MPs must stop point-scoring at expense of real debate in Parliament - Yorkshire Post Letters

THE other day I started to watch a programme on TV which showed actual footage of Parliament in action.

I have come to the conclusion that the majority of speakers spend more time trying to score points off each other’s party than actually debating the real issues concerning the welfare of the nation. They seem to forget that each hour spent behaving like schoolchildren will mean that even more people have died through lack of care and a deficiency of funding nurses and other staff members of caring organisations.

Billions are wasted on foreign aid and ego boosting schemes whilst police, immigration and other enforcement agencies struggle find sufficient staff to do the job efficiently.

From: Philip Crowther, Bingley.

LAW-ABIDING citizens are well aware from numerous reports in The Yorkshire Post that justice rarely seems to match the crime these days, what with suspended or inadequate sentencing presumably to protect against prison overcrowding.

However a recent report on a Leeds case concluded with the judge saying to a convicted offender: “You are 46 now. It is about time you stopped actually committing offences. It is a younger man’s game.”

I think that the judge concerned should undertake the rehabilitation activity days he “awarded” the offender himself.

Then write out 10,000 times that crime is bad whatever your age and I will punish it accordingly, not encourage younger participants, before he dons his wig again.

From: Malcolm Beaumont, Bamford, Rochdale.

AS a 90-year-old motorist, I do not support the proposal to excuse elderly people from prosecution for dangerous or careless driving.

We must avoid old age being an excuse for bad behaviour.

The system of avoiding penalty points by attending a course is a good idea, as I have found by attending one myself. I think that eye tests after the age of 70 is reasonable if it is applied to prevent dangerous driving.

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