Tuesday's Letters: Church must end its infighting and spread the message

Much of the reason tallies with observations, which have provoked much comment, on the post-war baby boomer results in the 1960s with a decline in moral and ethical standards.

The huge social upheaval which saw vast swathes of the population throwing off what they saw as the shackles of Empire and generations of social division all contributed to this change.

Those of us brought up pre-war and in the war years have recollections of harder times and a spirit of patriotism and faith. These brought the people into church to practise a simple religion within their individual communities. There were few distractions to interfere with the tradition of Sunday worship.

Sadly, too many of our spiritual leaders have got lost along the way and what many preach is far above the heads of the majority of their would-be flock. A remarkable exception is the present Archbishop of York. In addition, well meaning others have turned the words of Common Prayer into confusing modern terminology.

Pulling on the other side has been the enormous attraction of entertainment for all the family which has intruded into the one day of the week which could still, even partly, be given over to some rest and calm which is needed by both mind and body; nowadays far more people worship at the tills of the supermarkets than at the altars of God.

Further, why all the debate about women priests and bishops? The Anglican faith would be hard pressed to open more than a handful of churches but for the female touch. Such academic points are totally over the heads of ordinary nominally Christian people who might be thinking of "going to church" if the clergy would reach out to them in a simple, meaningful way.

Religion and a church can be a haven for quiet thought, peace and calm, solace when needed and joy when celebrations are appropriate. All religions will offer the equivalent in their own way, so where one is lacking, another may gain.

Of course, the corporate act of worship should be a battery charger for wider acts of faith and behaviour in the community, otherwise it is a hollow sham.

However, if the Church of England is to retain, indeed recover, its place as the main spiritual faith of the country it needs to stop the infighting, and get out among the people to spread a useful message which will electrify its straying flock and draw them within its present less than half occupied superfluity of places of worship.

Callng all vicars, male or female, please take note.

From: RC Curry, Adel Grange Close, Leeds.

Medical services to meet all needs

From: Janet Probert, managing director, North Yorkshire and York Community and Mental Health Services.

THERE are currently no firm plans to introduce a "home sleeping shift" (Yorkshire Post, November 24).

This is something the PCT is happy to consider but as it now stands, GPs working overnight Out of Hours shifts are able to sleep at the Primary Care Centre where they are based. It is also important to note that the concept of the "home sleeping shift" was suggested by the Out of Hours GPs and not in fact PCT management following a reduction to the GP hourly pay rate.

Despite this pay cut, the GPs will still be getting more than 400 per shift to sleep and would only be disturbed if a patient required a consultation or home visit. All GPs will also receive permanent protection for 12 months, which will ensure stability of the service we provide for local communities while the new pay rates are introduced.

It is also important to note that there will be no change to the way patients access the overnight Out of Hours GP service. This service is designed to treat non emergency cases only and in any medical emergency, advice has and always will be to call 999.

From April 2011, Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust will be responsible for the provision of Out of Hours Services in North Yorkshire and York. They have stated they remain committed to maintaining the current number of Primary Care Centres.

Like all NHS organisations, we are responsible for providing services which to the best of our ability meet the needs of all people living in North Yorkshire.However, we also need to be able to run services which are as cost effectively as possible in these challenging economic times.These changes ensure taxpayers' money is used wisely, while maintaining the same quality of services for our patients.

Grit blame for managers

From: Bill Lupton, Palace Road, Ripon.

THE gritting crisis is primarily the result of bad management at the highest level, not enough spreaders and money wasted.

As the founder of Econ, suppliers of most road spreaders, I was involved in the creation of British Standard 1622 of 1989 which covered all types of winter weather conditions.

Only class A spreaders are used now as they are the most profitable for the contract companies to use.

There are hundreds of "blacktop" road repair tipper trucks and crews unable to work in snow conditions. The standard calls for spreader attachments for tipper trucks which would alleviate our present problems and would be economical, as 10 could be supplied for the cost of one class A spreader.

Lots of small spreaders spreading as there used to be could avoid this chaos.

The snow and roads are the same, the technology of road spreaders has advanced, therefore it can only be that the management direction is a lot worse.

An issue to condemn

From: Brian Lewis, Linden Terrace, Pontefract.

I HAVE spent a lot of my time fighting for rights for people coming into the UK from outside Europe. Indeed, I met my wife on a march in Huddersfield in which we were protesting about the attacks on India/Pakistani immigrants. I have no regrets and will continue to have a realistic approach to immigration and some of the problems it creates.

My experience and history therefore allows me to be a critical friend to the new communities and suggest that it is about time the professional and educated women and men of Pakistan and Indian descent who have been born or educated in this country came on to the streets and demonstrated against some of the cultural practices practiced by a minority of members of their communities.

