Tuesday's Letters: David Cameron is stinging those who can afford it least

It is now understood there is likely to be an increase in VAT. This has always been my pet hate among taxes because it bears down

disproportionately on the less well off and, unlike earnings taxes, once it is instituted it cannot be reduced or removed.

Most or all of Mr Cameron's friends will hardly notice this, but it will greatly reduce the spending power of the unemployed, pensioners, those on the minimum wage and anyone on benefits.

The one per cent NI increase is only being cancelled for employers; those earning 20,000 plus will still pay it.

It feels to me that it isn't taking Mr Cameron long to reinstate the worst tax policies of Mrs Thatcher by stinging most those who can afford it least.

As for the marriage, I always remember my mother saying, "Marry in haste, repent at leisure". With at least half of the Lib Dem MPs being bound by Cabinet responsibility the party is likely, in due course, to carry a disproportionate burden of responsibility for any unpopular policies.

Mr Cameron has carefully organised a five-year term supported by an increase in the ratio of MPs required to win a vote of confidence.

He hopes this will enable him then to claim all the credit for the ultimate recovery even though a substantial amount is already guaranteed through the sale of the banks' bailout shares.

He reminds me of Little Jack Horner who simply stuck in his thumb but still ended up saying, "What a good boy I am".

Finally, regarding his promise to protect the vulnerable, so far I have not heard him match the Labour promise to restore the earnings link to pensions by 2012.

From: JW Smith, Sutton-on-Sea.

From: RC Curry, Adel Grange Close, Leeds

WE have a Government proclaiming national unity for the good of the country. I am prepared to give it a chance.

After all, we have now had some 60 or more years with extremes of policies dragging the country this way and that, and where has it got us? Nowhere, except now to the verge of national bankruptcy.

What is more, our industries and many public services have been demolished or sold off to overseas owners, and our ability to have influence in the world is merely on the coat-tails of the US. The time has come when we must hear less from the old dinosaurs, extremists and bigots (apologies to Gordon Brown) who seek to create trouble

with their often outrageous and even dangerous views. "Everyone says" is a frequent cry in your letters columns, usually about leaving the EEC, and this is often without evidence to support

the complaint.

Whether a five-year fixed term for Government will work is yet to be tested, but let us at least give it a try without the griping backbench noises which have arisen on this and other matters.

Regarding electoral reform, whether PR is the answer may be much in doubt, but there is need to get rid of differently sized

constituencies, which in far too many cases have been influenced by the gerrymandering of one party against another. Boundary review proposals put forward by parties often reflect their own political aims, and have little to do with anything else. The Boundary Commissioners have a thankless task.

Further, whereas we do need to be able to have clear leaders after an election, it is wrong that the number of seats held should be so much at variance with the volume of votes cast, but it needs more than a quick-fix to suit one party.

David Cameron should be allowed to get on with the task he has clearly set out, and Nick Clegg seems to be at one with him on this. The backbenchers should put up or shut up but, better still, help them to do the job they have been elected to do – get the country solvent and worthy of being called – Great Britain.

From: Janet Berry, Hambleton, Selby.

WHAT a difference a day makes. My elation at the formation of the new coalition turned to dismay as we heard David Cameron's pledge of a rise in the threshold before inheritance tax is paid was to be discounted and to hear of his proposed increase in capital gains taxes.

How disappointing. Many people will feel betrayed by this change of heart as I am sure many will have voted for him because of this tax break.

On the plus side, I do feel happier that Gordon Brown has gone back to Scotland and we will not have to put up with the dubious duo Mandelson and Campbell running the country. It is good to see two younger men at the helm.

I still feel worried about the immigration situation. The Spanish government has offered a second amnesty to thousands of their illegal immigrants, giving them the right to live in Britain. This, with the threat of Turkey entering the EU, is a frightening prospect for England.

Rural idyll is being ruined by rubbish

From: G Burroughs, Chapel Cottage, Stape, Pickering.

I LIVE a few miles south of Pickering and enjoy a quiet, rural, retired life in this beautiful area.

Sadly, this idyllic National Park, which so many travel miles to enjoy, is spoilt by the rubbish thrown into the hedgerows and roadside

verges by a certain type of person who wants to use the countryside yet misuse it at the same time.

My experience is that people of many types and ages are guilty of this with the majority coming from the nine to 25 year-old bracket but by no means exclusively so. After a car rally or similar event is the worst time.

When taking a walk locally, I usually take a plastic bag and clear up the rubbish as I go, filling a supermarket carrier to capacity within a

mile or so.

The other day, I filled a carrier to overflowing within three quarters of a mile. This included six drinks cans and 18 plastic bottles plus other items all of which do not rot away.

