MP’s absence from debate on broadband

From: Victor Buchanan, Ordinary Member, Thirsk & Malton Conservative Association.

YOU report that Anne McIntosh MP is renewing her campaign for faster broadband speeds in Thirsk and Malton. Well isn’t that fabulous for us?

What you didn’t report is that she was the only non-minister Tory MP from North Yorkshire who failed to attend a crucial Westminster debate on delivering super-fast broadband to the county on January 8 – two weeks prior to her press release that led you to your report.

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What pressing engagement kept her away from such an important meeting?

It wasn’t that she was away from Westminster as she managed to maintain her usual seat behind David Cameron at PMQs that day.

Or was this yet another example of the pattern of behaviour 
which has forced so many of us in the constituency party to the painful conclusion that Anne McIntosh does not merit automatic re-adoption for Thirsk and Malton Conservatives as our MP: plenty of press release spin, but only hollow commitment or action on behalf of her constituents.

We deserve better. Much better.

From: Bruce Spaven, Larch Rise, Easingwold, York.

GOOD to hear our MP on BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours on raising issues on flooding. There must be a great deal of the allocated budget being spent on raising the levee by Clifton Bridge in York, which has gone on for a long time. Anne McIntosh is right to focus the issues for us upstream or at the coast. The forecast is for more rain!

Unhappy customers

From: David Grimshaw, Waterside, Silsden, Keighley.

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WITH regard to the complaints about Morrisons, their financial results and customer service (Yorkshire Post, January 22), I write with regard to manning levels on tills at their Keighley store.

It would be hard to imagine a busier time than 2.30 pm during the middle of a significant promotion with many mothers anxious to collect their children from school.

One till in particular was being used as a store room piled high with products.

On my first request for additional tills, I was advised a call had been made, though nothing appeared to happen and a second request when they seem to be concerned about the length of queue. It seems quite clear to me that they had not anticipated the situation, which must happen every day, and ignored the computer software they claimed they had regarding foot fall.

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It should not be the task of customers to bring situations of this nature to the management’s attention, planning is the very essence of management.

We have been customers of Morrisons at least since the Victoria Cinema in Girlington, our loyalty is therefore without question, as a caravanner I am proud to see Morrisons in almost every town I visit, but I must admit that in recent times my wife, the principal shopper, has become a little disenchanted.

Pull your socks up, Morrisons, especially at Keighley.

Accent on Franglais

From: Martyn L Scargill, Chantry Meadows, Kilham, East Yorkshire.

I WAS interested in the letter from David T Craggs (Yorkshire Post, January 18). I did feel that he is being a trifle over-fussy over “Le Grand Départ”.

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The only difference between the two languages (apart from the definite article) is the acute accent on the French “Départ”.

When we adopt French words like café and fête, we must keep the accents or else it can change the pronunciation, and even the meaning at times. In France, missing an accent or using the wrong one is a spelling mistake.

There is also such a thing as “Franglais” which is a comical admixture of French and English, I think owing to the fact that many “Brits” do not learn their French too well! Like “Pouvez-vous tell me the chemin to les toilettes as je ne peux wait!”

Personally, I would keep “Le Grand Départ” wholly in French, as, after all, it is indeed a French conception like “Le Grand Prix”.

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I cannot abide the names of Brontë, Chloë and Zoë without the accent, otherwise you 
would not hear the “ë” at 
the end.

It is the same with the word “naïve” which, of course, is borrowed from French.

Without the two dots, the word would be pronounced something like “nave” in both languages.

In fact, owing to the ups and downs of English spelling, I would recommend a far greater use of accents on vowels in the English language, in any case.

Trust issue

From: Hilary Andrews, Wentworth Court, Nursery Lane, Leeds.

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EVERY day Ed Miliband seems to offer a new review (Yorkshire Post, January 20) suggest a new regulatory body for energy, schools banks etc. Isn’t he just showing that he has learned nothing from Labour’s time 
in Government and we really can’t trust them with our economy for a long time in the future?