Leaders ignore lessons of past

AM I the only one to see our once proud country on the slippery slope to self-destruction?

Do our political leaders not learn the lessons of history? I will not go back too far but starting at the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution up to the present day troubles in Egypt, Tunisia and Iraq.

These events were brought about by the leaders of these countries not listening to the people they governed, but acting on the results of their own agendas.

Nowadays they say, “We listen to our people”, but invariably they then go their own way, often in direct opposition to the feelings of the ordinary “man on the street” as in the promises of a referendum on the European Union (Common Market).

If they continue on the path they are now on, and antagonise the leaders of the police and the military, they are treading on dangerous ground.

No way to run a railroad

From: Bob Watson, Springfield Road, Baildon, Shipley.

NETWORK Rail has unveiled plans to close nearly all the 800 signalling centres, panels and boxes that currently control the national rail network and replace them with 14 rail operating centres.

Although this will reduce the signalling workforce by two thirds to 2,000, the changeover will take around three decades to complete.

But what is the reaction from the Left-wing general secretary of the RMT Union, Bob Crow?

He has been quoted as saying: “We are not opposed to new technology but we are clear that any changes that may arise should be accommodated through a shorter working week, additional annual leave and the right to retire at 55 on a full pension.”

Is it any wonder that our country is in the state that it is, and our railways seem nothing like as efficient as those abroad, when we have such union dinosaurs as the head of their organisations making totally unrealistic proposals?