November 13: An economic disaster in the making

GEORGE Osborne and the Conservative government have embarked on a further round of cuts in spending. The alleged justification for this is the “need” to reduce the deficit and national debt. This is frankly economic illiteracy.

Austerity in the UK 2012-12 had a devastating impact on economic growth, worsening the debt : GDP ratio. Research published by the IMF has shown that austerity is almost always counter-productive.

Easing off on austerity 2012-14 allowed the UK economy to start to grow again – albeit anaemically. The deficit has been brought under control and the debt : GDP ratio stabilised.

To return to the dangerous and self-defeating policy of budget cuts (including cuts to the financing of local government) is crass in the extreme. It makes sense only as a political (as opposed to economic) manoeuvre, the objective being to shrink the size of the state.

George Osborne is the most destructive (and hence most dangerous) Chancellor we have had in the last 80 years. The fact that the cuts fall on the most vulnerable in society only adds to their total wrong-headedness.

I am amazed that most British people seem to be accepting this unnecessary situation in such a supine fashion.

From: ME Wright, Grove Road, Harrogate.

MALCOLM Bell gives a timely reminder of even more delay in the outcome of the Leeds trolleybus fiasco (The Yorkshire Post, November 7). Could it be that the inspector has reached the conclusion that a city such as Leeds cannot be effectively served by an all-bus system – trolley, battery or diesel?

Where public transport is concerned, the council has been in a state of confusion and denial for decades. Perhaps the mess could be resolved by them, and every one of the city’s MPs, taking George Osborne to see the Sheffield, Manchester and Nottingham tram networks, while ceaselessly chanting “Northern Powerhouse”.

From: David Cook, Parkside Close, Cottingham, East Yorkshire.

APPARENTLY East Riding Council is to raise the issue of HSBC’s closure of small branches, in particular the one at Howden, at their next meeting. This follows reports of a reputed £8m package being paid to Jes Staley of Barclays.

To me, it indicates the sort of culture of pure greed that some parts of the business world currently operate in.

One wonders how many branches and staff, could be funded by such an obscene amount and if anyone really cares?

Look east for new airport

From: Melvyn Woodhead, Barnsley Road, Sandal, Wakefield.

WITH the inevitable growth in air travel over the next 10/20 years, one is bound to consider the impact on Yorkshire people and others who use Leeds Bradford Airport (Tom Richmond, The Yorkshire Post, November 7). It is a one-runway airport, outdated and badly designed, which is unable to cope with current demand, let alone the future.

Let’s get real with regard to the new HS2 which is going to happen, whether we like it or not. The ideal location for a glossy new airport is in the M62 Selby / Goole areas, with its own dedicated road network andjunctions off the motorway. Eastwards of the mainly populated towns and cities, access and safety play a vital role in choosing the correct location. There’s plenty of level land available in that area. This should help to make Yorkshire an even more desirable place to live, work and play.

When I learned to fly at Sherburn-in-Elmet Aero Club in the 1950s and 60s we regularly used to joy-fly over to Yeadon (LBA) and found it mostly fogged or missed up (900 feet above sea level) and in a densely-populated area.

Come on all you clever boffins, think again before you spend money on rail links. Lets have a proper airport we can boast about.

Speed is not exact science

From: Colin Jackson, Sandal, Wakefield.

I AGREE wholeheartedly with Jayne Dowle (The Yorkshire Post, November 9) that the police should not be using speed cameras to specifically generate extra revenue.

However, my reason for writing is to try and explain the reasons behind the 10 per cent tolerance added to speed limits, which she mentions.

When I became a young traffic cop many years ago, it was explained to me like this. Speedometers in motor vehicles in those days, were mechanical devices usually driven by the gearbox to an instrument on the dashboard.

They consisted of rapidly moving parts which were subject to wear which could then lead to inaccuracies, and so the law allowed for a 10 per cent error. So to prosecute a motorist for doing 33 in a 30mph area was perhaps being over zealous, so the rule of thumb was 10 per cent plus two, so anything over 35 in a 30 area and over 79 on the motorway appertained.

I applied this when I was recommending reports for prosecution. However modern speed cameras do not rely on mechanical devices, they compute time and distance electronically, so perhaps the rules have also changed.