An ugly face to Scottish campaign

IN response to Philip Smith’s letter (The Yorkshire Post, September 23) I have this to say. I, too, am sad for the people of Scotland but for the opposite reasons to Mr Smith unless I have been watching a different campaign.

I have been visiting Scotland for over 50 years and have never encountered anything but friendliness and hospitality.

However, the overwhelming venom and animosity towards the English led by Alex Salmond, Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP members has been a disgrace to behold. Patriotism is fine but fanaticism is ugly.

Now, on to another vote, the elections next year, I hope that voters will remember that the Tory party have turned our economy around to give us a growth rate better than other European countries. Not an easy task after the mess Messrs Brown and Blair left us in. However, I wish that a strong new leader could emerge to take us back to being the respected nation that we once were. Not Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage or Ed Miliband please!

From: Christopher Swain, Vernons Close, Henham, Essex.

THE fallout from commitments made by the party leaders (apparently with little internal consultation) to devolve more power to the Scottish Parliament has been renewed indignation over the “West Lothian Question” and demands for an English Parliament. Both are side issues. The issue of Scottish MPs voting on English affairs can be got round procedurally within the House of Commons.

Setting up an English Parliament will do nothing to deal with the real underlying problem of concentrated political and economic decision-making in London (even were the English Parliament to sit elsewhere).

Past experiments with metropolitan counties and regional assemblies failed because of doctrinaire opposition and lack of significant powers and resources to implement them. New regional bodies should be constituted, funded by an inter-regional equivalent of the Barnett formula, with powers as close as reasonably possible to those of the Scottish Parliament and controlled by the MPs in each region. That should help to make them focus on regional concerns regardless of party affiliation and could be the catalyst for making MPs and parties more responsive to the electorate.

Medical care before NHS

From: V Lloyd, Kirkhamgate, Wakefield.

WHAT a change to read the article by Dr Paul Muller (The Yorkshire Post, September 27).

His comments bring me back to pre-war days when your doctor was on call day and night, for a payment of 1/6 per fortnight, collected by one of his staff.

In Sheffield some hospitals were run by the staff at the town hall. But the others were voluntary hospitals with a penny in the pound scheme for all workers. This enabled you to have the hospital services supplied by consultants and surgeons, along with medical students. An excellent service was given to all.

I was a recipient of many services from these hospitals for which I am very grateful. The NHS in 1948, like all other nationalised industries could not keep up the good practice which they inherited, which could have made a big difference.

From: David Downs, Sandal, Wakefield.

IF Jeremy Hunt’s attitude on the NHS betrays his complacency, Andy Burnham’s response (The Yorkshire Post, October 1), “How can people trust Labour to increase the NHS budget?” beggars belief.

He claims that the Labour government proudly corrected the under-funding of the NHS in the Thatcher-Major years as a result of the strength of the Labour economy in the 10 years prior to the worldwide financial crash. The truth was that, the increases in the NHS funding by the last Labour government was financed from the unprecedented high levels of their government’s borrowings which only came to the public’s notice during and after the world wide financial crash. It just goes to show that Labour are still in denial of any responsibility for the major proven failings in their last term in office.

Ignorant attitudes

From: Judith Bond, Rawdon.

I SPEND my time in a wheelchair. It’s not been long since I find myself in this whole new world. I find the ignorance of people shocking. A lot of people smile at me, which is lovely, but a lot stare which just demonstrates their idiocy.

The most frustrating events are being excluded from shops because of steps and the insidious actions of the patrons of the shops on the small retail park on Kirkstall Road inhabited by Asda, Iceland, Greggs and Poundworld.

Cars are dumped in the disabled parking spaces by so-called humans because of sheer laziness.

Asda were far from interested. Greggs blamed the council (the land is not owned by the council). I boycotted Iceland after Malcolm Walker ignored my communications, pointing out his younger cashiers sit 
there yawning while my ill husband and carer struggles to open bags.

I don’t have a working left arm so self-propelling is hard work. Between the stores and the sheer ignorance of the customers, I often find a hopeful wave of karma washes over me. Agghhhh!