Friday's Letters: Gordon Brown has hastened Britain's slump to mediocrity

In making his case, he certainly resorted to a few comments that were, frankly, laughable.

First of all, he sought to compare Gordon Brown with Gladstone, which I think was a bit like comparing William McGonagall to Robert Burns. In other words, Gladstone and Brown were both politicians, after which the resemblance ends.

Even more outrageous was Dr MacShane's assertion that Brown was the best Chancellor since the Second World War. I suppose he was using the propaganda device that if you repeat a lie often enough, people might believe it.

Might I suggest that in assessing Brown's worth as Chancellor we need to remember that he sold off half of our gold reserves at a price of $275 dollars per ounce when today's price exceeds $1,000, and, by taxing private pension funds, he drastically weakened a system which represented many families' main form of savings.

His system of regulation and monitoring of the banking system failed at its first major test and his strategy of ignoring all the obvious warning signs relating to the explosion of credit meant that we had a disastrous reaction to the bust when it inevitably came.

Previous Chancellors reacted to expanding credit by taking action to head off trouble, but Brown believed his own publicity that he had banished boom and bust, so allowed the economy to let rip and borrowed heavily to finance a massive increase in the number of public employees.

Perhaps the most grievous allegation against Gordon Brown was revealed in recent testimony to the Chilcot Inquiry, where it was made clear that he arbitrarily reduced the funding to the military by a billion pounds at a time when our young men were fighting in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan started by his government.

Instead of advancing Brown's cause, Dr MacShane should have organised his colleagues in the Labour Party to prevent Brown from bullying his way into 10 Downing Street, only to find that he had no plan or

strategy to offer the country as Prime Minister.

Let us hope that the forthcoming election brings Brown's disastrous period in government to an end, a time when Britain's finances were debauched and our slump to mediocrity was confirmed.

From: D Neil, Church Lane, Harrogate.

How we can deal with the power crisis

From: DF Chambers, Sladeburn Drive, Northallerton.

AT last, the energy watchdog Ofgem has made a clear statement that

within three or four years only drastic action will avoid power shortages, with household bills rising to a level that many will find unaffordable (Yorkshire Post, February 4).

With the imminent closure of our ageing power stations and the

increasing level of gas imports, the Ofgem statement is hardly

startling.

Furthermore, the Government's inevitable response that it will be able to meet power needs in the years ahead does nothing to allay anxieties. Ofgem speaks in terms of a "degree of crisis" in three or four years, and the only visible action that we see is the proliferation of the fatuous windmills, which over the past couple of months have proved

what an expensive fiasco they are.

In the short term, the prospect is probably to import as little as possible of the power that cannot be raised locally (and industry's needs will take priority over domestic demands), and, in the longer term, to buy new nuclear power stations, probably French, and set about making some use of our native coal, clean or otherwise.

All fuel policies that are based on the global warming prophecy will, regrettably, have to be relegated to the back burner, and their funding diverted to the real issues – the manufacture of warm woolies.

So which party wants my vote?

Norway's example

From: JE Steele, Broom Valley Road, Rotherham.

I HAVE just read Bernard Dineen's article on the sale of our gold (Yorkshire Post, February 8). Didn't Gordon Brown use the proceeds to support the euro when it was first introduced, to protect our farmers and exporters from the negative effects of a low euro?

He also never mentions the country's assets that the Tories sold off. Have gas, electric, water, etc all gone down in value? Has BP, which we had a 49 per cent share in, gone down? I still remember Maggie Thatcher making a speech back in the '80s in which she stated that we couldn't possibly charge the oil companies a lot for our oil because they had spent so much money finding and developing it.

The Norwegians, on the other hand, struck a much harder bargain which led to them being called the blonde, blue-eyed Arabs by the oilmen.

Unlike the Tories, they spent the proceeds on their country's people and infrastructure, not using it to buy votes. They now have billions invested around the globe for their people's future. For the record – and something that Bernard Dineen never mentions when writing about Norway's independence from the EU – Norway is a socialist country.

Double delight

From: Anne Medd, Nether Poppleton, York.

WHAT a delight to see the cover of your magazine (Yorkshire Post Magazine, January 30), with its picture of Charlotte Brader and her sister Emma Lund. Two young, attractive, well-dressed ladies – such a rarity these days!

Treatment of faiths

From: Terry Palmer, Hoyland, Barnsley.

THE head of religion at the "non-biased" and once great British Christian institution, the BBC, is Aaqil Ahmed, who also happens to be a Muslim.

