Scrap HS2 and spend money on prisons

From: Alan Chapman, Beck Lane, Bingley.

I WRITE in support of the strong, direct and confrontational views on the unwelcome decisions of parole boards releasing convicted prisoners back into society too early, as expressed so well by Barry Foster of Whitby (Yorkshire Post, October 12).

He quotes the cases of children abused and neglected by their mothers, leading to very early death. However, what are the fundamental reasons behind early release?

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I believe we need to go far back to when Parliament in its wisdom, and left-wing bias, repealed capital punishment with life imprisonment. Those who would have been executed by the state and placed in a cemetery are still occupying cells in our overcrowded prisons.

Successive parliaments have failed to radically increase the state’s capacity to provide sufficient places to lock up criminals so that they serve their full sentence.

Additionally early release for good behaviour should be replaced by extended incarceration for bad behaviour.

Time to scrap the grandiose and expensive HS2 train line and spend a sliver of that huge waste on doubling the size of our custodial capacity, so keeping convicted offenders away from the threatened public for much longer periods.

National cost of free health care

From: John Fisher, Harrogate.

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LISTENING to the Chancellor’s promise to make visa applications easy for Chinese tourists reminded me of a recent three-day visit to India which was part of a long trip (Yorkshire Post, October 15).

The cost of two Indian visas was almost £200 and the application form was long and complicated. We also had to pay for health insurance which was not a cheap item. I have visited a number of countries and have yet to find one that did not insist on anyone entering the country having to produce health insurance.

Will the Chancellor insist that all the Chinese entering this country must have health insurance? This is doubtful and in any case would require the hospital reception to check eligibility which, without a national ID card, would be almost impossible.

So the British public who are indirectly carrying the huge national debt will be offering free health care for one of the richest countries on earth.

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When the National Health Service finally runs out of funding, we will no doubt find ourselves in the queue for hospital treatment along with the Chinese and other visitors with our newly acquired private health insurance documents.

What was that Chinese saying – “May you live through interesting times”? One thing is for certain, the Chancellor will not be in the queue.

From: TW Coxon, West Auckland Road, Darlington, County Durham.

HOW can George Osborne say that the Government is tackling the immigration problem and in the same breath tell us that visa applications Chinese people are to be relaxed (Yorkshire Post, October 15)? How contradictory can you get?

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Tony Blair and Gordon Brown will never be forgiven for their open door policy, surely George Osborne is not going down the same road!

Over 60 per cent of the 
British public (according to an opinion poll) say that action needs to be taken now, not after the influx from Bulgaria and elsewhere.

Don’t politicians ever listen to the people they represent?

Well, come the next 
election, they will surely 
wish they had!

Substantial world of books

From: Norman Armistead, Green Park Avenue, Cayton, Scarborough.

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JAYNE Dowle invariably talks sense and not more so than in her latest article regarding books (Yorkshire Post, October 14).

I have several hundred books which I regard as being among my best friends.

Besides their content, they awaken feelings and associations which were mine when I first read them.

Wordsworth described books as “a substantial world”. I agree. In biography I am invited into the life and experience of choice personalities, wholesome fiction is also enriching and lighter books amuse and refresh my mind.

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Part of the experience in settling down to read is in the handling of the book and turning its pages.

I, too, like the smell and feel of books and I agree with Jayne when she says that a house is empty without them. And I know of a number of people whose lives have been radically changed by reading a book.

I don’t buy too many new books these days; it’s the old ones that appeal. William Hazlitt, the essayist, hated new books. He had, he said, some 20 or 30 volumes that he read over and over again, and these were the only ones he desired to read at all.

Picking up a book he had read before, he knew what to expect. That was its appeal!

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E-books may supplement proper books but they cannot replace them. Thank you, Jayne!

Shared concern at Mail sale

From: Richard Billups, East Avenue, Rawmarsh, Rotherham.

THESE last few days have been an eye-opener for me. I’ve discovered I shared something with Maggie Thatcher. No, not a birth date and no, my dad didn’t run a corner shop, in fact it was his brother.

She, like me, thought that selling off the Royal Mail would be suicidal. Vince (Giveaway) Cable thought it was worth £3.3bn – as usual, a giveaway price.

It is in line with all the other sell-offs – gas, water, electricity etc. David (Chameleon) Cameron, George (Abacus) Osborne and Nick (Strawman) Clegg kept a low profile in this latest sell-off.

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What will the next thing be, I wonder? What about the Palace of Westminster, full of rubbish and stacks of side rooms? It could be sold with is contents, i.e. Members of Parliament and its 850 peers. It must be another steal, say £350 ono. If you threw in a royal visit once a year, it could be worth a few bob more.

You could charge the same price as an Elton John concert.