Wednesday's Letters: Don't forget Labour's list of achievements

Surely no one disagrees with him about the public finances being in a mess, certainly not I, but I wonder how he would answer a few, not a comprehensive list, of questions.

By what miracle did thousands of extra police, doctors, nurses and teachers arrive? Who supplied the multi-million pounds worth of new equipment to hospitals and why are patients no longer dying on hospital trolleys and waiting lists? Who refurbished and completely re-built all the A&E departments in the country? Where have all the school outside toilets gone? Why do millions of people now have access to rural bus services where there were none? Who saved the railways for disappearing down the black hole of privatisation into oblivion? Where did the money come from to pay for the floods, bombings, bird and swine flu and to protect the savings of thousands of people during the worldwide recession?

There obviously have to be savings, but the timing and scale of cuts is critical to the future economy. One place I do feel could change is in local authorities. Local councillors should be paid only a nominal attendance fee, plus verifiable expenses, and the highest paid executive in all authorities should have a salary linked to the number of constituents, say 2 per person. Being applied nationally, this would ensure the linking of salaries on the pretext that it is necessary to attract the "right person".

None of these should ever be paid a bonus for simply doing the job for which they are contracted.

From: JW Smith, Sutton-on-Sea.

You have to feel sorry for the Duchess

From: Peter R Hyde, Kendale View, Driffield.

I feel sorry for the Duchess of York (Jayne Dowle, Yorkshire Post, August 30). She is a spendthrift, of that there is little doubt, but why?

When she was married to Prince Andrew, not only did he shower her with gifts but so did many other people who were seeking to ingratiate themselves with royalty.

Having been granted that lifestyle, it would be extremely difficult for her to modify her spending. Like many others, she lives in a "I want it now" society. There is an old Yorkshire saying. Income 1, outgoings 95p, bliss. Income 1, outgoings 1.05, misery.

We should all aim for that, but advertisers and lenders push goods and money at us to such an extent that it is very hard for the weaker person to resist.

From: M Johnson, Huddersfield.

WE read with interest Jayne Dowle's article about our society that can't stop spending. Perhaps though Ms Dowle should have

qualified "knock-off football shirts" when she indicated that she had her son check out every shop in Salou for the best price. Did she mean counterfeit goods?

If that is what she meant, perhaps she should stop and think about the implications of buying fake goods. Not only do they deprive honest traders of making a living selling the genuine article but their proceeds are often linked to organised crime and money laundering. By all means hunt for a bargain, Jayne, but perhaps you should follow your own advice which is that if you can't afford something then save up for it.

A-level unfairness

From: Steven Jandrell, Headmaster, Queen Ethelburga's College, Thorpe Underwood, York.

AS a successful independent school, the reporting of examination results has normally been a cause for celebration. However, this year is an exception as a result of the way that the Independent Schools' Council has disseminated this information and the way that it has been interpreted.

As a school that has recently introduced the International

Baccalaureate Diploma, as well as a small number of BTEC

qualifications, a number of our students have done a combination of qualifications for very sound educational reasons. Unfortunately, as the A-level results have been extracted from the overall picture, no allowance has been made for students who have combined different qualifications and they have been represented as if their entire

academic programme consisted of one solitary A-level.

Fortunately, this has not affected most independent schools in our area, where all students follow predominantly A-level courses. In our case, it has led to devastating misrepresentation of our students' results. The 54 of our 70 Year 13 students who followed programmes made up entirely of A-levels achieved an average points score of 443 UCAS points.

If we add to those the small number of students who combined A-levels with BTECs and discount any UCAS points awarded to BTEC qualifications, on the basis that we are looking for an A-level average points score, we still achieved a UCAS points average of 424. If we look at the remaining students who did the IB Diploma, a few of whom added an A-level to their overall programme, an average points score of 490 was achieved.

Given the above, and the fact that we have been recorded as having achieved an average of 379 points for our students at A-level, you will understand the upset that has been caused. For our students who have worked so hard to achieve top grades at the IB diploma, to be only recognised for an additional qualification they have taken is very demoralising and, far worse in a teenager's eyes, unfair. Equally, for the A-level students who collectively gained such high grades to have their achievements misrepresented is exasperating. League tables have their own limited place, but if they are inaccurate to this extent, they lose their already questionable validity.

