Tuesday's Letters: Society deserves protection from feral thieves

He is a professional burglar and an eye-watering 650-plus offences were committed – and these are just the ones he could remember. There are many just like him.

Every single offence represents pain, grief, trouble, loss,

inconvenience and fear for individuals and families.

To break into somebody's home, you have to be degenerate. These kind of actions are now so commonplace, however, that we tend to forget what a heinous offence it really is – until it happens to us. It demonstrates a total disregard for both society and fellow man and, of course, drug addiction can never be used as an excuse for making so many lives a misery.

Each offence, of itself, must be worth something approaching five years in prison.

Let us assume that it is marginally less and we see that Wernham has committed crimes worthy of some 3,000 years in custody. He will serve two, give or take.

The judicial system was already working to a disastrous sentencing principle called "totality" – even before "let-'em-all-loose" Ken Clarke turned up.

However euphemistically described, effectively this policy means sentencing for just the gravest offence and then to consider Wernham's other 687 crimes as merely "aggravating features". Clearly, this lowlife should not be sentenced to the 3,000 years he has arguably earned – (even if he were possibly to pick up 2,000 years of remission for good behaviour) but the tendency to make sentences "concurrent" is failing society badly.

Personally, I would want him sentenced to 20 years with no more than a quarter off for good behaviour. Society deserves protection; there must be atonement. Retribution, not revenge, is a must. Deterrent sentencing is not just for the likes of Wernham, it is for his friends, who see that he is currently winning. Crime for him is paying seven figure sums stolen and these valued at just a couple of years of relatively easy jail time: a great annual income.

Rehabilitation can only work with those who want to be rehabilitated.

From: Les Arnott, Athelstan Road, Sheffield.

We need to scrap all the quangos

From: John Richmond, Harrogate Road, Ripon, North Yorkshire.

WHILE it may sound fine and dandy to suggest a new voice for Yorkshire is needed, to which I might easily add my support, what in the meantime are the executives and staff of Yorkshire Forward going to be doing, still in their plush offices in Leeds, still in existence until 2012?

The report (Yorkshire Post, August 3) in the business section sounds very much like a Yorkshire Forward mark two – covering its back by acknowledging local councils will have to be involved.

I dread the thought that a new "quango" will emerge in place of the one that should have been kicked into touch by the coalition Government.

A couple of weeks ago, the Yorkshire Post reported on what I believe was the inaugural meeting of this newly-formed group.

With a deal of respect as a now retired businessman, I am by nature suspicious of self-appointed bodies.

It is my belief that such bodies that mushroomed during 13 years of Labour government, have been a failure because of lack of

accountability, a fault also found where one would not have expected it, in banking!

While most of us, the weary taxpayers, may scream at banks failing to lend our money to help small businesses to survive, remember quangos have cost this country more than 100bn on an annual basis.

Every one should be scrapped as promised before the election by Conservatives and Lib Dems.

Superfluous advisers

From: Richard Billups, East Avenue, Rawmarsh.

EVERY leader of the Conservative Party since their beloved Maggie Thatcher has been bombarded with second rate advice from her

supporters. Poor John Major had seven years of it, then William Hague had four years and jacked it in. Michael Howard and Iain Duncan Smith had four years between them and couldn't stand it. Now David (chameleon) Cameron's up to now done five years of it.

They come out of the woodwork the minute they hear the cheque book open

to regale the leader how they helped Maggie do this and that.

What these people who think they are brighter than the sun never write or talk about is this. If they're so bright and were with Maggie all the time at her elbow dishing out great advice willy nilly, how come

she was scrapped? Thrown on the rubbish heap.

All I saw when she left No 10 was her and her late husband Denis on their own, no advisers to be seen. Perhaps they were listening for the cheque book.

Tall story from Tories

From: Jason Smith, UK Independence Party regional secretary, Queensbury, Bradford.

REMEMBER when the Tories were in the throes of an election campaign and they gave lots of cast iron promises that they would not yield any more power to the EU, and that they would even seek to repatriate some of the powers that Britain had already lost?

Well, now they've won the election, well kind of, we see that the

Tories were telling another tall story.

Home Secretary Theresa May has announced that the Government has "opted in" to the European Investigations Order.

This "order" will mean that prosecutors from any EU country will be granted unprecedented and intrusive powers over people in Britain.

Allowing them to bug the phone calls of British citizens, monitor their

bank accounts and gain access to their DNA if they suspected them of committing a crime in those countries – however trivial the offence, and even if it were not a crime in the UK.