Why is it, I wonder, that a percentage of people come to the

countryside to enjoy what it has to offer, then proceed to destroy it so others cannot have the same enjoyment?

Questionable review

From: Mrs Ann Railton, Beverley Road, Hessle, East Yorkshire.

I QUESTION Nick Ahad's motive for his poor review (Yorkshire Post, May 7) of Loot performed at Hull Truck Theatre. As the final performance was to be on the following day, May 8, he probably succeeded in

angering many of the readers who had seen the production.

The tone of criticism gave the impression that anyone finding it to be an excellent theatre experience must be lacking in discernment. There was certainly no "squirming" in seats on the occasion when I was there. Orton's witty dialogue, the relevance to many of today's situations and the actors' performances certainly appealed to this audience.

Not everyone dismisses Orton as irrelevant.

I saw an equally good but quite different production of Loot at Keswick's Theatre by the Lake in 2006. The director there, too, had made a good choice and could not be accused of "hitting a speed bump".

Oddly, I have seen new contemporary plays following good reviews by Nick Ahad. To my disappointment they followed the current trend of an over-abundance of swearing, predictable dialogue and plot. Perhaps my faith in critics was simply naive.

Pomp and power

From: Ron Farley, Croftway, Camblesforth, Selby.

THE annual Trooping the Colour ceremony on the Queen's birthday in London, with the Guards Regiments and their massed bands, pageantry, pomp and circumstance, scarlet tunics, bearskin headgear, smart bearing precision drill of some of our best young men, is a truly inspiring sight to behold and a right Royal occasion which makes this 81-year-old

ex-serviceman (22 years in the RAF) leak a bit from the corners of his rheumy old eyes.

However, when I saw the magnificent Welsh Guards on parade in Red Square, Moscow recently, to mark the anniversary of the end of the Second World War, in their scarlet tunics and black bearskins, I must admit to thinking it was a bit anachronistic.

This parade is not about pomp and circumstance, it is about power. I think they should have worn camouflage combat uniforms as our gallant lads do on return from, say, Afghanistan, to their "home" (garrison) towns.

And, horror of horrors, as I watched the Red Square parade on the television news, I am sure one of them near the front of the squad was out of step.

BA should carry on the fight against crews' greed

From: John Watson, Hutton Hill, Leyburn.

ONCE again, Bill Carmichael has hit the nail on the head with his column about the BA cabin staff strike (Yorkshire Post, May 13). They are behaving like a lot of lemmings putting their jobs at risk and being led on by trades union leaders who seem to be relics from the 1970s.

I understand that a lot of these BA workers are earning nearly twice as much as those employed by other airlines around the world.

So why the greed? The pressures on the airline industry are so great at the moment with a combination of factors, such as the new Government's decision not to sanction new runways at Heathrow and Stansted, the proposed cuts due to global warming, the deficit cuts, and now the volcanic ash problem.

Another factor in this dispute is the sheer selfishness of this "anachronism" where some families have probably saved all year for a holiday and are going to be denied the same. What are they going to say to the thousands of children who have probably been looking forward to a half-term break and who will have to stay at home for sheer greed?

I hope Willie Walsh digs his heels in and doesn't move an inch on this issue. I think he will have the country behind him.

I feel so strongly that this group of workers, if you can call them that, are quite happy to bestow so much misery on their fellow men that I would be inclined to sack the lot of them and have a fresh start with people who would appreciate the fact that in this day and age, having a job is a privilege and something worth hanging on to.

From what I have seen on flights, cabin staff seem to have it fairly easy and it wouldn't take long to train a new batch. And what about all the perks? They don't know they are born.

New route for the buses

From: Coun Mick Lyons, Leader of the Opposition, Metro.

How apt that Kenneth Webster's letter (Yorkshire Post, May 12) decrying the fact that the bus companies no longer have a sense of public service, should be printed on the first day of a new Conservative-led Government.

Mr Webster and your other readers may have forgotten that it was the previous Conservative government that, through dogma, removed bus services from public control and put them into the hands of companies like First, whose sole motivation is generating profits for their shareholders.

Let's hope this new Government does not, as it has threatened, continue that dogmatic approach, and that it gives the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive the opportunity to introduce a London-style franchise system.

Polite question

From: Arthur Quarmby, Underhill, Holme, Holmfirth.

HOW does a gentleman politely address a lady these days? Simple at one time, it was either Mrs or Miss, but these terms seem to be frowned upon nowadays, in favour of "Kath" or "Sal". But I feel uncomfortable using such familiarity with a stranger, having been raised in an environment where Christian names were for family or close friends. Besides which, it is a form of anonymity; the slang abbreviation does not identify the person nearly so well as a surname.