Thursday's Letters: Charities will be the losers if banks scrap the chequebook

I HAVE to agree 100 per cent with your three correspondents under the heading, "Good reasons people still want to pay by cheque" (Yorkshire Post, December 29).

There are many charities, small businesses and clubs of various kinds that rely on this method of payment.

Spontaneous donations to the various charities via newspaper or television appeals are usually made by cheque. Then, of course, there are the banks' own postal accounts which are usually opened by cheque.

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Recently, there have been two reports of scams and hacking regarding electronic payment methods, ironically perpetrated by foreign criminals, some of whom were illegal immigrants. Over the last year the amount of electronic data which has been lost or stolen, particularly from Government sources, is staggering. Owing to the ease with which these crimes are carried out, the cheque – which by comparison is far more secure and has been for 350 years – should be retained.

I am sure that I am not alone in saying that I would not give out my bank details to anyone, and as such the various charities to which I donate would regrettably lose out. As I also use postal accounts from time to time, the banks, too, would lose out.

The many charities should now combine to lead a campaign for the retention of the cheque. We individuals who wish to keep the cheque should write to our various banks and tell them if we cannot have cheques, they cannot have our accounts. If everyone does this, it might just make a difference.., After all, what happened to the saying, "The customer is always right"?

From: D Wood, Thorntree Lane, Goole.

From: M Dale, Hill Street, Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire.

I WOULD like to add my support to the other readers regarding the abolition of cheques. We have no family and so particularly at this time of year, instead of giving token presents, we send donations by cheque to various charities.

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In our case these are Guide Dogs, the Salvation Army, the RSPB and Dogs Trust. All of these will miss out if I can't send a cheque. I also pay membership renewals and society membership by cheque and I suspect all such charities and societies, by their nature, use volunteer staff or honorary treasurers to handle their income. The banks advise us not to give out bank details at random and now they are completely changing this advice.

I also pay bills such as electricity, water and council tax, by cheque but I could get round these by withdrawing cash at the bank and handing it straight back to settle the accounts. I am surprised that the charities have not realised how they will be affected and I would have thought that they would be lobbying the banks for a rethink by now.

The banks could, of course, make up the shortfall themselves instead of

paying the obscene bonuses and what do the banks do for the customers these days? Most accounts give very little, or sometimes no interest, so what do they do for using our money?

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The spokesman who announced the decision to stop cheques said on television: "There must be a better way of moving money round the country than on bits of paper." No, it works perfectly well. The saying, "If it isn't broken – don't mend it" springs to mind. I am disgusted with their decision.

One final point. Has the Royal Mail thought about how many cheques are put in an envelope with a stamp on? The effects are far-reaching.

Hypocrisy over McKinnon

From: David T Craggs, Tunstall, East Yorkshire.

THE word "hypocritical" has been used to describe this Government on many occasions and we have yet another classic example of it regarding the execution in China of the British citizen Akmal Shaik.

On the BBC Today programme on December 29, the Foreign Minister, Ivan Lewis, stated that he "shed a tear" when he heard the news. The Prime Minister is said to have been furious at such a barbaric act.

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But aren't these two representatives of the same Government that is quite prepared to see the extradition of Garry McKinnon to America to face trial, where he will undoubtedly be found guilty and imprisoned?

There are several similarities in the two cases. Both men "committed" crimes against another country, one being found guilty, the other will undoubtedly be so. There is evidence to suggest that Mr Shaik had a mental illness and therefore his human rights were violated. Garry McKinnon's Asperger's Syndrome was better diagnosed, but this was not taken into consideration when the extradition was agreed by this Government. Therefore, his human rights were also violated.

Mr Shaik sadly lost his life at the hands of the Chinese authorities. We are led to believe by Mr McKinnon's mother that he, too, could well lose his life, but by his own suicide, if he ends up in an American prison.

Ivan Lewis ranted on about China having to change its ways if it wanted to be accepted by we in the "civilised" West, and yet he is quite happy to see the extradition of Mr McKinnon go ahead. Such hypocrisy.

Metric pint already here

From: M Toft, Windsor Avenue, Silsden.

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WITH regard to your leader (Yorkshire Post, January 1), many Yorkshire landlords and others in the rest of the country have already introduced 500ml "pints". Licensees can increase the number of "pints" they get

out of each cask, in effect an unofficial tax.

Large numbers of Yorkshiremen and women are prepared to accept pints with large amounts of froth on top, in some cases up to an inch. Yorkshire folk supposedly have their "heads screwed on right" and are not easily fooled. The majority appear to believe the "Yorkshire head" myth, any beer without foaming a head must be off.

