Tory optimism like stirring setting cement

i COULD hardly help myself chuckling when I read your article referring to the comments on “the green shoots of recovery” made by Sir John Major (Yorkshire Post, September 17). I nearly sang Roll Out the Barrel. I have to ask a good question or two. Just which model will propel the country to recovery? The property model? The buy-to-let model? The carbuncle in the garden model?

We didn’t hear the lower inflation sustainable industrial employment model or the 40-hour plus overtime per week model. All Sir John seemed to say was that unemployment is coming down. I implore him and his political class to look deeper and take notice of the legions of fiscally powerless part-time jobs being created, usually one of three being held down to the detriment of family life.

Let’s face it, the Conservatives don’t really care about the quality or cohesive quality of the jobs, it is just a newsworthy statistic, one of many spewing out of Government departments.

It is just like trying to stir a bucket of setting cement – it is going to get stuck.

I think the Conservatives should really decide who their front man is otherwise do us all a favour and call a General Election pronto.

Graveyard 
in sad state

From: Caroline Feeman, Bowling Green, Ohio, US.

Rob Waugh wrote an excellent article on the sad state of the historic church of St John’s, Roundhay (Yorkshire Post, September 1). To see this great building and the overgrown south graveyard decay in this manner is deplorable.

In reference to the letter to the Editor by Alderman Peggy White, former Lord Mayor of Leeds, I should like to say that I agree with her observations of the north graveyard. On a visit to the north yard in mid-July, where people frequently visit the graves of loved ones, I was appalled at its condition. To describe it as a hayfield is actually an understatement. I spent a long time using clippers to cut down the grass around my family’s grave as well as those close by, even exposing one stone that had been completely obliterated by the grass, weeds, ivy, nettles and volunteer shrubs that abound in the graveyard now.

The trees and vegetation from the surrounding properties are encroaching so much onto the graveyard that the graves on the perimeter are obscured.

The new owners, the Pentecostal City Mission, have clearly not adhered to the terms of their covenant with the Church of England to keep even the north graveyard in a suitable condition, let alone fork out funds to stabilise the south yard.

When it was the council’s responsibility it was maintained appropriately. I hope that the council will now take action to restore the graveyard to a condition worthy of a sacred site while billing the Pentecostal City Mission for their trouble.

Playing the county game

From: John Watson, Hutton Hill, Leyburn.

So, Martyn Moxon is hoping to bring in fresh blood with his new-found wealth. I hope that does not mean bringing in players from abroad.

A certain amount of my interest in Yorkshire cricket waned when the “only Yorkshire-born” tab was removed and we started importing other county players. It waned even further when players from abroad were on the books.

Surely Yorkshire, with its large cricketing population, is capable of producing a good team? I may be a bit old-fashioned but I don’t see the point in supporting a Yorkshire team if most of the side are not from that county.

I would hate to have a situation like Arsenal who recently scored six goals in a game, only one of which was scored by a player from this country. I couldn’t find my way to support such a team.

Islam film put in perspective

From: Trev Bromby, Sculcoates Lane, Hull.

WITH regard to the film allegedly insulting Islam, things need to be put into perspective. We are not witnessing a play on words: it is not an American-made film as such, it was incidentally filmed in America, allegedly by the same person who caused deaths in the American Forces over the Koran burning incident.

He should have been jailed then for inciting riots, and being accessory to murder. The content, designed to cause outrage among fanatics, could have been filmed in any country and attributed as, for example, a Swiss-made film.

If President Obama wished to bring the murderers to justice, let him start with the film’s backers, actors and producer.

Though there is no excuse for the fanatical attacks, destruction and deaths that ensued, bear this in mind: a rabid dog cannot get out of its cage unless some nutter opens it. That person should then face the full might of the law of the land.

From: Mike Perry, Oakleigh View, Baildon.

In my opinion religion has a lot to answer for, and none have any basis to prove that following any of them can be of benefit to the believer. But if believing in a faith makes one feel good and does no harm to others, then that is fine. Each to their own.

Sadly, however, some (not all) Muslims are so very intolerant and oversensitive about any comments made about their 
faith which they view to be incorrect. Yet some Muslims 
are the first to harshly criticise other religions or faiths. It is 
awful what is happening in Yemen and Egypt.