A woman in need of help

From: Brian Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.

THE extreme reaction of the more militant of animal lovers to the woman who placed a cat in a wheelie-bin was predictable but the widespread outrage seems to me to miss the point (Yorkshire Post, August 30).

I would happily return some of God's creatures to their creator – humanely, of course – starting with moles, grey squirrels and certain corvines, but to harm gratuitously someone's pet in such a cruel way is both irrational and disturbing.

This troubled woman does not need opprobrium. She needs help.

From: Ciaran Lyon, Hedon, Hull.

WHY has the woman who put a cat in a wheelie-bin gained more notoriety, and coverage, than the millions of people left homeless by the Pakistan floods? Isn't there something out of proportion about the respective responses, and what does this say about society today?

Remembering three men who served in 1940

From: Mark Andrew, Battle of Britain Historical Society, Halifax.

THERE were three Yorkshire-born pilots involved in action on August 22, 1940.

From RAF Kenley in 616 Aux Squadron, formed in Doncaster, were Hugh SL Dundas and Lionel H Casson.

FO Dundas was born in Doncaster 1920 and educated first at Aysgarth Prep School, Bedale, where his name appears on the BOBHS School Memorial Plaque.

After the war he was made a CBE then knighted and was High Sheriff of Surrey in 1989.

He was the brother of John Charles Dundas who was a journalist on the Yorkshire Post in 1938 and who served in 609 Aux Squadron formed at Yeadon.

In Spitfire R6926, FO Hugh Dundas was attacked by Bf109s and baled out, admitted to Kent and Canterbury Hospital with arm and leg wounds.

PO Casson was born in Sheffield in 1915. After being attacked by Bf109s, he returned to base with damage by 20mm cannon shell.

In 1950, he took command of 616 Squadron.

At RAF Warmwell, PO Walter Beaumont from Mytholmroyd, near Halifax, was shot at by fire from a Ju88 and made a forced landing near Bedford in Spitfire R6829.

He was unhurt, aircraft repairable.

At London University in 1927, he joined the RAFVR and may be the first man to join with number 740000.

Walter was awarded the DFC and is remembered in two local schools, Scout Road Primary and Calder High, Mytholmroyd and his name is being considered by Calderdale Council for a new housing development as a 70th anniversary record.

Comparison went too far

From: Keith Coleman, Newland Road, Hull.

WITH regard to Tom Richmond's column (Yorkshire Post, August 27) on hype in contemporary sports, I read his remarks, and criticisms of Test Match Special, during the Lord's Test when Christopher Martin-Jenkins, normally such a level-headed commentator, was comparing some of centurion Stuart Broad's strokeplay to the great IVA Richards, one of Wisden's cricketers of the 20th century. I don't think so.

Chaos fear over elected mayors

From: Tom Byrme, Ilkley.

WHAT assurances can Sayeeda Warsi (Yorkshire Post, August 31) provide so that the plan for elected mayors in major cities, like Leeds and Sheffield, does not end in the chaos and in-fighting that continues to be witnessed in Doncaster, a town which has been lumbered with such a flawed system of governance?

Keep Florence out of limelight

From: Jayne Matthews, Barnsley.

A NOTE to David and Samantha Cameron: congratulations on the birth of your daughter, Florence. I'm really pleased for you, but please can you assure us that she will not be used as a prop and photo-opportunity at times of political trouble?

Fitting ending to Summer Wine

From: D Flint, Ilkley.

HOW apt that the great Peter Sallis should have had the last word in the final episode of Last of the Summer Wine. What an actor, and what a series. Will his like ever be seen again? Not so, judging by the BBC's obsession with promoting the mundane on various talent shows that are supposed to constitute light entertainment. Do others agree?

Global world of air filters

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

HAVING just had my Japanese Toyota car serviced, I was highly amused to see that my air filter had been made in Poland.

If the Japanese find reason to buy in, why should we in England be surprised by anything? The world is truly international.