Social media can add to isolation

YOUR front page article (The Yorkshire Post, May 12), and your Editorial column of that day refer to the aspects of social isolation among the young, a subject you have been reporting on in a wider context, in recent weeks.

I run a youth club. There has certainly been an identifiable trend in recent years of falling attendances, and a change in the social demographic of those who do attend, with the “chattering classes” less well represented. It is apparent to me that social media is a significant factor.

Your article goes on to state “despite many younger people being connected by social network” while your Editorial refers to the “vast potential of social networking opportunities.”. Ironically, here I am making use of an e-mail to state my concerns. Once upon a time I would have telephoned, or written a letter posted at the post office where I would have been interrogated by the well-meaning centre of village gossip.

I do not decry the vast contribution computers and mobile phones have made to modern life, and we are only just at the beginning of this revolution.

However, already we are being asked to get prescriptions on-line, consult with doctors on-line, renew our car tax on-line, manage our finances on-line. In a few years we will all be running our lives on-line.

I am not suggesting we put the genie back in the bottle, but for every action there is a reaction. Social isolation is the price we are paying for this “progress’”

Ban needed on land banks

From: Dr Steve Ellams, Chairman, Menston Community Association.

YOU do not need to be a rocket scientist to understand why developers want more aid to develop contaminated brownfield sites (The Yorkshire Post, May 13). The only qualification necessary is good old fashioned common sense.

As a member of Menston Action Group and chairman of Menston Community Association, along with the Wharfedale and Airedale Review Group, I have tirelessly campaigned to reiterate the statements made by your political correspondent James Reed. One of the simplest ways to encourage regeneration, particularly in inner cities like Bradford, would be to remove VAT on brownfield sites.

The land banking currently demonstrated by developers should be banned and any planning consent, if not followed through within a short time limit should expire. The developer, under the current National Planning Guidelines has now become the equivalent of the Mafia. We are still fighting the inappropriate planning consent on Bingley Road and Derry Hill after five years and over £140,000 of cost to the community. When will it end?

Don’t knock Morrisons

From: Miss J. Hopper, Hazel Heads, Baildon.

MANY may think Martin Fletcher (The Yorkshire Post, May 9) lucky to have the time and inclination to do his shopping at six different supermarkets.

I have been a regular, weekly shopper at Morrisons and agree with much of the recent correspondence regarding the deterioration in the quality and availability of fresh food and goods which sometimes occurs.

With this in mind, and with all the reports about the low-cost supermarkets, I paid a visit to my local Aldi. I will never complain about Morrisons again.

A leading question

From: Bill Hepke, Bradford.

I AM confused. I read the Country Week section very regularly, but recently two of your writers have been giving conflicting views. In the Sarah Todd column, she tells of the damage loose dogs cause and berates the actions of insensitive dog owners who think they have the right to let their animals loose where and whenever they like in the countryside.

Then you have the Sue Woodcock column (who we quite enjoyed reading when she was in the Dales) where she endlessly tells of the joys of letting her numerous dogs loose in the same countryside. I would have thought that someone in your paper should have picked up on this anomaly.

From: MJ Thompson, Goodison Boulevard, Cantley, Doncaster.

FURTHER to the letter supporting Sarah Todd’s belief that all dogs must be on a lead at all times in the country, especially in a field with cows.

This is, in fact, very dangerous. If a dog is on a leash and cows show an interest and start to chase dog and owner, then the cows are in pursuit of both. The safest action is to slip the dog of the lead. The dog will make its escape, as it can run faster than cows or owner, while the cows are diverted by the dog the owner can make good their escape.

This strategy has worked for me in the past as me and my dog are alive to walk another day.