Unfair to donkeys

I FEAR I must take exception to the letter from Maurice White (Yorkshire Post, March 11) likening our present Foreign Secretary and MP for Richmond, The Rt Hon William Hague, to a donkey.

I have fond memories from both my own and my children’s childhoods of Scarborough donkeys, and though some were certainly ill-tempered and obstinate and all exuded a heady miasma of sand and urine, I feel that this comparison is totally uncalled for and a slight upon these noble creatures.

I hope that come summer, Mr White will take the time to visit the Scarborough beach and take a good look at these monarchs of the sands and realise the error of his opinion.

Football’s own goal

From: Aled Jones, Mount Crescent, Bridlington.

THESE days the “beautiful game” of football is about money and I’m losing all enthusiasm for it. Charging loyal working-class fans extortionate prices to go watch their team play makes me want to vomit.

Top privately-owned clubs are raking in a fortune each week from gate receipts alone, it is a selfish case of “I’m all right, Jack”. It would be much fairer if all the profits from football went back into the local economy from which they sprang, but fans are being betrayed by “fat cat” directors obsessed with lining their own pockets.

Price squeeze

From: David H Rhodes, Keble Park North, Bishopthorpe, York.

IT appears that all supermarkets are offering dramatic price reductions on selected food items and it is common to see joints of meat at half price. While this appears to be brilliant news for the shopper, the largesse is not what it seems in that it is the producer which bears the brunt of the price reduction and not so much the supermarkets. With so many farmers going out of business and farming becomes less viable with ever-diminishing returns, isn’t it time for a rethink?

If we want the UK to be more self-sufficient in food production then the “squeeze” on farmers must be reduced by their being paid a fair price for their produce.