Propaganda from those 
in Brussels

DEFENDING the indefensible is a difficult task so I’ll give Michael Meadowcroft some credit for his letter (Yorkshire Post, November 14) when he attacks Bill Carmichael for the Yorkshire Post’s columnist’s disparaging views on the EU.

Mr Meadowcroft accuses the UK of fearing foreigners to such an extent that we have been marginalised onto the fringes of EU influence. That’s just Brussels’ propaganda; I would claim that we are the most tolerant, as well as, now, the most heterogeneous nation in Europe. He further charges us of lacking a vision of a community of peoples; no, we only lack the vision when it’s controlled, as it is, by a centralised, self-serving bureaucracy.

The Lib Dem party has always been a fellow traveller with the EU, unashamedly loyal, even though the EU’s character has changed beyond recognition and surely at odds with fundamental liberal beliefs.

Mr Meadowcroft cites the fact that three old Warsaw Pact countries have joined the Brussels union and expects Bill Carmichael to show amazement at this phenomena.

Surely, any country unfortunate enough to have suffered for decades under the yoke of the Soviet Union would be delighted to join any organisation that gives generous handouts at other countries’ expense.

Seventy years of peace in Europe is one of the usual cliches trumpeted by EU protagonists and affirmed by Mr Meadowcroft. What about Nato, the nuclear deterrent, the US military presence in Germany, and the collective guilt engendered by Nazism as major factors?

Inconvenient facts ignored

From: D Wood, Thorntree Lane, Goole.

james Bovington (Yorkshire Post, November 17) is either not keeping up with events or, as is more likely with all europhiles, just ignoring inconvenient facts when they paint a different picture to their own.

At the end of his letter Mr Bovington states that the EU budget has never run a deficit and yet it has been reported in the last couple of weeks that there is a shortfall of £7bn in the current budget, and that the members are being asked to make good this shortfall. Britain’s share of this will be a “mere £850m” – money that would be far better spent in this country.

The dumped city...

From: M Devanney, Bayswater Place, Leeds.

AS a patriot of Leeds and Yorkshire, I think it is time we had a campaign along the lines of “Leeds – the dumped city”.

It was not long ago that the city missed out on a Government grant because we were just slightly above other cities.

The BBC and others have stolen our football team’s name – we are called Leeds instead of Leeds United, Manchester United are the eponymous United.

This makes them millions 
and I am not exaggerating, millions. I do not understand 
why teams who are long established do not sue the 
BBC or why their supporters 
do not complain (those whose name ends in United, such as Sheffield, West Ham, Newcastle or Oxford).

Now Leeds is fighting to save its heart unit.

The Yorkshire Post, local council and city MPs should start a campaign to stop Leeds being taken for granted – the dumped city.

Abysmal lifestyles

From: Heather Causnett, Escrick, York.

CHRIS Bond’s article (Yorkshire Post, November 21) about young mothers made me furiously angry and a little sad.

As long as society treats promiscuity and unwanted, unplanned, irresponsible motherhood as something to be accepted as normal when there is a ready answer, called contraception, free and available to all, we will continue to add to the generation of babies who do not know their own fathers, let alone live a normal family life with them. What chance do they have of a decent, normal upbringing?

The drain on our resources is enormous and there is no excuse at all. Why on earth young girls who cannot live without sleeping around don’t either get themselves sterilised or take regular contraception, I do not know, but to feel anything but contempt for them is using plasters to cover up one of our most serious, modern-day diseases.

To offer free housing, money for expenses and sympathy only encourages them to continue with their abysmal lifestyles.