Waste of UK money at our time of need

THE Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, says the last Labour government left office with the nation’s credit card at its spending limit.

Money which should be available for hospitals, schools, police etc, has instead to be used for paying the interest alone, which Britain’s horrendous debt is generating, and there cannot be any doubt the position the country is in is not exaggerated, and very painful cutbacks and economies must result.

However, there are several occurrences which directly contradict the understanding of our plight and questions repeatedly asked are never satisfactorily answered.

Just why, when Britain is being forced to cut back on very essential services; just why, when people are losing their jobs, their homes and sometimes their marriages; just why, when others are forfeiting annual holidays and struggling to pay for fuel to even get to work, are we giving hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money in foreign aid to countries like India, China and, only recently, Pakistan?

Even the enormously wealthy Saudi Arabia has a £380,000 handout – what comfort redundant workers in Britain must find in such stupid generosity.

And, if this seems to be a totally unwarranted abuse of such hard-earned funds, it is further exacerbated by the ever continuing awards of legal aid to murderers – money which finds its way into the pockets of lawyers, to pursue highly dubious appeals on their behalf.

This is not justice and cannot possibly be even considered to have any connection with justice and it is certainly not in the public interest, yet the taxpayers have no choice but to pay up and apparently to shut up.

Is this another example of politicians claiming to be listening to the wishes of the electorate or yet another blatant lie and deception?

When so many people are very worried about their job prospects, how utterly galling it is for them to see they are ruled by MPs and members of the House of Lords whose numbers are out of all proportion to their workload.

There were calls for the numbers of such people to be drastically reduced by at least 50 per cent, to levels other countries find suitable and appropriate, yet nothing has happened.

Others are losing their jobs, more and more have their working hours reduced, but the Parliamentary juggernaut continues at full speed.

Democracy must be the ideal choice of people for government, but I find it more and more difficult to reconcile my understanding of democracy with the system we presently have to accept.

MPs who need lesson in life

From: RC Curry, Adel Grange Close, Leeds.

The candidates will be the same, so why should one elected by AV be better than the one who gets there by our traditional means (Tom Richmond, Yorkshire Post, April 23)?

Indeed, it is quite likely that someone elected by AV could be the second or even third choice of too many voters.

Further, the one below any top choice can often be a discard, an “oh, if I must” gesture, rather than reasoned thought.

The major problem is that far too many of the inhabitants at Westminster seem to have no, or very limited, knowledge about life.

Real, practical things about commerce, building, engineering, mining, textiles, and all the other skills which for generations have made this country prosperous.

A move from school to university, then to a sheltered office at some statisticians, a publicist, or even for an MP, is no use at all.

That might teach them about the ways of politicians, but will still leave them just as ignorant about life at the rough end.

That lack of knowledge is, it appears, far too common these days among administrative public sector staff, so by the time the two get together in Whitehall, no wonder daft legislation or change and change again can be the order of the day.

The road to injustice

From: R Moore, North Road, Retford.

With reference to your article (Yorkshire Post, April 26) about the bus stop moved in front of a Grimsby man’s driveway, I have a similar situation outside my house.

There is a pelican crossing 12 feet from my driveway. Originally, it was positioned both sides of the driveway but in their wisdom, the contractors moved it 12 feet away. I have to park on the crossing to reverse into my driveway, and as the crossing is continuously in use, it causes problems. I wrote to all and sundry, including MPs, councils, ombudsman and the European Office for Human Rights, but to no avail. I was offered £50 compensation, which I refused.

So Philip Kent, keep trying, but do not hold your breath.

I do hope you succeed in getting something done, but from my experience, we honest, good and worthy citizens are just nuisances when it comes to having human rights.