October 6: Lotto odds don’t add up as claimed

I SEE that Camelot are again changing the format of the National Lottery (Lotto) and adding an extra 10 numbers. This after they doubled the ticket price not long ago.

Of course they are calling it an “exciting” change and trumpeting messages to try to make our mouths water. They say “More chances to become a millionaire” and “Your overall odds of winning a prize will improve from 1:54 to just 1:9”.

I have always had an interest in statistics and figures and it didn’t take me long to see through this deceiving and misleading trick to dupe the public into thinking that winning will be easier.

They are adding an extra £1m prize to each draw and now including a prize of a free lucky-dip worth £2 for any player getting just two numbers (with no cash equivalent).

This is the basis of their “More chances to become a millionaire”. Winning a £2 ticket from a stake of £2 is not a win to me – it is just getting your stake back. It is these millions of £2 (extra ticket) winners that will justify their claim that the odds of winning have dropped from 1:54 to 1:9.

The odds against winning will increase as follows. Three numbers changes from 1 in 57 to 1 in 97. Four numbers changes from 1 in 1,033 to 1 in 2,180. Five numbers changes from 1 in 55,491 to 1 in 144,415.

It hasn’t taken Camelot long to claw back the increase to £25 for three numbers when they doubled the ticket-price to £2. These changes are definitely not exciting for me or anyone else who plays the lottery. The lottery has descended into a money-grabbing outfit and Scamelot is my more appropriate title for them.

Halifax was bombed

From: Mr W Peacock, Nelson.

REFERRING to your Magazine’s profile of Halifax (The Yorkshire Post, September 19), I have waited in vein to see a letter from someone more erudite than myself refuting the claim made by the vicar of Halifax, the Rev Canon Barber, that Halifax was never bombed.

In fact, Halifax was bombed in about 1942/43 when the Hanson Lane / Raglan Street area was on the receiving end. I believe that there is now a garden of remembrance at the site although I have never seen it myself. At the time I was a schoolboy living in the lower Shibden Valley and I distinctively remember the sound of the explosions from even so far away.

On the Southowram side of Sunny Vale stood Allen’s Brickyard (now derelict) and that was also bombed at about the same time but they missed the target and the bombs landed in a nearby field. The attack was rumoured to have killed a rabbit. This event would have been reported in the Brighouse Echo and the attack on Hanson Lane would have been reported in the Halifax Courier.

I have been taking The Yorkshire Post each day since 1952 when I was a young police officer in the Halifax Borough Police and I still have it delivered each day, although I am exiled over the border in my retirement.

No control over borders

From: John Watson, Leyburn.

ONCE again, the Schengen Agreement is causing difficulties for Europe. None of the signatories, of course, knew that we were going to be overwhelmed with an immigrant problem. I suppose there will be a lot of these people who will want to travel further afield, having attained citizenship. We can’t stop them.

I wonder how many of them are followers of Islam. It worries me that every one of these who steps ashore will dilute our Christianity which, although not always perfect, has kept us sane and safe for over 2,000 years.

For goodness sake, let’s get out of Europe. At least we could control our own borders and who is allowed to cross them.

From: Arthur Quarmby, Underhill, Holme.

THE West started out intending to remove President Assad, but when that resulted in the rise of Isis, Western minds were changed – perhaps on the “better the devil you know” principle (Bill Carmichael, The Yorkshire Post, October 2).

So when Russia moves in to attack Isis, it should be time for the West to support them in the hopes of stopping this murderous Muslim creed. Dealing with Assad (or not) could better be left until later.

Corbyn has nothing to lose

From: Tom Howley, Wetherby.

JEREMY Corbyn should have “got his retaliation in first”. Flushed with the success of his victory, a craftier politician would have told the public that the tabloid journalists already had columns of vitriolic copy ready for publication. The Murdoch muck-rakers, along with the Mail and Express, hate him and the Labour Party and will scavenge the dustbins hoping to find lies, filth and gossip.

Michael Foot, Neil Kinnock and Ed Milliband were easy victims, Corbyn has nothing to lose, he should have attacked first.

From: Roger Backhouse, Upper Poppleton, York.

MARK Stuart’s recent analysis of Tony Blair’s election victories and blaming Iraq for his credibility loss omits two factors. First, the decision to introduce student tuition fees lost Labour votes from educated young people (and their parents). Second, Blair’s successes were achieved on low election turnouts.