Wednesday's Letters: British policemen find a better life abroad

I have now emigrated to a far better life in Alberta, Canada. I note the concern of the Yorkshire Post at budget cuts to the police. Here in Calgary, we have half the number of police officers per 100,000 population that West Yorkshire has (159 per 100,000) and a fraction of the crime rate.

It's not until you leave that you realise that the major fault is the cost of the volumes of civilian support staff and bureaucrats uniform officers have to answer to and, dare I say it, PCSOs (Police Community Support Officers).

Here, each district, which is about the same size as most of the Yorkshire ones, operates on three clerical staff and two crime analysts. Everyone else is at the "sharp end" in the public view.

Next time you see a police officer in your neighbourhood, ask them how many "support staff" they have. You will be shocked.

I am not saying it is perfect in Calgary, but I am allowed and encouraged to be a police officer here and my professional judgment is accepted.

We have a public approval rating of more than 90 per cent, which must be the envy of most British forces.

Unlike the UK, I feel valued by my fellow officers, the public and my bosses.

The only really scary thing is that British Chief Constables can't, or don't want to, understand why 350 of the 1,700 in Calgary, to name just one foreign police service, is made up of experienced officers like myself, who have emigrated.

From: Chris Isherwood, Okotoks, Alberta, Canada.

The troops who take too long to train

From: Frank R Hindmarsh, Osborne Road, Harrogate.

I HAVE to declare that I have never been in favour of the wars we are fighting at this present time and I, at 76 years of age, am not ashamed to have shed a few tears at the loss of our troops out there.

There have been a few statements made by prominent people over the last few weeks which connect with my thoughts. In the most recent, the last head of MI5 and a senior officer said that the Taliban will not remain in Afghanistan, they are all over the world.

My point is: if we have been out there with troops and the intention was to train their people to have their own forces, why has it taken so many years to train these men when our boys, at 18 and 19 years of age, have been in the Army or other forces for two years, going out there as trained soldiers?

I joined the RAF in 1952. After six weeks, I passed out as a regular airman. Would it not have been cheaper and easier to have rounded up 10,000 Afghans and brought them to the UK and given them the six weeks we had and sent them back "fully trained"?

From: Trevor Mumford, St Giles Close, Thirsk.

SO David Cameron believes that our relationship with the United States is a "win, win" situation. Oh really?

Could this be the same US the president of which has been doing his utmost to destroy BP and with it a large part of the UK's economy over the Gulf oil spill and allegations of involvement of the company in the release of the Lockerbie bomber? It can surely only be a matter of time before BP is accused of involvement in the assassinations of John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

On his Washington visit, Mr Cameron also made the unforgivable gaffe of describing Britain as the "junior partner" to the US in 1940 – a full year before that country had been bombed into the Second World War by Japan and declared into it by Nazi Germany.

Even if he meant the 1940s as claimed, it would still have been an inexcusable toadying remark demonstrating that Mr Cameron is a Chamberlain rather than a Churchill.

No, Mr Cameron your "special relationship" with Mr Obama is he says "jump" and you say "how high?"

The Queen is indispensable

From: H Marjorie Gill, Clarence Drive, Menston.

FURTHER to the grumpy old men who are constantly sniping at our Head of State, and wishing they had the job. No chance, who would wish to queue up to shake their hands and turn out to cheer them? And by their very attitude they would never be able to hold their own with visiting heads of state.

Can you imagine them hosting a dinner party anywhere with the gracious demeanour of our Queen? The very idea makes one laugh out loud. As for how much effort they put into their being and lives, one only has to look at the charities they have founded. Look also at the way the Princess Royal trekked through the mud and slog of Africa to check on the work done by Save The Children.

A short time ago, there were queries about the Civil List and the Queen's expenses. It was assumed by ignorant people that this was to pay her living expenses, but of course it is not. The Civil List is to pay for travels on behalf of the State and for entertaining visiting heads of state. She pays her own expenses from her own income from investments just as we do.

The trade unions are constantly worrying about the rise in the age at which pensions are to be paid, and the thought that people will have to work for longer periods of their lives. If the said gentlemen who criticise Her Majesty think she lives an easy life just think, she is 84 years old and still going strong. Tough as old boots, bless her, and long may she reign.

Rights of the Ripper

From: Paul Firth, Blundellsands, Liverpool.

I AM not out to defend the waste of public funds on hopeless appeals. Nor is this the right place to attempt to describe how truly "hopeless" appeals should be weeded out.

But I do feel the need to point out that Peter Sutcliffe's recent High Court case was not an "appeal" by the prisoner, who did not "apply" for his release date to be set.

