Saturday's Letters: Osborne's only economic policy is bluff and brinkmanship

All we have seen of Mr Osborne's economic policies to date is an exercise in bluff and brinkmanship. He has played to the gallery by promising to take immediate action on the country's deficit, but has consistently failed to give us any definite details of how and when. It doesn't take a genius to work out that this is because all but the most hard-line free market economists are warning that slashing government spending wholesale would be a disaster for the economy.

Instead of setting out a clear vision for recovery and growth, Osborne is playing politics, manoeuvring in his own rather lumpen and naive way to try to lay the whole blame for the recession at the door of the government.

Sir Bernard might want to consider that the real reason for the unprecedented global economic slump of the past couple of years actually lies in the free market economics so readily embraced by his beloved Mrs Thatcher in the 1980s, giving unregulated financial markets unfettered freedom to borrow, lend and spend themselves into chaos. That is why we live in a debt culture now.

If Mr Osborne does want a realistic plan for setting the country on the road to recovery, he could start by proposing to use the Government's regulatory and spending powers to rebuild the industrial enterprise base we thrived on before the Iron Lady got her claws into it, and reverse our economy's fragile dependence on financial services.

From: Paul Alexander, Kirkstall, Leeds.

From: PJ Thomson, Kelly Street, Goldthorpe, South Yorkshire.

I REFER to the article on "Lions led by donkeys" by Bernard Ingham (Yorkshire Post, March 3). This was his erudite opinion concerning who was the victor in the year-long coal miners' strike of 1984-85.

Surely the jury is still out on this important stage in history, how soon will we have to face the inevitable impending energy crisis that he writes about in his article?

Then and only then shall we see whether the miners or Margaret Thatcher were correct.

A famous politician once said (or words to that effect): "We have a country sitting on millions of tons of coal and surrounded by millions of fish and anyone who causes a shortage of these two commodities must be mad."

Both of these industries have now been destroyed. I now read that Ed Miliband is to pump 9.5bn into a new carbon capture programme. In my opinion, too little, too late.

I believe that the genuine concerns of the miners and their leaders about the future of coal will be well-served when the true history of these events are written.

More fizz than fact in rhubarb story

From: DB Appleyard, Common Lane, East Ardsley, Near Wakefield.

I REFER to JB Ingall's letter (Yorkshire Post, March 3) "Rhubarb with a fizz". As my family were rhubarb growers for three generations, I feel obliged to put the record straight.

My father always said that he had no knowledge of rhubarb exported to France for champagne and this was a complete myth. His knowledge covered the years between the First and Second World Wars and well after that.

I too never found any evidence in later years to the present day. There was an occasion when a pre-arranged consignment of forced rhubarb was sent to Germany in the early 1930s from George Armitage & Sons' farm at Woodkirk. My uncle was the farm manager at that time and supervised the packaging. He said it took 10 days to arrive but was reported to be in good condition. There was no follow-up as it was not economically viable.

The only rhubarb train ran five days a week from the mid-Thirties to the mid-Fifties by the LNER. It was made up at Ardsley coal yard with wagons from the Pudsey, Morley and Stanley areas, departing at

9-10pm and arriving early morning at King's Cross for distribution to London wholesale markets.

Occasionally, it was worked right through to King's Cross by Ardsley men who were delighted to inform us "we got your rhubarb into the Cross by 1.30am".

In conclusion, it must be said what a wonderful service the railway

gave in transporting rhubarb to London and the provincial markets. During the Second World War no consignment was lost and in the terrible winter conditions of 1947 the service was maintained, providing we

could get it to the loading point, mostly by horse and cart, as

tractors were only just making an appearance.

Council of despair

From: JS Wood, Northfield Lane, Horbury, Wakefield.

READING the letter from Mr Bulmer (Yorkshire Post, March 6), it would appear that he is in favour of a return to the local council and dissolution of the Metropolitan District Councils.

This must be something close to the heart of millions. It is definitely something close to the heart of thousands of Horbury residents.

