

A single local transport manager would have cleared Skipton's bus stop of out-of-date bus timetables and installed a computer integrated transport system where people ring in their "where from", "where to" and "when" so people going that way with spare car space can pick

them up and deliver them door to door.

People who find themselves stranded at bus stops should be able to activate signals to drivers going past towards their destination by waving the name of the destination like Grassington on a noticeboard.

If there is a spare seat, they could be picked up when the buses are not there.

Shorter by degrees

From: D Birch, Smithy Lane, Cookridge, Leeds, West Yorkshire.

DAY by day we read, listen and watch the "whys" and "wherefores" of how much debt our students will be in after they have "endured" their enlightened years working for a degree (Yorkshire Post, October 12 and 13).

All those "brains" and no-one talks about a solution to the problem of the amount of work they do while they are there to attain their degree.

However, what actually gives them their degree is the amount of work they do on their "specialist subject".

If that is the case, why don't they and the university alter

the period of time each individual needs? If he or she is working hard enough and putting in the hours that is necessary to earn whatever "standard" they have set for themselves, could they do

a degree over a shorter

time frame?

Congratulate our citizens

From: AW Clarke, Wold Croft, Sutton on Derwent.

WHAT a nice little niche Trevor Phillips has found for himself in heading the Equality and Human Rights Commission report (Yorkshire Post, October 12).

The equality industry must be the fastest growing in the UK and he is in pole position to exploit it. Not satisfied with hedging us round with human rights legislation, the great and the good, or what passes for that, fill their time telling us lesser mortals where we are going wrong.

Cannot the citizens of this country have some respite from the constant reminders of our failings and be given some congratulations for our great tolerance in seeing our country altered beyond recognition to satisfy the standards, or otherwise, of all the people from abroad who wish to make their homes here?

Invasion of grey squirrels

From: Mrs J Pritchard, Terrace Road, Rawmarsh, Rotherham.

I FEEL the need to comment on the letter from Peter Leigh (Yorkshire Post, October 12). Our garden has, for 25 years, been home to a wide variety of birds, as well as our cats – as many as seven at one point.

This year we no longer have a cat, and our garden has been invaded by grey squirrels. Since their arrival we see and hear virtually no birds. I think Mr Leigh should also remember that cats are natural hunters, keep vermin at bay, and also bring a huge amount of pleasure into the

lives of their owners.

Tax less and cut child benefit

From: N Bywater, Airedale Terrace, Morley.

ON the subject of child benefit; the average person earning 15,000 gets taxed, and then gets that tax repaid to them in the form of child benefit.

Why not just tax people less in the first place? We all need to learn to be responsible for the children that we bring into this world, and not expect someone else to pay for them.

Live issue

From: Ruthven Urquhart, High Hunsley, Cottingham, East Yorkshire.

IS there anyone else out there who was so totally and desperately interested in the Commonwealth Games – whether they be "live" on TV

or otherwise?

Supermarkets should support their communities

From: Don Burslam, Elm Road, Dewsbury Moor.

A SUPERMARKET has recently announced profits amounting to the best part of 3bn. Against a background of cuts and austerity for individual taxpayers, is it not time to ask whether these businesses are doing as much as they can to help the community beyond headline-catching promotions?

It is true that these superstores provide a valuable service for us all but you could equally argue that the humble shopper has contributed massively to their success. In a time of unprecedented pressure on families, the young, small businesses, etc, it would be timely for these highly successful enterprises to contribute financially to the fabric of our society. There are plenty of run-down schools, community centres and the like which would benefit from this kind of help.

It would be fitting indeed if they would put something back into the community in which they trade.

This is very much in line with the coalition's policy of encouraging self-help instead of just relying on Government handouts.

From: Brian Ormondroyd, Brindley Court, Skipton.

REGARDING the proposed developments at the top of Skipton High Street, do we really need more shops and eateries? What about the reduced number of parking places? What about the increased congestion? Should we not be supporting our existing local small traders?