Let’s launch a National Appeal for NHS and its superheroes

AFTER the amazing and very emotional applause for the NHS staff, I believe we can and should do more. My idea is to have a massive national appeal for donations to the NHS to help fund the crisis and to show the NHS staff how much we’re supporting them.

This could be done like Children in Need and Comic Relief etc by some famous people, but without all the big show presentation, perhaps with Land of Hope and Glory in the background.

My wife and I work as volunteers for several charities, including NHS Hospital Charities, but most fundraising events are cancelled or postponed for now, so a big national appeal should help.

Another thought I’ve had and not heard mentioned is for HS2 to be “Beechinged” to save billions and help the NHS.

From: Stephanie Shield, Sinnigton, York.

FARMERS are calling for EU workers to be brought back to the UK to pick the fruit and vegetable crops (The Yorkshire Post, March 28).

Whilst this coronavirus pandemic rages, and it is likely to go on for several months, why can’t sixth form and university students be mobilised to help with the need for casual workers to carry out this seasonal work?

Some students will not be going back to their education until September at the earliest. Surely this is a good time to put these younger people to use which will help the country?

From: ME Wright, Harrogate.

LIKE Jarvis Browning, I entertained and discarded the idea of using the present reduced services to upgrade the railways (The Yorkshire Post, March 27).

However, is there any reason why the Rail Delivery Group could not use these sad times to get a long-overdue grip on the privatised 25-year ticketing mess? They could work from home, remembering to pop out in the evening to cheer our publicly-owned NHS.

From: Terry Morrell, Willerby.

IN these difficult times, I am today disturbed that there are so many people, also the BBC, making negative and critical comments about the shortcomings of any suggestion of reasonable advice.

Criticism is so easy, but unless it is constructive, can we please have much less of it? We could all do with some encouragement.

From: Anita Bamford, Sharrow Vale Road, Sheffield.

GOODNESS me, Jayne Dowle (The Yorkshire Post, March 30). What an awful, miserable complaining article (including, of course, the usual chip on the shoulder reference to Boris Johnson’s place of education). Of course he can’t get everything right, but most of us think that he’s doing a good job under incredibly difficult and unique circumstances. We need positive words in tune with the spirit of a nation pulling together.

From: A W Clarke, Louth.

I CONFESS I’m not a great fan of social media because, I suspect, it gives carte blanche to people who should know a little better to post some ridiculous comments.

Having said that, Geoff Wright’s comment that anyone over 70 (in this case Jeremy Corbyn, I assume) should stay at home and keep quiet confirmed my views about Twitter and Facebook. That is tantamount to saying that no one over 70 has any right to an opinion. Would he like me to send him a list of over 70s who are probably among the cleverest people in the world?

From: Gordon Lawrence, Sheffield.

WHILST there’s much to admire about China, we should not bury its shortcomings and the crucial issue of why and how the catastrophe, now enveloping the world, emanated from this enigmatic land. Will there be a next one? And can we stop it?

From: Hilary Andrews, Nursery Lane, Leeds.

WATCHING Martin Lewis on Good Morning Britain telling of the scheme he had set up to Feed the NHS, wouldn’t it be great if other millionaires, like Gary Lineker and his football pals, gave £1m too?

From: Peter Rickaby, Selby.

EXPERIENCE tells us when civil servants are in charge of procurement, i.e. Ministry of Defence, goods ordered arrive on average two years late. Let’s hope civil servants procuring for the NHS are not of the same ilk.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor