Mind boggles at charity chief salaries

ONE of the reasons why there 
are so many smaller charities is that people hear of the huge salaries being paid out to top executives in many of the bigger ones.

They decide to set up or support smaller, direct action operations instead where they feel the money is not being wasted on administration.

So, although Alex Jones’s letter (Yorkshire Post, August 13) explains the work necessary to be done by charities in some difficult circumstances, that does not necessarily justify the high salaries paid out to top executives. One might ask where is their charity?

Of course charities have to be run efficiently but that does not mean that those within have to blinker themselves to the fact that they are being paid from the hard work of others working, perhaps at lower level for more modest returns, or as volunteers for no return whatsoever except the reward of knowing that they are helping the disadvantaged somewhere.

Many people have voluntarily worked for charities all their adult lives not only for no financial reward but at their own expense, getting satisfaction knowing that they are doing something worthwhile. It is about time that ethos returned to the charity sector.

In any event, the mind boggles at what anyone does with a salary of £150,000 and above, even after tax has been deducted.

That would be a dream for many hard working people, 
not just those classified as charitable cases.

High price of independence

From: Robert Reynolds, Harrogate.

THINKING about Scottish independence, I’ve come to the conclusion that this issue is far too important to be left to the Scots. Although unlikely, it may be that our surly northern neighbour will vote for independence.

This issue is mostly irrelevant to Scottish people who will see little difference.

They certainly won’t feel more free, or more independent if 
they vote yes to independence. Yet it certainly will boost the pay and egos of the Scottish politicians, which is why they pursue it.

However, a yes vote will have another unforeseen and currently undebated consequence. If Scotland votes for independence, an army of lawyers, bureaucrats, civil servants, consultants and advisers will descend upon Edinburgh.

They will begin the long 
process of consultations, proposals, counter proposals, initiatives, royal commissions, reports, both secret and public about who owns what, by how much and where.

It will go on for years.

The very marrow of our bones, both English and Scottish, will be sucked dry by these people as they gleefully trouser our taxes. This is why we English should have a vote on it.

Scotland. If you want to be independent, don’t vote for it. The tax bill isn’t worth the paperwork.

Rethinking priorities

From: Stephen Davis, Barncliffe Close, Fulwood, Sheffield.

FACT: Sheffield City Council needs to take urgent action to bring a multi-million pound overspend under control as several departments struggle to cope with making huge cuts.

Assumpton: the council will maybe cough up £20m to purchase a 10-storey office block in St Paul’s Place.

Question: from whence cometh the cash?

Observation: the city is awash with hotels and office blocks (I remain pessimistic about full utilisation) plus bars and restaurants by the score, whilst within easy walking distance dereliction, decay and neglect scream for attention. Suggestion: Stop trumpeting the city centre as the be all and end all. Examine Council management (with its pay structures and perks), identify and clear out the dead wood. Redirect resources in recognition of the fact that Sheffield is people, not structures and that also there is more to industry than mere services.

Lessons from unionised past

From: Malcolm Nicholson, Barwick-in-Elmet.

JEREMY Clarkson has done some daft stunts but on the last show of Top Gear he conjured up something that was truly impressive.

Challenging the widely held notion that Britain no longer manufactures much, Top Gear asked all the companies that make vehicles in this country to send examples to a mass rally in London. The companies sent world beating products from bulldozers to Bentleys.

Yes, I realise that many of 
these manufacturers are 
foreign and much of their profits go abroad but they do provide jobs for thousands of British workers.

But best not to watch the programme that followed it, which explained how the Germans built their car industry from the ruins of the Second World War while British management and unions argued themselves into oblivion. That grim period seems to be over now.

Heaven won’t help us if it ever returns and it is deeply worrying that the unions have such a grip on Ed Miliband’s Labour party. Given the chance, they will wreck Britain once again.

Rightful claim to city status

From: Les Wilkie, Mill Street, Hutton, Driffield.

IN response to Martin Fletcher’s missive (Yorkshire Post, August 14), I would like to draw his attention to the definition of the word “city” – it is defined as a large town with a cathedral or a Royal Charter.

Kingston upon Hull has not one but three Royal Charters entitling it to call itself a city three times over.

Tottenham? Part of a borough somewhere south of the 
Watford Gap.