Thursday's Letters: Entrepreneurial spirit must be encouraged

HAVING been hospitalised for the last couple of weeks, it was a pleasure to get home and read Saturday's (June 5) edition of your excellent newspaper.

There were some inspiring stories, like the one about Dennis Higgs from Barnsley, who started with nothing, worked very hard all his life and might end it as a billionaire oil baron.

In your Comment column, there was the story of Ajmal Shahzad and your final comments that there is no barrier to fulfilling dreams if you have the dedication.

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Unfortunately on the same page there was the letter from Malcolm Naylor, suggesting a national maximum income and making the comment that the "public school millionaires" have access to a life that the rest will never be able to attain.

What a negative attitude, which smells of the politics of envy. Presumably Dennis Higgs should have not worked so hard to provide such a good life for himself and his family.

Perhaps Ajmal Shahzad should not try too hard to get into the England team and not only earn a very good living, but act as a fantastic role

model for young people of every race.

In the history of civilisation, it has always been the rich, often through philanthropic actions, but more often through taxation, who have supported the poor.

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No, Mr Naylor, let us not try social engineering on this scale, let's not try to dampen or eradicate entrepreneurial spirit.

Perhaps if you had worked as hard as Dennis Higgs, you would have attained the same lifestyle as the "public school millionaires" you so obviously despise. This country needs the private sector to go to work

the more they earn, the more people they support.

Finally, Bill Carmichael (Yorkshire Post, June 4) hit the nail on the head regarding the real problems behind our debts, public sector pay. The Labour Party hired around a million extra civil servants, with very little regard to their use or affordability.

At an average cost to the Exchequer of say, 40,000 each, that is 40bn extra cost, every year, to say nothing of the future pension costs. No problem to Gordon Brown – he just borrowed some more to pay for it.

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Isn't it a pity that small businesses haven't been able to do the same to fund their expansions?

From: Geoff Sweeting, Station Road, Wressle, Selby.

Simplicity the key to good schooling

From: JW Slack, Swinston Hill Road, Dinnington, Sheffield.

YORK councillor Roger Pierce gives a timely warning on the cost implication of the new proposed school academies and also the implications regarding accountability and selection.

And Jayne Dowle correctly expresses concern over those parents who have not the wherewithal to ensure that their children have the same opportunities as the rest.

She also raises the question of whether the Government is offloading a problem for which they alone are responsible (Yorkshire Post, June 3 and 4).

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Having had the good fortune to attend grammar school from 1945-52, I found myself as a non-graduate teacher attending meetings in the West Riding in the late 1950s and 1960s because central government had requested that all local authorities address the problems of accommodating all the children in schools as a result of the rise in the birth rate after the war.

The result of this exercise was the dismantling of the existing system largely because schools were created which varied in the age of admission and transfer, namely first schools, middle schools, all-age schools, sixth-form colleges and the occasional grammar which could

loosely be described as comprehensives.

It was certainly not a cohesive national system and some primary

schools still fed secondary modern schools and selected those children (former grammar school candidates) to attend those purpose-built comprehensives which had sixth forms.

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Over the years, add local government reorganisation, raising the school leaving age, constant change in the examination system, open-plan schools in primary education plus the national curriculum, SATs, the changes to funding of schools in the 1980s to limit local authority control, grant maintained schools, city technology colleges, the Blair years with a greater variety of school types envisaged and now further academies and the possibility of various types of governance.

All this at a time when communities are still reeling from the closure of big local industries, breakdown of community life and, much more seriously, of family stability.

Jayne Dowle is correct – parents do want a local decent school for their children to attend and, with luck, teachers will examine their teaching skills and parents their parenting skills in the best interest of the family, whatever their talents lie, but keep the overall context as simple as possible.

In the picture over TV query

From: Alf Parker, Cheviot Way, Upper Hopton, Mirfield.

WITH reference to the letter from Karl Sheridan (Yorkshire Post, June 8), the probable reason for the deterioration in his analogue TV reception is that work is in progress at Emley Moor to enable the switchover to full digital transmission in 2011.

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This necessitates the use of a reserve Antenna, which may not have the same coverage as the main unit, which is at a different position on the transmitter mast.

It is possible that the reception for different channels may vary considerably, depending what work is taking place.

Digital signals do not deteriorate in the same manner as analogue, they are usually either perfect, or fail drastically with no picture at all, or severe "pixellation".

