Stop giving our money to foreigners

I CAN see it coming a mile away. When this useless coalition Government eventually fizzles out as an abject failure, the two parties will spend the rest of their careers slinging brick-bats in blaming each other for the failures in policy and delivery.

This is the classic scenario for politicians to collectively absolve themselves of all responsibility and accountability for dragging this country further and deeper into the mire.

I see no reason for optimism for our country when I hear Ministers extolling the virtues of piling taxpayers’ money into foreign countries when almost daily we see on television food parcels being handed out to the needy.

This isn’t joined up thinking, it is sheer madness and history will prove that this is just one of many catastrophic errors that have been made by this government.

Where are the really true statesmen or women that we so desperately need to get us out of this mess?

From: D Wood, Thorntree Lane, Goole.

WHO appointed Paul Tucker 
to be deputy governor of the 
Bank of England? His crazy idea of negative interest clearly explains why a Canadian will be the next governor instead of him.

For nearly four years the monetary policy committee of the Bank of England has presided over record low interest rates of 0.5 per cent and printed billions of pounds under the title of quantitative easing in a futile attempt to stimulate the economy.

Both have not worked and are not going to work.

The 0.5 per cent interest rate is doing far more harm to the economy than good, by penalising savers particularly the more prudent pensioners who have now seen their incomes slashed to almost zero, thus curtailing a considerable amount of spending on holidays and many other items which has now had to stop with a big negative impact on the economy.

From: Nigel F Boddy. Fife Road, Darlington.

SIR Mervyn King suggests RBS should be split in two with a part taking on all the debt and another part separated as a viable high street bank.

I have another suggestion. RBS group could divest themselves of various assets and pay back some of the money it owes to the taxpayer. For example RBS owns NatWest. It bought that bank some years ago when NatWest got into difficulties trying to establish themselves in the American market.

NatWest has remained a complete unit with a separate brand identity and branches. Surely the high street operation could be made the subject of a rights issue and floated on the Stock Market through public subscription like the great privatisations of the 1980s couldn’t it?

The British public should be allowed to buy shares at a discounted rate after all they have done to bail out RBS and the money raised could be used to recover some of the taxpayer money sunk into RBS group.

Shedding light
on hardship

From: Judy Robinson, Chief Executive, Involve Yorkshire & Humber, Joseph’s Well, Leeds.

CAROLINE Mortimer’s excellent report sheds much needed light on the stark reality facing Yorkshire’s poorest communities (Yorkshire Post, April 23).

It echoes what charities all over Yorkshire are telling us about the impact of welfare reform – namely that debt and homelessness will spiral

In research Involve has just done, more than 250 charities in the region said that new council tax changes will have the biggest impact on people and poor communities.

The research shows that 240,000 people previously exempt from council tax will face bills of up to £200 or more – and these are people who are already struggling.

Our research supports what Scope and the academics you quote in your article say – that Yorkshire is being hit particularly hard by these changes.

Charities expect there will be much more demand on their services to support desperate people.

Slippery use
of language

From: Mrs Patricia Appleyard Common Lane, East Ardsley, Wakefield.

I KNOW it is an increasingly frequent mistake in all the media, but I was surprised to see a tiny slice of economic growth – ie a sliver of growth – expressed as “a slither of growth” (Yorkshire Post, April 23).

Perhaps an unconscious comment on the slippery nature of some of our politicians?