Prior to the invention of the hand-pump in the early 19th century, all beer was sold straight from the cask without the "tight head" served today.

Forcing beer through a tight nozzle to form a head drives out the carbon dioxide in the liquid, the condition created during the fermentation process. The sparkler device fitted to hand-pumps was probably first invented to make flat beer, which had lost condition after being on sale for too long, look good.

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Tony Blair's first election manifesto in 1997 stated that the Labour Party would outlaw this scam. Customers should get what they order when asking for a pint or half, the full amount in liquid. The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) presented a petition with more than 23,000 signatures to 10 Downing Street in October 2008, demanding full measures. Gordon Brown has not yet seen fit to act on the matter.

Global freezing

From: Dick Lindley, Altofts, Normanton, West Yorkshire.

GLOBAL warming? Brr! They must be joking! Working outside in the freezing fields on my West Yorkshire farm, I am praying for an increase

in temperature, but so far the only hot air I can find is that which issues from the nonsense spouted by the climate change fanatics, most of whom will be cosily ensconced in their centrally heated homes and offices pontificating about how warm it is becoming.

From: Jenny Game, Taylor Hill Road, Taylor Hill, Huddersfield.

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THIS weather seems to confirm what I, and I understand many others, believe. What is being promoted as global warming is just so much hogwash.

From: Brian Fowler, Armthorpe, Doncaster.

WHAT cost – and what value – a set of snow chains? Does anyone

manufacture or supply such equipment today?

What a valuable asset to possess in these dreadful weather conditions, yet we don't see them in use nowadays.

Carbon capture is sweeping muck under the carpet

From: DM Loxley, Hartoft, Pickering, North Yorkshire.

In her letter on clean coal (Yorkshire Post, December 21), Hannah Lucas asks the right questions but avoids answers. Try these suggestions.

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Politicians create and support Government policy purely for the kudos and putty medallions; coal industry professionals promote it because it is their livelihood; environmentalists decry it because it uses coal.

Capturing, liquefying and transporting carbon dioxide is expensive. The pipework has to be underground and leak-tight, capable of supporting up to 75 atmospheres of pressure. Many people, engineers, can give a precise answer to the question: How much of the energy released from burning coal is needed to capture, compress and pump the liquid under the sea into old oil wells? It is not politically or commercially expedient to do so.

If Drax, Eggborough and Ferrybridge electricity generating stations had retro-fit carbon capture schemes – a good capture rate would be 90 per cent – there would be about 45 million tonnes of liquid carbon dioxide to store away each year, equal, in volume to about 400,000 barrels of oil. It would have to be at least 750 metres below sea level. It will most certainly be used to expel the remaining dregs of oil from depleted wells. This is one of the principal applications of the technology – we need the oil.

In order to hide the drastic reduction of efficiency of the coal energy to electrical energy process, the captured carbon dioxide is "sold" at the site boundary of the generating station to a disposal company. They are then "paid" to properly dispose of the gas. How the disposal company manage their energy and financial balances does not impact on the electricity generating company.

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If you think this looks a little like sweeping the muck under a carpet, you may be right.

Regulator must force price cuts

From: AW Briglin, Sefton Street, Hull.

A poll by the National Housing Federation finds that seven million households are in fuel poverty because of the fuel companies failing to pass on to them the falls in the wholesale price. This is totally unacceptable when low income families and pensioners, who feel the cold more, cannot heat their homes fully, especially in this unusually severe weather we are having.

Often, the regulator appears powerless to do its job properly, to force the energy companies to lower their exorbitant prices. If necessary, it should be given more power by this apathetic Government to do just that.

Promises...

From: Andrew Kirby, Burn Road, Scunthorpe.

WHAT has Barack Obama done in his 12 months, asks Roger Dobson (Yorkshire Post, January 2).

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My guess is that anyone looking back over the year following our next General Election could well struggle to answer the same question about our leader, whoever is elected. That's what politicians do, promise great things but deliver little. The smoking ban, the Lottery and banning fox hunting is about all I can recall from a lifetime of politicians.

Voice needed

From: J Blades, North Leas Avenue, Scarborough.

UKIP has a right to take part in the coming political debate on television between party leaders. Otherwise, the aspirations and

opinions of those thousands of people who don't vote for the three main but outdated parties, will be ignored.

Let's try to hang on to what little democracy is left to us.