Friday's Letters: No hope for 'big society' in chaos of free market

While politicians fiddle with figures and rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic, it seems to me the monstrous greed and multi-trillion dollar fraud behind this economic crisis is being forgotten in the foolish attempt to blame the last Labour government for everything.

This is a human problem, not a party one. Previously they sat on the sidelines twiddling their thumbs and fiddling their expenses, too dim to see the crisis coming. Now they are in power they are all suddenly experts.

They have declared war on the sins of lesser souls at the bottom end of society, calling them muggers of the taxpayer. I notice they don't use the same language on the super-rich tax dodgers who cost us far more.

Many people should also be mindful that their present financial assets probably only still exist because governments have borrowed vast amounts of money from present and future taxpayers to stop a system collapse. And while our politicians clumsily perform their operations on us, the major cancers of powerful greed and vested interests remain dominant in the body of humanity.

It is big capitalism that requires major surgery and it is the ordinary people of the world who must come together and demand an end to all that is detrimental to human life. When little people band together

with focused determination, they are no longer little and the

politicians must follow.

But public intent must be for the good of all and not just self-protection. We are part of a living whole and people can no longer look to their own little lives and think they are immune from world evils.

The politicians must serve the people and the people must serve each other. At the same time, people do have their own lives to deal with and a degree of self-interest is normal and right for the average person. But only when the centuries old, greed-centred economics, which always creates extremes of rich and poor, is ended, can there be any kind of "big society".

From: Gordon Sanderson, Roughbirchworth Lane, Oxspring, Barnsley.

Quest for unity over women bishops

From: Canon Jenny Reid, Member of General Synod for York Diocese, Poplars Road, Linthorpe, Middlesbrough.

I DO not recognise my good friend Martin Dales's description of General Synod's debate about women bishops in July, at which I, too, was present (Yorkshire Post, October 26).

There was no "hectoring" at any point, nor was there any "disgraceful and shockingly unChristian behaviour" in evidence.

As a fellow member, I sat through many hours of careful, reasoned debate concluding with a vote which reflected the mind of Synod. That Martin is not happy with the outcome is not a reason to misrepresent the manner in which the debate was conducted.

Martin implies that the rejection of the Archbishops' amendment was a personal slight to the Archbishops themselves, but Archbishop Rowan Williams made it very clear in presenting the amendment that it was offered as possible way forward, and it was not to be regarded as a test of personal loyalty to him and the Archbishop of York.

The Archbishops are both held in great respect and affection by Synod and to suggest otherwise is both unhelpful and misleading.

Provision has been made for those who do not wish to have women in the episcopate in the form of a statutory code of conduct. Details are yet to be worked out, but everyone will have a legal duty to follow its requirements. The whole matter is now being referred to Diocesan, Deanery and local church bodies for discussion and approval so there will be ample opportunity for "people in the pew" to voice their views.

Martin's mystifying claims that "one alleged form of discrimination against women is to be replaced by another against men and others" and asks, "Can this be a way forward in these days of equality?" Synod has gone to great lengths to accommodate people of wildly differing viewpoints. Those who believe there should be women in the episcopate do not see it in terms of "equal rights", but as an outworking of gospel principles that can only enrich the church.

From: Martin J Dodgson, Thwing, East Yorkshire.

MARTIN Dales is quite correct (Yorkshire Post, October 26) when he

writes in his cogent article on the General Synod of the Church of England that the thousands of us who are unable to accept, for theological reasons, the authority of women bishops do not wish to

leave the Church of England.

We are merely asking that the provisions made for us when the ordination of women was approved should, as promised, continue. It was the House of Clergy in the last Synod that rejected an amendment proposed by both Archbishops which would have provided for those of us with a "traditional" opinion to remain under the jurisdiction of a male bishop.

Let us hope that the wise counsel of our Archbishops will prevail in the new Synod and thereby inspire the unity which we should all be seeking.

From: Frank McManus, Longfield Road, Todmorden.

MARTIN Dales (Yorkshire Post, October 26) writes as a Yorkshire member of the Church of England General Synod, saying that its Houses of Clergy and Laity regard unity as vital and in need of retention.

