Saturday's letters: Famous comedies are my image of Big Society

I AM disappointed in GP Taylor (Yorkshire Post, October 9) and his interpretation of the Big Society. As a lover of history, he should know that government, whether national or local, works best when it only does what society cannot or will not do for itself.

As a former policeman, he should also know that the power of a domestic burglar alarm is as a deterrent, alerting people already on the scene, such as himself, to take note, just as the policeman's whistle did in bygone days when the public were not afraid to help keep order.

Most houses have an alarm these days, and almost all incidents are a false alarm, which is why the police do not waste their time visiting every case.

To get a mental image of David Cameron's Big Society, I just need to think of those great Ealing comedies, Passport to Pimlico and The Titfield Thunderbolt. Local people making local decisions and getting on with local problem-solving rather than waiting

for some higher authority to take charge.

As a very active member of several voluntary organisations, I thoroughly welcome the Big Society. We've been doing it for generations, and now just need some loosening of the rules and regulations to enable us to do more. One note of caution to all – the freedom to do good works is also the freedom to make mistakes; they are two sides of the same coin. But remember, it was the fear of any failure that led to the bureaucratic nanny state so many of us now detest.

Definition of sustainable growth

From: Jonathan Goldsbrough, Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

IN response to Barnsley East MP's Michael Dugher (Yorkshire Post, October 7), the recovery he describes is a fantasy. It takes neither skill nor courage for a government to borrow and spend money to create the illusion of economic growth.

This is what Labour did in a cynical attempt to buy the last election and to regain some

of their lost credibility. Fortunately, the British people were not to be fooled again.

Real sustainable economic growth comes from savings, business investment and production – all things that the previous government badly undermined.

He should be ashamed of the role he and the other apparatchiks played in creating this mess and not continue to spout this incoherent nonsense.

From: Trevor H Anson, Little Heck, Goole.

THE coalition Government is already on course for political suicide with their pre-flight testing of increased student charges for further education (Yorkshire Post, October 13).

In their narrow tunnel vision, they fail to understand that

they are encouraging the very heavy debt culture which was the root cause of the global financial crisis.

If a successful student does speedily accrue a high salary, then high tax deductions are paid to government plus the student fee and interest charge. And so the young person from hard-working families is taxed twice for honestly trying too hard.

Vote needed on rule by EU

From: D Wood, Thorntree Lane, Goole.

DAVID Cameron in his speech (Yorkshire Post, October 7) states that: "Your country needs you" and that he will "give more power to the people".

With 80 per cent of our laws now being dictated by the EU he has very little power left to give us. He stated before the General Election that he would take back powers from the EU but this has now been carefully swept under the carpet, as he does not want to upset Nick Clegg and his Lib Dem partners or his masters at the EU.

What this country needs are politicians who put their country first and to forget about the EU politicians like Nicolas Sarkozy.

Our country needs, and its people, want a referendum on leaving the EU. So come on Mr Cameron, give us some real power, give us the power to decide who runs our country; this is far too important an issue to be decided by 650 self-seekers at Westminster. It is still our country (just) and we, not the politicians, should have the right to say who governs it.

Tesco taking over Britain

From: Barry Foster, High Stakesby, Whitby.

WITH advancing years, I become more and more concerned about what I see are grave injustices. One of the biggest concerns I have is the take over of Yorkshire, and no doubt other places in the country, by the supermarket giant Tesco.

Whatever possessed the planners of Bradford to allow three large stores within a three-mile radius of each other and now for Scarborough to have two stores. It is complete madness.

My sympathies also go out to Ilkley, Harrogate and Holmfirth who are all having to face impending big brassy stores. Also, poor old

Whitby, despite the council planning committee turning down the recent Tesco application.

The ordinary person simply doesn't stand a chance and there seems never to be anybody to stand up against them all.

School run concerns

From: Brian Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.

STUART Galey's comments on the problems caused by the school run are very welcome (Yorkshire Post, October 7). While recognising that people who live near a school should be prepared for what it entails, I agree that selfish parking is itself a form of anti-social behaviour.

Moreover, there is the potentially lethal cocktail of young parents with too much on their minds to be in charge of a vehicle and rows of parked cars which could hide a child about to rush into the road. The irony is that many parents would claim to drive their children to school for safety reasons.

I have seen some of the most appalling driving in the vicinity of schools. One 4x4, a criminally erratic parent at the wheel, carried the sticker, "Child on board".

Welcome for ethnic minorities moving to rural areas

From: Rebecca Craven, Askham Fields Lane, Askham Bryan, York.

FOLLOWING your article (Yorkshire Post, October 10) about North Yorkshire being set for a surge in ethnic minorities, I would like to highlight the fantastic work that the Big Lottery-funded Rural Voice project is undertaking with black and minority ethnic voluntary

and community groups in North Yorkshire.

As a project, we are aware of the rising BME population and we welcome the exciting findings of your recent research and are developing solutions beyond the life of the project to support emerging BME populations in the region.

Rural Voice gives voluntary and community groups one-to-one support as they access services and raise concerns around the issues that affect them.

We work directly with the Yorkshire and Humber Rural Network and Yorkshire and Humber Forum to raise local concerns nationally through channels like Action for Communities in Rural England and with MPs. Rural Voice has a dedicated Black and Minority Ethnic Officer who is on

hand to support both BME groups and individuals who are looking for help to develop a community group.

Like anyone in North Yorkshire, we are aware that BME groups and individuals suffer similar concerns such a lack of access and affordable transport.

On top of this, issues such as services not being provided in additional languages or a lack of awareness of what support is out there provides further challenges. In view of this, partners of the North Yorkshire Rural Voice project and York Racial Equality Network are actively encouraging BME groups to access services,

and are helping to identify service gaps.

From: Iain Morris, Caroline Street, Saltaire.

THE population of Leeds is expected to rise by 29.2 per cent by 2033.

The second highest population rate to occur by 2033 is in Bradford, by 27.7 per cent. Already 41,000 people in Bradford travel out of the city to work. It would seem to me that it would make a lot of sense to create new jobs within the Bradford Metropolitan District to ease the pressure on Leeds and boost Bradford, which is by far the largest Metropolitan authority in Yorkshire after Leeds and Sheffield – and the most needy.