Saturday's Letters: We must not allow secrets to stay behind closed doors

I draw this opinion from the countless times over the years that I have heard citizens of this country referring to our politicians and our local leaders as "them" in the sense of "they do this" etc. So distant seems the relationship and perceived difference between the ordinary person and elected members you would not think at times that we are really the power brokers come election time.

With the internet, the barn door is truly open and there is little chance of it closing as the appetite for personal investigations grow, so in the best case scenario there is the opportunity to disengage mistruths and the potential to stop even wards and alter bad government decisions is there.

So why don't we keep these doors open otherwise we may as well return to a Victorian society of "them and us" plus the cap-doffing. Finally, any other WikiLeaks could reveal just who exactly is batting for the deserving poor.

From: Kendal Wilson, Wharfebank Terrace, Tadcaster.

From: Malcolm Naylor, Grange View, Otley.

As the WikiLeak revelations are published (Yorkshire Post, November 29) the Establishment is quaking in its shoes. But with the lethargy of the public it has little to fear. As long as we are fed a diet of The X Factor we will remain docile and compliant.

The extent of the capitalist Establishment's duplicity is, however, coming to light including the way the Saudi Royal family pressurised America to attack Iran.

This is the same Saudi Arabia that produced 9/11 terrorists and Osama bin Laden and which Bush protected by flying out all the wealthy Saudis from America after 9/11 when everything else was grounded.

The "inappropriate" remarks of Prince Andrew might also open a few eyes. Pandora's box is open. What else will emerge? But more importantly what will we do about it?

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

A LARGE number of what were thought by some, to be secret files and records of American diplomatic "speak" have been given to WikiLeaks and they have gone public.

Some people fear that these leaks will put many "innocent" lives at risk, and seriously undermine American and Allied actions in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East and other "hot spots." We probably will not know that for sure for quite some time ahead.

I suspect that most of what has been "leaked" was already either well known or expected or suspected by the likes of Iran, Yemen, Somalia, North Korea, Burma, Cuba, Venezuela, and the Saudi Royal family.

The truth will usually "out" and very few people ever believed that America was always "whiter than white", and that there were not big, and often massive, differences in opinion and policy between the US and her key allies like Israel, Britain, Germany, France, Australia and India.

It is more embarrassing than damaging I think.

BBC to blame for failure of World Cup bid

From: Terry Duncan, Greame Road, Bridlington, East Yorkshire.

THE Director General of the BBC, Mark Thompson, should be sacked.

How undiplomatic for him to permit BBC1's Panorama to transmit an investigation on FIFA just days before our future king was put in the embarrassing position of promoting Britain.

That same Britain which is the home of the British Broadcasting Corporation, once the world leader of radio broadcasting world-wide, now obviously to be treated with scorn.

He could have ordered it be held until the FIFA decision was announced. After all, Panorama does not have high ratings – but it did this time, due to the destruction of the view of the UK from abroad.

From: David "Dai" Woosnam, Woodrow Park, Grimsby.

NOT for nothing are the Russians the best chess players in the world. Putin has made mugs of David Cameron, Prince William, David Beckham and company over the 2018 World Cup.

Let two good things come from this fiasco: firstly, there should be no more of these all-expenses paid, five star hotel jaunts around the world for an absurdly large "bid team" (and the resultant regular reporting of the bid, by the UK media when there is other world news).

Secondly, England should try to become winners of the actual trophy the proper way: ie not by using home advantage, which is the only way they won it in 1966.

From: Anthony Hopkins, Carlton Drive, Guiseley, Leeds.

NEVEN did it occur to me that I would be expressing heartfelt thanks to Sepp Blatter and FIFA for saving the UK economy from further financial disaster by awarding the World Cup to Russia.

It is already a more than sufficient burden for UK taxpayers having to cope with the 2012 Olympics.

Costings for these types of events are never conceived in reality but reflect the wish-list of dysfunctional personalities, both sporting and political.

Poor Beckham will perhaps have to wait a little longer for his peerage.

Graham Barthorpe, Church Lane, Hayton, Retford, Nottinghamshire.

Hallelujah; saved from eight years of football purgatory. There is little good news around at the moment but this will make my Christmas (Yorkshire Post, December 3).

TV prompts snow panic

From: PH Green, Radlyn Park, West End Avenue, Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

I MUST say the television reports related to the falls of snow in our region are quite horrific. Yet, going back to when I travelled the country from Cornwall to the North of Scotland, there was no panic, it appears to be accentuated nowadays by television. This bears no comparison with my travelling in the 1950s.

I travelled with my family from Luton to Stirlingshire in Scotland over Christmas 1959. I was going to create a new operation for Vauxhall Motors, which was a Scottish fleet operation. We travelled to Stirling in deep snow, spending Christmas overnight with our families in Bradford.