Those who may prefer not to avail themselves of women's sacramental ministry need to recognise that they cannot be given provision that violates the conscience of the church as a whole, including that of "internal dissenters" in opt-out parishes who dislike the present flying bishops, and who have in many places been advised to "push off" and go elsewhere! "Do as you would be done by" I say to the men-only faction.

Ministry needs sharing within all parishes, like in Linton-in-Wharfedale up to early Victorian times, where two "medieties" took alternate Sunday duty.

With love and goodwill this can be arranged in proportion to the

balance of local desires.

Hip op turned my life around

From: Countess of Swinton, Sledmere, Driffield, East Yorkshire.

I READ with utter horror and sadness the case of the firm facing a

350m bill over 10,000 faulty hip replacement operations.

I have had both my hips fully replaced. My excellent orthopaedic surgeon John Bradley (who worked on Colonel Gadaffi) recommended and fitted the Furlong hip joints, designed by the late Professor Furlong.

The Furlong joint is made of titanium which adheres to the bone. I had my right hip replaced 12 years ago and my left eight years ago. The operations turned my life around as I was in dreadful pain before and found it very difficult to walk.

I haven't had any pain since and can run, walk for miles, ride a horse and a camel, and leap over fences, in fact, almost anything I could do before the two operations.

I was saddened to read of the terrible suffering of the poor lady and the 10,000 other patients who have had to endure revision surgery

after their faulty hip joints caused awful problems, and wanted to make people aware of this particular hip joint which has had a miraculous effect on me.

No need to alter clocks – start work earlier

From: EA Stear, Silpho, Scarborough.

AFTER reading Greg Knight's article (Yorkshire Post, October 26), I felt I must write and put forward my alternative which my late wife, who was a true Yorkshire farmer's daughter, always said when the time came to alter the clocks: why don't people get up with the sun?

She quoted the old rhyme, "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy,wealthy and wise".

Is it just possible that some folk are too lazy or too selfish? If all shops and offices opened for business at 6am and worked an eight-hour day, they would finish at 2pm and have the afternoon and evening for leisure.

Lots of people start work earlier than 6am and many more work shifts. There really is no need to alter the clocks, just change the hours of work.

From: GJC Reid, Mayfield Road, Whitby.

THE suggested time change is a waste of time, literally. People behave according to clock time and weather, regardless of whether it is light or dark.

Anyone who really wants to adopt Continental time should so set their clocks and watches and go to work early.

Flexible working makes this feasible and should ease peak time travel.

War spirit will see us through

From: Wes Overin, Westfield Lane, Wyke, Bradford.

CAN I reiterate the sentiments expressed in the letter from John Watson (Yorkshire Post, October 21)?

The 1939-45 war fostered that spirit of pulling together to defeat an enemy threatening this country. In those days, there was a not a cry of "what's in it for me?" The sole ethos was on how can we work and

pull together to get us out of this mess.

We need that same spirit now to fight against the enemy "bankruptcy". We are all in this together; this is a war in which we shall all suffer more if we do not work for the common cause.

The country got into this mess through spending more than was coming in.

Those in charge should have heeded the words of Mr Micawber: "Spend more than your income and the result is misery."

I often wonder how recent immigrants realise how fortunate they are to live here and whether they have the 1939-45 spirit in their bones that we who lived through it have.

Labour's own pension policies

From: Alan Johnson, Shadow Chancellor and West Hull and Hessle MP.

CONCERNING your Leader (Yorkshire Post, October 28) in which you say

that the coalition is tackling Labour's failings and that "the proposed reforms appear to be far simpler than any policy put forward by Mr Brown", can I gently point out that this is precisely the policy developed and legislated for by the last Labour government to take

effect from 2012.

You're right to praise them – perhaps you may also care to correct your obvious misapprehension concerning their authorship.

Hit banks with a Robin Hood tax

From: Helen Binks, Leeds.

I KNOW we are in difficult economic times. But there is one easy

decision that could spare a lot of the "tough ones". A tax on the banks could raise 20bn in the UK to help those hit by the financial crisis in this country and around the world.

For every cut I hear the Government announce, I keep asking: could a tax on the banks have paid for that?

The situation we find ourselves in started in the financial sector and we spent 1.4 trillion bailing them out. We are all paying for a party we weren't quite invited to. I want to see my MP and leaders start fighting for a tax that would make Robin Hood proud.