The case was brought by the Secretary of State for Justice under a mandatory provision in the Criminal Justice Act 2003. Under that Act all those serving life sentences for which no tariff has been set must have their cases referred to the High Court for a ruling on when, if ever, they might be allowed to seek their release. Sutcliffe was the respondent to this application, not the initiator.

Even Peter Sutcliffe had the right to have someone address the court on this question, the answer to which was of vital concern both to the prisoner and to the public at large. Since he is a serving prisoner, it was inevitable his advocate would be paid from public funds.

Our vital libraries

From: Tim Mickleburgh, Littlefield Lane, Grimsby.

I AGREE with you (Yorkshire Post, July 26) that libraries should not be made an easy target of public spending cuts.

Library provision is one of the basic services that any local council should offer, and should be a higher priority than the myriad of other roles that authorities have adopted over the years. Libraries have always played a vital role in the life of ordinary people, individuals who not only couldn't afford to buy books, but perhaps didn't even have room for children to study. Today the provision of free internet access continues this task for the poorest.

So I hope that local and central government thinks again, cutting the number of special advisors(consultants rather than libraries.

Giant incinerator will 'cripple' tourism and farming

From: Laurie Boyle, Hopperton, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire.

WHILE other regions are trying to attract visitors with gimmicks like the London Eye and the Angel of the North, I think that North Yorkshire County Council is to be congratulated on its decision to be different, by building a giant incinerator with a 260ft chimney (higher than York Minster) in the heart of the county.

This rural county, which is primarily dependent on tourism and agriculture will be terminally crippled overnight by this

single "inspirational" decision and the consequences will mean that tens of thousands of jobs will be lost at a time when unemployment is already looming for many more.

This council has been extremely clever. It is using money, which we don't have (it's called a PFI credit and defies any financial sense) to build a monstrosity, which we don't want or need (built, incidentally, by a foreign company) and at a time when we are being forced to cut back in many other areas (schools, police etc) in order to balance the books.

This is really "enlightened" thinking and has the added "benefit" of blighting up to about 150 square miles of prime farmland as well.

I'm particularly impressed with the choice of site, which will have maximum visual impact – halfway between Harrogate and York and equidistant between the Dales and the North York Moors. It is a well chosen position within sight of the A1 and with the added bonus of being adjacent to a Grade One listed castle, a newly built golf course and a planned five star hotel. Surely it can't get any better than this.

And credit where it's due, this perspicacious council has achieved all of this without the problems of consultation. Why bother to ask the voters, when you know best?

For me, I've had enough. After 30 years in North Yorkshire, I've now given up. I'm moving abroad as an economic migrant. Possibly even to Greece, where there is a lot more sanity and the weather is certainly warmer.

Good luck Yorkshire. You will need it.

We need wider school choice

From: David W Wright, Uppleby, Easingwold.

YET more politically-correct rubbish from the coalition Government benches, this time from David Ward, the Lib Dem MP for Bradford East (Yorkshire Post, July 21), who complains that the Government plans for education reform could lead to greater social and ethnic divides and he even suggests that BNP-supporting parents could seek to establish their own school.

There needs to be greater choice than the current tired system, giving pupils and parents the opportunity to seek out the best school for their child's future and abilities.

The current comprehensive one-size-fits-all system has failed and we need to return to selection and a wider choice of schools.

Should we thank Labour?

From: Terry Palmer, South Lea Avenue, Hoyland. Barnsley.

ACCORDING to official figures, Britain's economy is now surging ahead with a growth level the highest since 2006. Strong figures for April and June are double what the City had hoped for.

Even George Osborne had to admit the figures show that the economy is in good shape. The Con-Dems didn't get their feet into Downing Street until May, so are these economy figures down to New Labour policies during previous months?

Of course, it is good that the economy is getting stronger, but it may be short lived when the "storm" of cuts from Chancellor Osborne's axe is wielded.

From: Richard Billups, East Avenue, Rawmarsh, Rotherham.

IF Nick Clegg is so clean over the Forgemasters fiasco, why doesn't he resign and call a by-election and see if the people of Sheffield Hallam still back him?

Dancers who shared their art

From: Mrs Pamela Newbould, Canal Road, Crossflatts, Bingley.

I REFER to Derek Oldfield's letter (Yorkshire Post, July 23) on David Gayle and the Yorkshire ballet seminars in Ilkley.

I used to visit these with Friends of Northern Ballet Theatre. At that time, Northern Ballet were based in Manchester.

Dame Alicia Markova regularly came to coach at these seminars, as did other famous dancers from the Royal Ballet.

Later on, Northern Ballet moved their base to Halifax when Christopher Gable became director.

I look back with pleasure to watching those classes at the Ilkley seminars.