Politicians must listen to the public

BERNARD INGHAM’S end-of-term report (Yorkshire Post, July 20) on the state of the coalition Government is both timely and to the point, particularly in relation to the latest news about the increasing and insurmountable problems involving the eurozone debt crisis, first in Greece and with other countries to follow.

It is serious and worrying that our politicians, with few notable exceptions, continue to ignore the inevitable: as the debt crisis widens, the UK and the rest of the members of this discredited and monolithic organisation will go down the pan together.

Bernard is quite right to castigate Cameron and his Lib Dem hangers-on in the light of so much opposition to the Government’s refusal to withdraw from the EU, plus the ongoing problems with immigration, overseas aid, the decimation of our Armed Forces, and struggling NHS and education services, plus many more issues.

It is time that our politicians listened to public concerns.

Fudge over Euro finance

From: David Quarrie, Lynden Way, Holgate, York.

THE leaders of the EU nations have met in the country of chocolate, and stuck together a meaningless fudge to delay the inevitable collapse of the finances of Greece, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain (Yorkshire Post, July 22). The only plan that just might have worked was the German idea of making the banks accept at least 50 per cent of the pain, that all of them caused, pay an extra tax and accept some real losses.

German taxpayers must be heartily sick of the pathetic performances of these nations and the lack of “bottle” shown by most of the EU Finance Ministers. They must now surely resent having to bail out these third raters yet again.

Britain too, because of our involvement with the IMF, does not escape having to fork out money in yet another futile gesture of solidarity.

Questions for Mrs Thatcher

From: JW Smith, Sutton-on-Sea.

WHEN the phone hacking problems first surfaced, the Metropolitan Police were asked to undertake a thorough investigation. This led to some charges and convictions after which the Met felt there were no further necessary inquiries.

There was a further referral in 2009 and Assistant Commissioner John Yates advised the then Prime Minister there was no further evidence. These are well recorded facts.

When what is probably the most respected police force in the world is requested to undertake an inquiry, surely their response has to be respected and accepted. Why then do some of the true blues, of which Alan Carcas (Yorkshire Post, July 18), is one, still keep blaming Gordon Brown for not taking action?

Rupert Murdoch was clearly intent on creating the dynasty he now controls, but the authorities in Australia, his homeland, saw through it and clipped his wings, so he decided to try his luck in the UK.

Here Mrs Thatcher gave him carte blanche to commence his empire building programme. It is in this country where the problems now surfacing in the US were spawned. Having made his mark here, Murdoch became a US citizen to enable him to carry on with what he had started.

So rather than Mr Brown, surely it is Mrs Thatcher who has questions to answer.

Mr Carcas also mentions the level of hypocrisy only two years ago of MPs abusing the benefits system.

He has been making political comment for very many years, so he knows very well that the inquiry could only go back over five years, although systematic abuse began and was actually encouraged immediately after the system was introduced to offset a proper pay rise for MPs in the 1980s.

Who was responsible for introducing the system? He knows it was Mrs Thatcher.

Report the real news

From: John Watson, Hutton Hill, Leyburn, North Yorkshire.

I HAVE been as shocked as anybody regarding the hacking saga and I hope that those responsible get what they deserve. However I am up to my ears with the story. I think that now that most of the facts are in the hands of the judiciary and the relevant authorities it is time to draw a line under it.

I shed no tears for the demise of the News of the World. Its whole raison d’être was scouring the country for all the muck it could find – most of it with sexual undertones. I am not really interested in other people’s sexual peccadillos but it does seem to sell newspapers.

The BBC and the printed press should now get down to reporting the important items of news like what is going to happen to this country if Europe goes bust? What is going to happen to the avarice of the bankers who, having got us into this mess, are now awarding themselves indecent bonuses? And why, in this unpredictable world, are we cutting our Armed Forces to the point where we may not be able to defend ourselves. I remember Aneurin Bevin, one of the wisest of the post-war Labour Government, saying that unilateral disarmament would send us” naked into the conference chamber”. How right he was.

As an afterthought, I have no sympathy for Murdoch or his methods, but he was a very successful man and if all the clever people in the press and on television had been as half as successful this would have been a more prosperous country.