He tells us all that Christianity should not receive preferential treatment by the Corporation. Remember we are still living in a Christian country? He goes on to say: "I think all faiths should be treated in the same way."

Fair enough except when we consider the many Islamic countries where Christianity isn't allowed at all.

Lessons of history

From: John Morfin, Southcoates Lane, Hull.

WITH reference to the article featuring the Hull History Centre (Yorkshire Post, January 26), having used the old local studies library for over 33 years, and the former archives office for more than 25 years, I have awaited the opening of this facility with interest and curiosity.

During the morning of Wednesday, February 3, I used the noisy search room for the first time to read specialist periodicals. I am informed that the new facility is devoid of a quiet room for the benefit of users who may wish to read with minimum disruption.

Experienced archive managers should have been capable of anticipating that reasonable expectation and provided a quiet room facility, particularly with over 10m of public money to spend.

On first impression, the History Centre is an inadequate and uninspired effort to provide a suitable facility.

Courts treat the safety of public with contempt

From: Barrie Frost, Watson's Lane, Reighton, Filey.

IT has now become almost an acceptable fact that when young thugs

appear in court to face very serious charges of assault and, too often, murder, the reading of their criminal records is so lengthy it defies belief.

So numerous have been their court attendances since their very early teens, they no longer cause them to lose any sleep or become unduly concerned or indeed have any worries about the outcome. Why should they when they have been virtually told they are untouchable? They don't show any anxiety when they know they will almost certainly receive another final, final warning which follows the final, final warning they received only a few months earlier which came only after the very last warning previously issued.

Our courts are – or, more accurately, have become – a total farce and seem to follow the hopelessly failed doctrine that if you treat

criminals with kindness, they will repay such kindness.

There was a time, when common sense was applied, when ignoring a first compassionate ruling led to severe punishment on any further offence, but it now seems our courts, and all those involved with administering justice are abdicating responsibility with their wishy-washy liberally lenient punishments – oops, I forgot, this latter word is not in the vocabulary of all those experts who truly understand criminal behaviour and probably shows my ignorance on such matters.

The consequences of decades of these crazy judgments are very serious. Not only must our police be very frustrated wasting their time and considerable efforts at arresting known thugs when they are only too aware they will leave court smirking at them, but innocent people have been killed and their families left with a lifetime of suffering due to this unbelievable softness of the courts. Subsequent crimes are a direct result of failing to correctly address the initial offences.

What can be done to rectify this situation? Make those responsible for failing to do their duty also responsible for the subsequent criminal behaviour of those they have repeatedly "let off". If the public are expected to fully understand what constitutes "reasonable force", it should not be unreasonable in expecting our judges, magistrates and politicians to understand what constitutes a "reasonable sentence", and where this has manifestly not been done they should face a charge of aiding and abetting. To continue to allow the courts to treat the

safety of the public with contempt can not be allowed to continue any more.

People in other jobs and professions have to take responsibility for their actions – why should those in the legal profession be immune?

A question of insurance

From: SB Oliver, Churchill Grove, Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire.

IT must have been a great relief for Mrs McDonald Lee to have been reunited with her daughter after a thief stole her car, with her

daughter inside, while she was delivering a parcel (Yorkshire Post, February 9). Thankfully, it ended safely.

She criticises the charges of 150 for retrieval and 40 for cleaning, as does the "Comment" column.

There is, however, a question that needs answering about insurance (which wasn't mentioned at all) beneath the reported details.

Firstly, if she had comprehensive insurance, why didn't the insurance company cover those costs (less any excess)?

Fairness of a rugby hero

From: Ian Christie, The Ridings, Beverley.

I WAS saddened to read of the death of Denzil Webster (Yorkshire Post, January 30).

Those of us who were Gunners in the Royal Artillery, and training at Oswestry in 1953, knew him as "Bombardier Webster".

He was one of our physical training instructors. He was an excellent instructor, always keen and thorough in his work with us, but

scrupulously fair to us all, which is more than can be said for some of the PTIs.

Being a rugby league supporter (Hull KR), I followed his career

as a three quarter back with interest, and was really pleased to read that he has been inducted into Castleford's hall of fame, and

deservedly so.

My condolences go to his wife Dorothy, and his family.

Just the job

From: Brian Grundy, Silsden, Keighley.

MEP Timothy Kirkhope's article (Yorkshire Post, February 9) had one clear objective – job protection!