As a long-time resident of Horbury, I can easily remember the days when our rates were the lowest in Yorkshire, our bins emptied without problem (though I cannot complain about our present service), our streets regularly cleaned, gullies emptied and cleaned, snow cleared within hours of it settling and a regular waste paper collection, which was baled behind the town hall and the sale price taken off the rates.

We did not have outrageously paid council executives or officers – Horbury, Ossett and Stanley shared municipal vehicles, no employee drove a Transit home each night, councillors were residents of the

town, not outsiders with illusions of grandeur.

Scrap the MDC immediately, let the overpaid councillors go back to finding regular work and no longer play at being politicians, go as far as banning political parties in local councils, so each councillor will have to act upon the wants and desires of those that elect him and not the pretentious demigods of Westminster, or as at present those in Wakefield.

Oh the dream, the desire, but then, I am only an Englishman, nay, first and foremost a Yorkshireman and a taxpayer. What care do these people have for the needs and wants of those that elect them, and pay their wages?

Breathtaking arrogance of Labour's ruling elite

From: Martin Smith, Main Street, Elvington, York.

THIS discredited and clapped out Government has presided over, and

helped to create, the most disastrous set of circumstances ever experienced in peacetime conditions.

For those politicians and voters in denial about the financial crisis, the Government is borrowing 500,000,000 per day, which is not only unsustainable now, imagine the impact of financing our colossal national debt against a background of higher interest rates, which is a distinct likelihood in the future. Our economy is in ruins, large numbers of young people emerge from secondary education unfit for meaningful employment (even if there were sufficient jobs) and with a deliberately engineered lack of pride or knowledge about our history or heritage.

Similarly, our national identity and culture have been purposely weakened further in the wake of a decade of uncontrolled immigration, both from within the EU and outside.

In these and other areas, the electorate has at no time been consulted, demonstrating a breathtaking attitude of arrogance by the ruling elite. The Prime Minister recently described the Labour Party as the "party of aspiration".

Perhaps, if he is booted out at the next election he could audition as a comedian, except his words are in no way amusing and the consequences of his party's re-election too dire to consider.

From: Arthur Marson, Mountjoy Road, Huddersfield.

IT would seem that the powers-that-be have little or no idea how to solve the financial situation. Having abused the percentage pay increases for the past 50-60 years and in consequence inflated the money numbers to ridiculous levels, they persist in raising the minimum wage to appease the lowest paid and so price manufacturing industries out of the market.

This only makes the jobs situation worse, and as it has shown, only continues the ever-widening gap between the highest and lowest paid.

There is no point in having a minimum, if there is no maximum wage. Pay, tax and pensions in the public sector all need to be addressed if the problem is to be removed.

Missing out on BBC excellence

From: Brian Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.

BY refusing to watch BBC television, Peter Lee is cutting off his nose to spite his face ("Time to cull the BBC", Yorkshire Post, March 10).

David Dimbleby's Seven Ages of Britain is just one of the excellent programmes put out by the BBC; and all for less than three pounds a week.

For someone who doesn't watch it, your correspondent is remarkably

aware of the corporation's Achilles heel; that is its obsession

with ratings manifested in its compulsive self-publicity and too much dumbing-down.

Yet the licence fee whingers are partly to blame: they want excellence

and they want programmes that everyone wants to watch; they can't have it all ways.

The BBC should concentrate on quality and to hell with the ratings.

As for alleged Left-wing bias, partiality is in the eye of the

beholder.

Making fun of the disabled

From: David H Bond, Nunns Croft, Featherstone.

I REFER to the article in Bill Carmichael's column (Yorkshire Post, March 12) headlined "Wanted: a sole mate".

I was incensed when I read that his solution to a man who had his leg

amputated looking for the way to buy one shoe was to go out and find another man in a similar predicament so they could have one shoe each and share the cost.

If Mr Carmichael cannot come up with any better solutions, then it is he who should hang his head in shame for poking fun at disabled people.