Friday's Letters: The greedy bankers' gravy train will dry up

THE ongoing furore concerning bankers' bonuses inspires me to ask: how much money do these people actually need to live on? The answer, of course, ties in with the age-old dilemma between what we see as "need" and what we "want".

As I see it, bonuses now feed on expectancy of lifestyle which was supported handsomely in the good old days of boom and boom, but now, in leaner times those expectations remain.

Top financiers, for want of a better title, and their families are used to extravagance and luxury which they would now deem to be a right, and there is no way they are going to give it up just because of a downturn of profit and sentiment. Just imagine the fear of having to come home and tell the wife that her personal tennis coach will have to go, along with the children's ponies. To say nothing of downsizing the house or the number of 4x4s.

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Don't get me wrong, though. I actually don't begrudge "top people" having large houses, several cars and some trappings. The problem is that once this lifestyle is established, it has to be maintained, thus encouraging all sorts of elements of risk and greed.

So, a nice fat cheque of say, 700,000 a year on top of an already very generous salary, will do nicely in maintaining those luxuries one gets used to.

I'm sure that someone in the future will wake up to this nonsense and the gravy train will dry up.

In the meantime, the bankers will continue to make mugs of the rest of us, and keep milking the system, knowing deep within that they're on borrowed time. They'll continue to make hay until common sense shines and we'll look back and wonder how and why the system of bonuses was allowed to get so out of control.

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At present, though, they'll keep as quiet as possible and take the money, comforted by the knowledge that they have their 250 winter fuel allowance to look forward to which will help keep the wolves at bay. Please, don't get me started.

From: Roger Crossley, Fall View, Silkstone, Barnsley.

Our leaders have failed in their job

From: D Smith, Sandhill Way, Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

WE are told that we are to face a period of austerity to repay this enormous public debt which has been created by the Government's total

lack of management and its failure to control the greedy bankers.

They have sold our gold reserve at a fraction of its worth, taken us into conflict around the world where we had no right to be involved which is costing us countless billions.

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"Never before in the history of this nation has so much debt been

created so quickly by so few to the detriment of so many!"

But, I ask, where is the public outcry?

We pay our taxes and support the grossly extravagant Government and we should therefore expect a prosperous economy and a rosy future. The banks which have been supported by public funds should be the ones to dig us out of this mess. There should be no more huge salaries and massive bonuses with cushy pensions until they have repaid these debts.

Let us tell this Government and any future government that the responsibility is theirs, not ours. Of the present administration, I say get rid of them now, they do not deserve the statutory term of office.

From: John Watson, Leyburn, North Yorkshire.

IT looks as if we are going to get another five years of Gordon Brown. It does not surprise me. Cameron has said nothing positive in his recent speeches and until he does I don't think he is going to win over the electorate.

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What are the Tory policies on immigration, Europe and the top-heavy

NHS? What does he have to say about school discipline, quangos and every man's right to protect his wife and family in his own home without being prosecuted?

What does Cameron have to say about the frightening prospect of Turkey becoming a member of the EU with its 80 per cent Muslim population and free movement of labour?

Until I get positive answers to these questions, I am inclined to stay at home on polling day.

Good news for produce

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From: David Hartley, managing director, Wensleydale Creamery, Hawes, North Yorkshire.

THE news that Yorkshire forced rhubarb has been given protected food name status by the EU is welcome news for the whole of the country, as well as Yorkshire (Yorkshire Post, February 25).

The Italians have their Parma ham and the Greeks have their Feta cheese and it is important that British producers also safeguard the heritage

and quality of their products.

We know from research that people want to know where goods come from and that is why it is vital that measures, such as protected food name status, are sought to let them know about the quality and provenance of locally grown and sourced produce.

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Yorkshire forced rhubarb gaining this special status will help to put

the region on the national and European food map and allow consumers to know they are buying the genuine article.

We hope this bodes well for The Wensleydale Creamery's application for protection of its Real Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese.

The real Full Monty

From: Peter Law, Hangingroyd Close, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire.

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I WRITE to take issue with recent discussion of textile terms, with particular reference to the phrase "Full Monty".

Raw Uruguayan wool was shipped from the port of Montevideo in pressed bales bound with five slim, round metal straps. These bales were so uniquely big and heavy, at the time about 360kg each, that they became known, in Bradford and Liverpool (port of entry for this product) as "Montes". Note the single word spelling. The wool itself was known as MV and a Bradford wool merchant could easily tell it apart from the other fine-diameter wools such as Australian or South African.

