Monday's Letters: Huntley's appalling abuse of taxpayers' money

Now, apparently in the belief that the self-same taxpayers have unlimited resources and, indeed, are desperately seeking ways to spend their hard-earned cash, along comes child-killer, Ian Huntley, similarly funded by the completely unwilling, but powerless to object taxpayer, to pay for him to pursue his claims for compensation for injuries sustained in prison from a fellow inmate.

If successful, this will mean the very same taxpayers are paying to sue themselves as they will have to provide any compensation awarded. How utterly ludicrous and how totally obscene that Huntley's claims for compensation are about 10 times the sums given to the parents of the children he murdered, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

Of course, if the views of the majority of taxpayers had been listened to and implemented years ago, such ridiculous, and is it too inaccurate to say criminal abuses of their monies, would never have occurred as such heinous murderers would have been executed long ago.

How appalling then that the very same taxpayers are compelled to fund such outrageous claims and legal fees and possible compensation payouts because they were ignored. But, in Britain's version of democracy, the views of the minority groups are the ones which are listened to.

The death penalty for murderers doesn't fit comfortably in the consciences of such so-called civilised people.

No, to them the death penalty is barbaric; it is inhumane; it is not the way an advanced civilised society behaves, but, apparently, the abuses of taxpayers' monies is acceptable and the safety of murderers is a priority. Such claims for compensation doesn't, of course, trouble the conscience of Ian Huntley.

As for the recession Britain is experiencing – what recession? Don't be silly, there's no recession when the welfare of murderers is uppermost in the minds of our liberal wallies and where the human rights of heinous murderers has to be protected.

From: Barrie Frost, Watson's Lane, Reighton, Filey.

Slash these monstrous salaries

From: John Watson, Hutton Hill, Leyburn.

IT'S never ending. Every day we read in the Press of some individual somewhere getting paid a monstrous salary for doing a job which could probably be done by somebody else for half the price in half the time.

Is it really possible that there are people who are getting paid half as much again as our Prime Minister for doing jobs with about a hundredth of the responsibility? Are there, in local government, in the lower echelons of industry, in the NHS, or in banking, positions which warrant the payment of huge salaries which make the PM and his Ministers appear as if they are working for peanuts?

Who is responsible for such an anomaly? I suggest it is the last Government which has a lot to answer for by setting up what we call quangos without reviewing what was going on.

Now the same bodies are bleeding the Exchequer dry with their avaricious salary scales. I call these quangos "corporate sinecures", they are all highly paid while being

non-productive.

York fails to impress

From: Dave Hitchman, Eriswell Drive, Lakenheath, Suffolk.

LAST week, I made a trip to York, famous city, tourist attraction, wonderful and lovely place to visit, especially when bringing others from abroad.

However, there were problems. These were generally, though not exclusively of the council's making. The council is, of course, elected by you, so when I blame the council, I suppose I also blame you for not unelecting them, replacing them with someone else and sorting out the problems.

First was the car park. True enough there were spaces, but I'm not surprised! Three hours parking 5.10 – that emptied my entire collection of change. I couldn't stay longer if I wanted.

Second, 40p for using the toilet. I mean, come on, this really is just arrogance on the part of the council. Again, it's a turn-off for visitors – they see such rampant greed, and, like me, won't be back again.

Third, no dogs on the city wall. Why not? My dog is well trained, on a lead, doesn't relieve himself all over (and he's allowed on the streets). Even if I had the time (car park charges permitting) I couldn't have used this famous and interesting asset.

Fourth, few places welcome dogs. Why not? On the Continent – especially in Germany – it is perfectly normal and accepted to take dogs into shops, tourist attractions, pubs, cafs, ice-cream parlours and the like.

There are many empty shops in York. It is amazing that in an attractive city, with a worldwide reputation, amazing attractions and a large variety of things for people to do, that any shop should sit for more than a couple of hours with a "to let" or "for sale" sign in the

window.

Yet it was clear that many of these empty shops had been empty for some time.