We arrived in Doune outside Stirling around 6pm in deep snow. We moved into our cottage in Kippen, some 12 miles away on January 1. The next day I had to be at Dounreay, the nuclear power station at Thurso on the north coast of Scotland, with deep snow all the way, leaving my wife and 18-month-old son in Kippen.

In those days this is what we did. It was the job for which we were employed. I doubt if any of today's staff would have even got out of bed to attempt the journey.

That is the basic difference between what we were prepared to do for our company in the 1950s and 1960s as compared with the attitude of business today. At 80 I rest my case.

Unfortunately today everything is ruled by television. Personal attitude no longer comes into it.

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

Your headline about the "worst snowstorm for a hundred years" (Yorkshire Post, December 2) does not tell the whole story. The present situation doesn't begin to compare with the 1947 storm or even the winter we had in 1963.

In 1947, I was at school in the East Riding and we would walk up on to the Wolds where, in some places, the snow was nearly up to the telephone lines and where further north a train was completely burried.

We played no sport in the Lent term and would spend our spare time sledging.

There were no hydraulics in those days and most of the Wolds' roads were to dig out by hand with the RAF personnel from the local aerodrome giving a helping hand.

I don't know what is going on nowadays. We get a few inches of snow and the country nearly comes to a halt.

Granted, there is more traffic than there was in 1947, but the sophisticated machinery available to shift snow is mind-boggling and yet we seem to be in a bigger mess than ever.

It would help, however, if the people who use the roads the most were able to drive on snow.

Scientists should know better on global warming

From: Gordon Bray, Grange Road, Golcar, Huddersfield.

THERE is a great deal of hype about carbon capture and storage (CCS) particularly now that Yorkshire has been selected for the initial trials (Yorkshire Post, December 1). Surely this is a complete misnomer and should be given its rightful name of oxygen capture and storage (OCC)?

Coal consists mainly of carbon, and oil and gas consist mainly of carbohydrates which are a combination of carbon and hydrogen. When these are burned, they combine with oxygen in the air and produce carbon dioxide (CO2) and water and in the process oxygen is removed from the air.

By storing the CO2 underground, we are not storing the carbon, as that is where it came from in the first place, but we are actually locking away the oxygen from the air never to be seen again.

I admit that the little experiment being proposed will have a minuscule effect on the oxygen levels of the planet as a whole but if this is adopted worldwide is there not a danger that the oxygen concentration in the air will be reduced so much that it will be like living on the top of Mount Everest?

Our politicians are pushing this for all they are worth as they jump on the global warming band wagon. In a way, they may have an excuse as they probably never studied chemistry in the past. However, our engineers and scientists should know better. Both parties are trying to convince the public that this is a good idea as, in the current climate, this will provide much needed jobs.

There are two solutions to the CO2 problem and CCS is not one of them. The first option is to plant more trees and stop destroying the rain forests. Trees are a genuine CCS system where the CO2 in the air, with the aid of sunlight, is converted to wood, a form of carbon, and oxygen is released back into the air.

The second option is to drastically reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and use a combination of nuclear and renewable energy, with the emphasis on nuclear.

Testament to a well-run club

From: Colin Woodhouse, Skellow, Doncaster.

I HAVE just read your article on Yorkshire hooligans topping the list of banning orders (Yorkshire Post, November 30). While I totally agree with the article and the editorial comment, I do believe that credit should have been given to the fact that Doncaster Rovers had no banning orders whatsoever.

I appreciate that people acting appropriately is not newsworthy but in my view this is further testament to the way the club is run both on and off the field and at least deserved a mention.

Perhaps the list should have inverted to show the teams with most banning orders at the bottom and Doncaster Rovers, with no banning orders, at the top – where fair play, good governance and appropriate behaviour belong.

Breast feeding

Gillian Paddock, Park Avenue, Hull.

Isn't it strange? Just like Stephanie Smith (Yorkshire Post, December 1), I also saw Ann Widdecombe on Sunday morning commenting on the proposal to compel employers to provide breastfeeding facilities for new mothers. However, I am in complete agreement with Ann's comments. These mothers made the decision to have a child, therefore it is their responsibility to provide for them.

I am all in favour of breastfeeding, what I cannot agree with is expecting an employer to fund someone's choices in this respect.

Winner Ann

From: Colin Ella, Westgate Road, Belton, Doncaster.

AS Strictly Come Dancing makes it way to a conclusion, I am hoping that Ann Widdicombe may even win it. Perhaps she is right about this razamatazz being no more than a family entertainment effort. Among all the gyrating, cavorting, rolling, sliding, jerking, leaping and bounding, there are the occasionally recognisable and traditional correct dance steps.

All this makes for more than just Ann Widdicombe's performances being a laughable affair. I wonder if she is actually showing more correct dancesteps than some of the others?