Based in Leeds, and at the time, the UK's largest gents clothier, was Montague Burton, known by some simply as Monty's. If you wore the

three-piece suit, shirt, tie, overcoat, scarf, hat and gloves, this was known as the Full Monty. The phrase is descriptive of a single entity, in this case, fully clothed.

Thanks for a helper

From: Paul Curtis, Stanks Drive, Whinmoor, Leeds.

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IN this day and age, MPs etc are getting a bad reputation for one thing or another, so it's nice to know there are still "good guys" out there.

Last year I applied for heating for my flat via a grant, due to the

fact there was no heating and I have a heart condition.

The grant was approved but there was a big delay and the company was running behind schedule and I could never get anywhere with them when I phoned.

I contacted Councillor Peter Gruen and asked for his help. Following his help and input, the company contacted me straight away and my heaters were fitted two weeks later. I now have a better quality of life, so a big thank you.

We need honest policies to get voters to turn out

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From: Brian V Large, St Wilfreds Close, North Muskham, Newark.

"THE 'X' Factor – how do we get voters back to the ballot box?" (Yorkshire Post, February 26) is a question much asked these days but which politicians and the so-called intelligentsia refuse to face although the answer is brutally simple.

Through their "clever" machinations we, the voters, have been left virtually without choice, rendering voting pointless unless cast in favour of the fringe parties as a protest.

The Left have moved to the right and the Right to the left and we have three main political parties whose leaders have manifestly established an unworthy cartel in which, for the look of the thing, they are happy to trade insults and half-truths, along party lines but have agreed to resolutely disregard and suppress any discussion, of the

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many "uncomfortable" issues which now deeply worry the voting public at large.

Diversions such as allegations of bullying, who is briefing against

whom, who will make the deepest cut (which we all know have to come, thanks to Gordon) and who is the greatest fiddler of expenses, will cut little ice with voters.

All that it will take to get us back to the ballot box is for even one of these party "leaders" to break ranks and clearly and honestly state how they will deal with immigration (inflicted on us by deceit), the ridiculous Human Rights Act and ridding the country of those

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undesirables who plot against it, the over-weaning interference and influence of the EU in what used to be our own affairs until sold down the river by these same people and finally, a level playing field for the people of England. However, I fear that we shall wait in vain, with the resultant abysmal turnout on election day.

Fare play for school buses

From: Tim Mickleburgh, Littlefield Lane, Grimsby.

I AGREE that children should be encouraged to go by bus to school, if their place of education isn't near enough for them to get to by foot or cycle.

Even so, I disagree with Mrs Y Jennings (Yorkshire Post, March 3) when she says that all secondary school age children should automatically have their bus fees paid.

For surely this will encourage pupils to travel even further to school, rather than going to their neighbourhood comprehensive?

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By doing so, their carbon footprint will be automatically increased. Besides, why should well-off parents have their children's bus fare subsidised by everyone else? Including, of course, those without children, who already see generous child benefit and tax credit payments going to those who've chosen to add to the nation's population.

Way with words

From: Colin Ella, Westgate Road, Belton, Doncaster.

I SEEM to have been reading Bernard Dineen's column for years and years. I really do find this Monday morning missive very therapeutic.

I find his efforts entertaining, not at all for the content and often even less for the opinion, but for his style. I like his punchy, penetrating use of words. With Mr Dineen it is the "way he says it"

that fascinates me. I know some will think this is a funny kind of entertainment, but this is indeed how I find these regular rants.

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Strangely enough, I seem to get the same sort of humour from Bernard Dineen as I do from Ian McMillan's saunters. Mind you, sometimes Mr Dineen is bang on – and that is a bonus!

Licence level

From: Phil Hanson, Beechmount Close, Baildon, Shipley.

WHICH of our political parties has the guts to demand a downscaling of the BBC licence fee (Yorkshire Post, March 3)?

Long gone are the days when the British public were bullied to get rid of the pirate radio stations and forced to have a communist-style Radio 1,2,3,4.

So which party will grasp the thorn and cut the licence to a reasonable level, say a fiver?

Fair sentence

From: David Bentley, Pickering.

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HOW many times have people been released, or allowed bail, only to re-offend (Yorkshire Post, March 2)? One remedy would be for the person sanctioning the release/bail to underwrite that to the extent they

serve the remainder of the sentence when the offender disappears.Harsh, but wouldn't it just focus their minds?