Quite right
to end aid
to India

From: Bob Watson, Springfield Road, Baildon.

THE ending of aid to India (Yorkshire Post, November 10) is a reflection on the increasing wealth of that country, which also finds itself able to afford both space and nuclear weapons programmes.

However, we then see this decision criticised by Oxfam, who state that the poverty challenge there remains huge, with extreme levels of both poverty and inequality.

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But surely this should now be the responsibility of the Indian government to deal with such matters, as it is obviously well able to do so in financial terms?

Any responsibility should no longer be ours, and our Government is quite right to cease future aid.

From: Craig Shaw, White House Gardens, York.

before the soft-hearted Liberals start bleating about the UK cutting off aid to India they should bear in mind that India spends vast resources on nuclear weapons and on the space race. They are perfectly capable of setting proper priorities and addressing chronic poverty before such matters.

From: Trev Bromby, Sculcoates Lane, Hull.

AT last David Cameron has accepted that super rich India does not want the £280m “peanuts” they keep forcing on to them.

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However it was too good to last; Cameron is going to take that money and give it to other countries who may show more gratitude.

I know a country that would 
be very grateful if you would 
look after it financially, look 
after its flood victims, make 
sure the poorest of families 
can afford a decent meal and 
not be afraid to turn the 
heating up on a bitterly cold winter’s night...

Stop this cruelty

From: Aled Jones, Mount Crescent, Bridlington.

AS a passionate dog lover, I wholeheartedly believe that our canine companions should be given all the rights us humans enjoy.

Sadly, I don’t think the majority of people would support me on that one.

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However, I do think there is a substantial body of opinion which believes that man’s best friend shouldn’t be subjected to painful and totally unnecessary “scientific” procedures.

Here in “Great” Britain, hundreds upon hundreds of dogs are mindlessly tested on and then horribly put to death in laboratories every year.

Hopefully, one beautiful day, there will be so much vehement opposition to vivisection that our rulers in Parliament will have no choice but to end this immoral cruelty inflicted on innocent dogs.

There is no moral argument on earth for such a senseless waste of intelligent life in the name of “science”.

Pals’ poignant memories

From: Paul Hand-Davis, Penistone, South Yorkshire.

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I ENJOYED reading Malcolm Barker’s fine tribute to the fallen of the First World War (Yorkshire Post, November 10). The quote “We were two years in the making and 10 minutes in the destroying” refers of course to the Battle of the Somme and is drawn from the book Covenant with Death written by John Harris.

Harris was a Sheffield journalist who also interviewed survivors of the Sheffield Pals in the 1960s. In my opinion this is the finest book written about the Great War; a fictional account based upon the formation and war experiences of the Sheffield City Battalion. This single battalion drawn from Sheffield’s brightest and best were mildly teased by the two Barnsley Pals Battalions who referred to the Sheffield lads as the “Coffee and bun boys”.

The book by Robert Graves, Goodbye to All That, is reputedly David Cameron’s favourite book and is indeed a poignant account of a serving officer in the Great War.

Penistone people, I’m pleased to report, were on parade for Remembrance Sunday in ever growing numbers remembering those who died. God Bless them all!

Menace of rogue cyclists

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From: James Colin Smith, Fryston Lane, Ferrybridge, West Yorkshire.

ARE there any other readers who are totally fed up with cyclists?

In the last month I have had kids playing “chicken” in front of cars as a dare and also total disregard of other road users and regulations including the Highway Code.

None of the bikes have bells or lights and quite a few have no brakes either. Then we get turning without signalling, riding on main roads without lights in pitch darkness and also jumping out with the bike just on its back wheel to cross a road without warning.

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The other day on the outskirts of York, there was a youth pedalling on the road with his arms folded, using a mobile phone with a radio aerial stuck in his ear. I reckon it is time to start charging these people a Road Fund Tax, make them subject to an MoT and make the rules for riding of a cycle as stringent as the rules for other road users.