Monday's letters: Our hospitality is being stretched to breaking point

His view is largely the orthodox one held by the hierarchy of both Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops. Only Michael Nazir-Ali, former Bishop of Rochester, and more recently, Lord Carey, have questioned this viewpoint.

I feel that confusion is arising over two separate issues: migration and population. For its size, the UK is among the top 10 most crowded nations on the earth. He says he does not recognise the description of the UK as a "claustrophobic island".

Looking out of the sitting room of the Bishop's house across the serene Yorkshire dales, it must be very easy to maintain the idea that all is still well in England's green and pleasant land. Sadly though, we cannot be complacent about our open spaces, sanctuaries for other creatures and breathing spaces for we humans. Admiral Horatio Nelson once famously raised a telescope to his blind eye and claimed: "I see no ships." In his case, there was an element of irony.

I'm sure as part of his duties the Bishop has visited the

South East and observed the effects of unsustainable development on seemingly every available space, even building on gardens to maximise the development. Crowded? You bet!

One of the most reliable indications of high population is the amount of road traffic. This congests our towns and makes even the most idyllic rural areas prey to constant noise.

His Grace claims that our cities are less crowded than

they were a century ago.

This is a red herring. A century ago, our cities were smaller

and more crowded as a result of the Industrial Revolution. People lived closer to their workplaces. By the 1930s, people were living in suburbs and cities were expanding outwards.

I assume from his article that the Bishop does not agree with mass, uncontrolled and unsustainable migration. We are a tolerant and welcoming people. Note also how generous we are with foreign aid (such as Haiti etc). However, with the best will in the world, we cannot take on the problems of all this world, giving safe haven to all who want to come here with our hospitality stretched to breaking point.

If that is somehow a suspect, bigoted or racist position, I raise my hands in complete exasperation!

From: MP Stringer, King Street, Skelmanthorpe, Huddersfield.

THE view across the Broad Acres of North Yorkshire from the Bishop's residence (Yorkshire Post, January 29) is different from that down the overcrowded and overbuilt streets of South Yorkshire.

How we can maintain our freedom

From: Peter France, North Lane, Wheldrake, York.

AS the next General Election approaches, there are several things that need to be done if we are to maintain the freedoms and way of life that we have fought for over the centuries.

n Hold the promised referendum as to whether or not we stay in the EU.

n Drastically reduce the number of quangos, bureaucracy and red tape which is strangling enterprise.

n Reintroduce discipline in schools by allowing teachers to punish unruly pupils.

n Deport any Muslim clerics and fanatics who promote terrorism.

n Reduce immigration by 75 per cent.

n Reduce council tax on village pubs which are closing at an alarming rate but are an amenity, but increase the council tax on houses over,

say, 1m.

Increase the VAT threshold for small businesses to 100,000.

Reduce the amount of paperwork the police are forced to complete, allowing them more time to be out on the streets tackling yobs and vandalism which blights many of our cities.

These measures would, I feel, go some way to improve the situation but I regret that I cannot see any of the three main parties having the will to implement any of them.

Where is the strong leader when we really need him/her?

A welcome extension

From: Dr Malcolm Petyt, chairman, Yorkshire Dales Society.

REGARDING the proposed extensions to the Yorkshire Dales National Park (Yorkshire Post, February 10), the council of the Yorkshire Dales Society at its recent meeting voted unanimously to support the extension of the Yorkshire Dales National Park to include the areas now

being considered.

We think they are of the highest landscape quality, and meet all the criteria for national park designation in terms of their beauty, wildlife and heritage, and in their capacity to offer wide opportunities for appropriate forms of recreation.

We believe that national park status will attract resources and expertise to enhance their special qualities, and will be of benefit both to local communities and to visitors.

The present boundaries of the park are artificial in following political units which existed when the park was designated in the 1950s. After 60 years, this is our chance to move them to include what are essentially parts of the same landscape areas.

Election excitement

From: Peter J Brown, Connaught Road, Middlesbrough.

THE Speaker of the House of Commons, and MPs of all parties, have expressed concern about the fact that many constituencies will not count the votes in the General Election until Friday, the day after polling day.

More seats waiting until Friday to declare the result should increase the excitement and drama of the election rather than diminish it.

In the election of 1950, which attracted the highest turnout of any British General Election, the overnight returns suggested a comfortable majority for the Labour under the Prime Minister Clem Attlee.

The next day's returns were more favourable to the Tories under Winston Churchill who dramatically reduced the Labour majority. It meant that they soon would need to be another election. Rural seats declaring on the Friday added to the drama and excitement.

It was a similar story on the General Election of October 1964.

Bureaucracy, not education

From: John Abbott, Newland Avenue, Hull.

SO RGN Webb (Yorkshire Post, January 30) thinks David Cameron's views on education are drivel, does he?

First, even if they were, far worse drivel has passed for education policy for the last 12 years. We were promised education, education, education; we got bureaucracy, bureaucracy, bureaucracy.

More reprehensible still, the gap in GCSE performance between schools in rich and poor areas is actually getting bigger.

Secondly, Conservative policy supports marriage and sets out to solve the problems of our broken society by, among other things, strengthening the family and recognising marriage. New Labour's Britain has a higher proportion of broken homes than anywhere else in Europe.

What we need is a recognition that we can't go on like this, and that action on social welfare, family values and improved education is taken together.

Realities behind the rise of bogeymen BNP

From: Terry Palmer, South Lea Avenue, Hoyland, Barnsley.

HERE we go again! Election time is nearing, but most of the party faithful of the status quo parties and even the Greens are all breaking their necks to warn us against the "dreaded bogey-men" of the BNP.

If any of the main parties would give us just one crumb of what the majority indigenous populace of this now "foreign country" of ours requires there would be no need for the BNP?

For instance, on agriculture we need quality not quantity, foreign aid should be what's left after we've spent money on our own people, a crackdown on crime and drugs, pensioners before asylum seekers, out of the EU and back to British independence and then of course the old BNP "bogeyman"– immigration, which should be stopped completely forthwith. Of course not one of these proposals would ever be allowed to happen by whoever moves into Downing Street, simply because our country is now run from Brussels.

From: Jean Skowronek, Wressle, Selby.

IN view of the countless broken promises made by supporters and power brokers of the EU, I wonder if anybody is quite as scared as I am by the prospect of Turkish entry to the EU?

Not so long ago, a poll in that nation indicated that some 50 per cent per cent of Turkish young people would consider coming to the UK. Mass immigration, fuelled in no small part by our membership of the EU, has brought this country to breaking point. Promises that "all will be well" just cannot be trusted any more.