The men who groom and gang rape vulnerable women, or are involved in what some call "honour killings", but I call "clan killings'"should be condemned very vigorously by the community in which they live and not just by the law.

I have spent too long avoiding writing this letter because of a commitment to communal harmony and a fear of being called a racist but enough is enough. We now see Asian groups on marches against wars, cartoons and religious intolerance – why don't we see them extended to sexual crimes?

No welcome at airport

From: Denis Yeadon, Greenfield Lane, Hawksworth, Guiseley, West Yorkshire.

WHEN your plane returns you to Leeds Bradford International Airport from your overseas holiday, the plane will disembark you usually within walking distance to the terminal building marked "Arrivals".

You will then be obliged to climb two flights of stairs followed by a long walk the length of the terminal building. If you need a trolley for your luggage, you will have to pay 1.

Walking the full length of the building with your luggage trolley, you will arrive finally at the passport barrier for your passports to be checked, then as usually the escalator is not working you will have to travel down by the steps to where the luggage has been delivered, unless you can find the tiny lift.

When your luggage arrives and is placed on your 1 trolley, you will then be obliged to walk from the terminal building, probably in the rain through large puddles, to where you will be obliged to pay for the taxi that will deliver you to your home.

I am simplifying the story but nevertheless elderly or frail people should know what is in store for them when they arrive at Leeds Bradford Airport from overseas. And the best of luck!

Home truths about Mrs Thatcher's union policy

From: David T Craggs, Sand-Le-Mere, Tunstall, East Yorkshire.

I HAVE read several letters in your columns on the reasons why Mrs Thatcher introduced legislation to allow the sale of council houses to sitting tenants and to prevent the income being used to replenish the council house stock.

All have missed what to me was the obvious reason for her decisions – her hatred of the whole trade union movement. After the Winter of Discontent in 1978-79 she was determined to weaken the trade unions and lessen their ability to create havoc in the country by strike action.

She knew that this would not be easy, but no doubt her advisers (Norman Tebbitt, a colleague with union experience, springs to mind) probably pointed her in the right direction.

If union members were buying their own homes, they would probably have monthly mortgage commitments to their bank or building society. They would know that if they reneged on those commitments because they were on strike they could and possibly would lose their homes. They would therefore have to give serious thought before taking such action.

As tenants in a council-owned property, that was unlikely to happen.

It also explains why Mrs Thatcher would not allow the replenishment of the council house stock, to be rented out to a new, younger and possibly more militant generation of trade union members. The legislation didn't manage to prevent the 1984-85 miners' strike, maybe because those who took part either already owned their homes outright, or lived in council owned accommodation, not having taken advantage of the right-to-buy option.

But there is no doubt that the number of days lost due to strike action in recent years has greatly diminished, and the risk of losing one's home has almost certainly been a large contributory factor.

Being a retired teacher, I know for a fact that this was always uppermost in my and my colleagues' minds when the idea of strike action was floated by our union.

Was Triesman right all along?

From: Coun James Alexander, Leader of City of York Council's Labour Opposition Group, York.

IN May, Labour Lord Triesman was forced into a position where he had to quit as Football Association chairman after what had amounted to a witch-hunt.

He had already resigned as chairman of the 2018 World Cup bid shortly after being secretly recorded by the media making bribery allegations about rival countries' attempts to secure the tournament. We have since heard that FIFA is investigating vote-selling claims of FIFA Executive Committee Members and we have had the Panaroma investigation. David Cameron said England had the best technical bid and yet England secured only two votes. Therefore I ask if Lord Triesman was right? And whether he should be reinstated?

Secular state

From: Brian Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.

I WAS intrigued by the report that Iraq's President Jalal Talabani has declared that he will not approve the hanging of Tariq Aziz, a key figure in Saddam Hussein's barbaric ousted regime.

President Talabani is opposed to the execution, not because it would be sacrificing the high moral ground, as it would seem to many in the West, but "because (Aziz] is a Christian". No prejudice there, then.

However evil, Saddam was tolerant enough to include Aziz in his inner-circle. The report comes as another reminder that Iraq was then a secular state and the al-Qaida link was a complete fabrication.

Not so special

From: Peter Bye, Park Crescent, Addingham, Ilkley.

DURING the last 20 years or so, I have visited the US on numerous occasions. I have had conversations with many US citizens and have yet to meet one that has ever heard of the Special Relationship, or what it is supposed to be.

Furthermore, a very high proportion of Americans don't know where we are on the map. This, in itself, is not suprising as they don't know where they are either.