Analogue pictures slowly degrade as the signal weakens, with increased noise and interference.

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According to Digital UK, the work will be completed in mid-June, so Mr Sheridan's picture should return to normal.

Traditions are vital

From: Maureen Hunt, Woolley, Near Wakefield.

IN his letter (Yorkshire Post, June 1) W Ruddlesden asked if the Queen's Speech would "have reflected the significance of the occasion if she... had dressed in civilian attire and dispensed with the pantomime coach and all other trivial embellishment?"

Is the writer unaware that the State Opening is the main ceremonial event of the Parliamentary calendar and that the traditions can be traced back to the 16th century?

Can you imagine our Sovereign and the Duke of Edinburgh sitting on the magnificent throne in the House of Lords in contemporary dress? Surely that would be completely incongruous. And what about Black Rod? Is he to be in modern apparel or is the ancient, symbolic ritual to be abandoned as trivia?

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Our history and tradition are vital. It is they which give us our identity, our Britishness. Dispense with the wonderful, magical, coach and horses and all the glorious, colourful ceremonial, particularly in this time of austerity, and there will be nothing but grey drabness.

Short-term policies that offer a bleak future

From: T Scaife, Manor Drive, York.

EMPLOYMENT – what is its future and has it even got a universal one? Probing questions that clearly challenge the wit of politicians.

T'was ever thus that governments care not for the future until the future trips them up.

Their lack of crystal balls impedes the ability for forward-looking policies. Short-termism is how policy is set, bearing little relevance to future problems.

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I find it simply laughable that politicians scramble over each other to raise the retirement age. Currently 68 years by 2044 they jest you not.

Unions seem invisible as they never voice opposition to these plans. Betraying their forward thinking forebears regarding shorter working weeks and earlier retirement.

This formerly sound union reasoning was based on the clear and pressing danger of rising unemployment.

A structure was taking shape of educated strident youth replacing their flagging elders, relieving them from a lifetime of work.

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This has now been replaced with a clumsy policy of work 'til thy drop from our hypocritical political lite. In particular, it is also rather ungallant because it lacks respect for older age.

Not only are men forced to work longer but women are to be brought into line with them.

Why do we stand for this nonsense?

Science seems to be on the verge of an amalgamation of emerging technologies allowing transmutation into fantastic inventions and medical advances.

Whenever government and big business can use machines to replace humans, they do so. This can only increase in pace through the introduction of robots, computers, construction materials and energy production hitherto science fiction.

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The impact on employment will be savage, adding to the already

burgeoning unemployment pile.

It makes me wonder where the retirement age will really stand in 2044.

Calculating the cost of NHS

From: RC Dales, Church View, Brompton, Northallerton.

YOU reported the costs of different operations by the NHS which will doubtless astound many readers (Yorkshire Post, June 7).

Could it be ascertained how these costs were calculated? In particular, did they embrace the contributions to the hospital and primary care trusts' administrative services?

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These trusts are now large empires absorbing a high percentage of the cost of the NHS, the reputation of which depends on the dedication of the consultants, doctors and nurses. It is apparent that any reduction in the cost of the NHS should be applied to the reduction of those administrative empires.

'Man in the street' always has to pay

From: June Warner, Kirk Deighton.

EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy has admitted that the "man in the street" was misled about the true economic and political implications of adopting the euro.

"Nobody ever told the proverbial man in the street that sharing a single currency was not just about making people's lives easier when doing business or travelling abroad, but also about being directly affected by economic developments in the neighbouring countries."

So Ukip were 100 per cent right at precisely the point where europhiles called them "liars" for saying precisely this.

Coalitions from the past

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From: David Schofield, Greenway Close, Temple Newsam, Leeds.

IN his letter (Yorkshire Post, June 4), David Bond claims that Liberals and Conservatives formed a coalition Government in 1910. Pure make believe.

The poor Liberal result in the second election of 1910 led them to have a coalition with the Irish Nationalist MPs.

As a result, bills for home rule for Ireland were progressed. Unfortunately, the Liberals led us into the 1914 World War and long-deserved home rule was postponed until the 1920s.

Gun questions

From: C Horsman, Coppergate, Nafferton.

THE events in Cumbria were tragic. But, the question isn't asked – what was a taxi driver doing with two guns? Why did he need them and why

were they licensed?