Secretary May's announcement was greeted with loud cheers from the Labour benches.

We need not worry as Theresa May seeks to reassure us all that she intends to "negotiate" safeguards with the EU.

I wonder, is it not better to negotiate before you have actually signed a contract?

How to halt the herons

From: Michael Booth, The Birches, Bramhope.

I WAS interested to read the piece by Nicholas Rhea (Yorkshire Post, July 31) about herons clearing his garden pond of fish.

For eight or nine years, I stocked my garden pond with 20 fish and each year the herons cleaned me out. I took advice from numerous "experts", which included buying plastic herons and erecting trip wires approximately eight inches above the ground, but all failed dismally.

I then realised that herons never land in the water, they always walk in, having first come down on the lawn. With that in mind, I devised my present preventative system which is made from old fishing line stretched taut through bent garden flower supports, and extending an average of eight inches over the water.

I am certainly not one of the "experts" but, suffice to say, I haven't lost a fish since I first erected it three years ago, although I still see herons flying overhead.

A net, which I place over the pond in autumn/winter to keep falling leaves out, just lies over the top. I never remove the line or wires.

Obama's stance over BP was governed by spin

From: Michael C Goodwin, Malthouse Lane, Burn Bridge, Harrogate.

BP's urgency in response to the oil spill has been hugely impressive. Totally without regard to cost, the vast numbers of people, ships and aircraft dedicated to the clean-up and killing of the leak – paid for by BP – has been quite without precedent. No part of that response was provoked by Barack Obama.

The accident has caused us to have to endure the unedifying spectacle of Obama scrabbling for votes for his failing administration.

In the same way as Tony Blair's election victories and his whole time period in office was ruled by spin, so Obama's response to the BP

accident continues to be entirely governed by spin.

Obama's enforcing of the ring fencing of a $20bn compensation fund has actually achieved nothing that wasn't going to happen in real terms anyway. At the last count, BP had 1,650 personnel dealing specifically with claims. About 100,000 compensation cheques have already been written.

BP was writing cheques to claimants within seven days of the accident, by which time Obama hadn't even got off the golf course.

Has there ever been a quicker response to claims for compensation? Indeed, has there ever been such an encouragement from the responsible party for anybody affected by the accident to make a claim ?

The President's repeated emphasis of British Petroleum, as the

responsible party, must, now the leak is finally killed, be countered by BP emphasising the prime or concurrent responsibility for the negligence of services and equipment of many American businesses.

Presumably Obama forgot to mention them in his petulant and histrionic broadcast to the nation.

Holmes sweet Holmes

From: Rachel Taylor, Steep Lane, Sowerby, Halifax.

JOHN Gordon rues the new modernised version of Sherlock Holmes (Yorkshire Post, August 4). I quite like it, especially when text messages are received. As for them living together, one of the actors did say on the radio that the gay connotation was put in and the

storyline had them both trying to knock this idea on the head on a regular basis throughout the various episodes.

As for Conan Doyle turning in his grave, this same man believed in fairies at the bottom of the garden.

From: J Barrett, Huddersfield.

I FEEL I must take issue with John Gordon regarding the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Sunday evening is now a delight, with this programme's excellent modern adaptation. I believe any author would have approved of such a clever new adaptation of their stories.

Of course, Holmes was "gay" and Watson not and this comes out this way in the series. Only one slight criticism – the music is too loud.

Ignorance of the past

From: Peter J Brown, Connaught Road, Middlesbrough.

IN order to deal with the problems of the present and the future, it is essential to have knowledge of the past.

The disregard and disinterest that some politicians have in history is rather disturbing. David Cameron exposes his lack of grasp of history when he described Britain as the junior partner to the United States

in 1940.

A student of history does not need to study the Second World War very deeply in order to know that Britain, after the fall of France, stood alone.

At the last General Election, many young and inexperienced Tory candidates were very keen to emphasise the virtues of the Tory Party under David Cameron and appeared to have very little knowledge of, or interest, in past Tory governments or leaders.

This can only be bad for modern politics.

Vital lesson

From: David Quarrie, Lynden Way, Acomb, York.

I HAVE been an avid reader of the Yorkshire Post for more than 50 years but the article by a deputy headmaster (Yorkshire Post, August 6) on the interference by politicians on matters of education and teaching is the best I have ever read. What he says is so true and sadly applies to many other professions besides teaching. What a shame he feels he has to remain anonymous.