Officiousness at work in
the airport

THE experience of Richard Chew (Yorkshire Post, August 8) when his children’s tennis rackets were confiscated by airport security brought to mind my welling anger at Manchester Airport, when we were asked to have passports ready for the flight to the Isle of Man.

Thoughts are free and mine were: “Passports for the Isle 
of Man! You Mancunian 
idiots!”

Fortunately, we were allowed through, thanks to our bus passes!

Then, a Sheffield delicacy for our Manx friend, a bottle of Henderson’s relish, was confiscated and upon my comment that the official 
could try this with a meat pie, 
was ostentatiously thrown into a bin.

Must we be grateful that thanks to such vigilance, possible pensioner relish-related atrocity, as well as children possibly wreaking havoc with their tennis rackets, is avoided on our airways?

Not likely. Not when these Manchester stalwarts, we learn later, are hoodwinked by an 11-year-old lad, who bypassed them and settled himself down on an international flight without documents.

Language lessons

From: Prof Helen Wallace George Street, Saltaire, Bradford.

WHY the disapproving tone in your report on Westminster MPs receiving taxpayers’ money to learn a foreign language (Yorkshire Post, August 11)? The level of foreign language competence in this country is distressingly low and has severely declined.

Yet Britain has to find its way in a challenging world in which we very much need to understand the languages and cultures of other countries.

We need some capable representatives able to interpret global developments in a nuanced way. My question is more on the lines of: Why are only nine of our 650 MPs taking this opportunity to improve their foreign language skills?

Bradford’s true place

From: Alan Biggin, Director of Bradford City Football Club, Wade House Road, Shelf, Halifax.

IN your article in the recent edition of Yorkshire Vision, you described the eight “core” cities as the eight largest cities in England (excluding London).

This of course is incorrect as Bradford is the eighth largest city in England (using the old city boundaries). It is substantially greater in population terms than both Nottingham and Newcastle. This of course is another example of the media and the Government’s perception that Bradford is merely a part of greater Leeds.

A myth further perpetuated by the creation of the “Leeds” City Region, which as soon as it has monies will merely be another vehicle for the promotion of the City of Leeds to the detriment of any other interests.

Mystery and imagination

From: Mrs BJ Hopkins, Great Barugh, Malton.

I CAN only assume Sarah Freeman had not done her homework on the history of York Mystery Plays, before carping about the “untrained actors” struggling with their lines in Friday’s Culture magazine.

If she had, she would be aware that the roots of York Mystery Plays are in ordinary folk in the Medieval Guilds telling the story of the Bible in their own way. The charm of this year’s Mystery Plays lies in the huge cross section of ordinary people taking part with such enthusiasm and energy.

A breathtaking and innovative production that did not in any way need to be “scaled back” as she suggests. Have people lost the ability to concentrate for longer than half an hour?

Healthy story of good care

From: Kathleen M Innes, Otley, West Yorkshire.

I HAVE just had an enforced stay in the spotlessly clean Ward 27 Chancellor’s Wing of St James’s Hospital. The medical team were all efficient and dedicated, nothing was too much trouble and my questions were answered in a friendly, cheerful manner.

The food menu had plenty of choice and when it was served it was hot and edible. Wherever I had been sent, I could not have had better treatment – we have a wonderful NHS and the ground staff in hospitals should be looked after much better by the Government.