It is a warning to you all – sort the problems or see the empty shops spread. When too many are empty, you may as well shut the city for good as it will become less and less interesting and the snowball effect will see it a ghost town in no time.

A bridge too far

From: Mrs EM Crabtree, Fairfax Road, Cullingworth, West Yorkshire.

WHY the 10-day delay to the repair of the Whitby swing bridge so, according to Scarborough Council, parts could be ordered and imported from Italy?

What has happened to our engineers and skilled workmen?

Sheffield used to be the centre of our iron and steel industry for years.

It seems we are losing all our traditional skills to our great detriment.

Policing and politicians

From: Ian R Bloomer, Darrington Road, East Hardwick, Pontefract,

West Yorkshire.

THE article by West Yorkshire Police Authority chairman, Coun Mark Burns-Williamson (Yorkshire Post, July 26), read: "Politicians must not distract us from the job in hand."

Excuse me, but is he not a politician?

Recently, the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester did a look at the day of a Chief Constable on TV. In the last scene, he was sitting with the chairman of his police authority – "another politician" – and he referred to him as his boss.

I do not know if it is the correct course to take to have a locally elected police "commissioner". What I do know is we delude ourselves if we believe that the policing of this country is not distracted by politicians, it could not be worse.

Cuts in the Commons

From: NJ Gudge, Weeton Drive, Wetwang, Driffield.

IT'S about time that the House of Commons was reduced in numbers.

There was some talk of the numbers of MPs to be reduced by 50 (eight per cent).

As David Cameron says: "We are in this together."

Can we, therefore, see a reduction of 160 MPs (25 per cent), like everyone else is having to put up with in the present climate?

Not the PM's finest hour

From: Jean Hardcastle, Constable Road, Filey.

I THOUGHT I felt the earth shake the other night – there

was a great rumbling and grumbling. But it was only Churchill turning in his grave when he learned that Great

Britain had been designated as a junior partner in the Second World War by the new Prime Minister.

Prescott's war doubts

From: Jack Kinsman, Stainton Drive, Grimsby.

IF Lord Prescott had all these doubts about being given

"tittle tattle" and "bits and pieces" of the true picture concerning the Iraq War (Yorkshire Post, July, 31), why

did he vote in favour of something he obviously knew nothing about?

Guiding light for tomorrow's entrepreneurs

From: Jill Heyes, PR adviser, Girlguiding North East England.

IN relation to Bernard Ginns's comment "Revival in manufacturing requires a long-term view" (Yorkshire Post, July 27), Girlguiding UK would like to say that we do indeed have initiatives of our own to inspire entrepreneurial spirit in our young members. These initiatives offer a taste for entrepreneurism that extends beyond badges, from applying for small business loans to running their own retail business.

Girlguiding UK has both feet very much planted in the 21st century when it comes to developing the business acumen of our young membership, and as the largest organisation for girls and young women in the UK, we realise that we have a unique opportunity to encourage the female entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

We do this in a variety of ways, from national initiatives to local projects. Our national Changing the World enterprise challenged girls and young women to transform 100 to 500 for Barnado's charity. Locally, fundraising projects provide a platform for our members to generate large sums of money with little or no resources.

One example of this here in Yorkshire is the 1st Boroughbridge Rangers who had to raise 8,000 for a two-week community action trip to Bulgaria.

Victoria Garbutt, 20, helped raise this mammoth amount by moulding her creative skills into a business. Using specialist painting techniques, she renovated old tables and chairs, and created a fashionable –

and extremely successful – furniture business.

Alongside these year-round projects, Girlguiding UK is also supporting Global Entrepreneurship Week – launching in November – and will be encouraging our members to become involved in a range of initiatives.

There is no doubt that the Scouts have shown how much they would like to see their current members become a Lord Sugar, and we would like to congratulate them on introducing an Entrepreneur badge to their programme – we hope it gives young people a taste of what the world of business really entails.

But similarly, Girlguiding UK is confident that our own practical approach to providing girls and young women with a taste of entrepreneurism might just inspire some of our business-minded young members to gain the extra confidence they need to grow into the next Karren Brady, Deborah Meaden or Saira Khan.