Stumped by Sir Ian Botham’s proposed Brexit peerage – Yorkshire Post Letters

From: Peter Brown, Shadwell, Leeds.
Former England all-rounder Sir Ian Botham.Former England all-rounder Sir Ian Botham.
Former England all-rounder Sir Ian Botham.

PETER Staniforth says linking a possible peerage for Sir Ian Botham to his support for Brexit reflects The Yorkshire Post’s “EU obsession” (July 23).

He conveniently neglects to mention there were seven other names mentioned in the original article – all politicians and so arguably qualified to sit in the House of Lords. If you still think the unelected chamber a good idea, that is.

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Sir Ian’s name was both the more unlikely inclusion and well-known – thus, most newsworthy and the one you rightly highlighted. If not Brexit, then why is Sir Ian’s name included in this list of potential appointees?

This was Ian botham flailing the Australians during the 1981 Headingley Test.This was Ian botham flailing the Australians during the 1981 Headingley Test.
This was Ian botham flailing the Australians during the 1981 Headingley Test.

He may be worthy of further awards for his cricketing and charity achievements, but why this political one?

It is not this newspaper’s coverage that is “beyond a joke”, Mr Staniforth. It is the lack of subtlety of the Brexit-obsessed buffoon Boris Johnson who Jayne Dowle (The Yorkshire Post, July 23) says wants to cast off the “bumbling BoJo” tag. Turning the greatly-admired Sir Ian into “Lord Botham of Brexit” will not help.

From: Steve Wilson, Lenton Villas, Idle, Bradford.

AS a wannabe writer (aged 57), I buy your paper for articles like Jayne Dowle’s (The Yorkshire Post, July 23) on Boris Johnson’s premiership to date.

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I did not agree with all she wrote, but it was balanced, intelligent and incisive. High quality stuff worth the cover price alone.

From: Henry Cobden, Ilkley.

I THINK your columnist Tom Richmond was very generous with his end of term marks for Cabinet Ministers (The Yorkshire Post, July 24) – evidence of your newspaper’s fair-mindedness.

From: Michael J Robinson, Park Lane, Berry Brow, Huddersfield.

DO you remember when the Russians funded the Labour party and the unions (The Yorkshire Post, July 22)?

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We all knew where we were, but now the Russians are spoken of as having funded the Conservatives. As if that wasn’t bad enough, our lives have been turned upside down by the coronavirus!

From: Jarvis Browning, Fadmoor, York.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

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Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

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