Wednesday's Letters: Find productive work for public sector staff

In July, it was calculated that there were six million public sector employees; that reduction factor must be less than the number who

normally retire or leave voluntarily each year.

So where is the problem?

All that needs to be done is to make sure that these places are not filled and that the remaining employees are directed to productive tasks and removed from so many of the wasteful non-occupations which have been invented in recent years.

Such as the task of making plaintive noises about conkers being a danger to the public. After all, the force of gravity was discovered from a falling apple.

There are very many important employees in the public sector – refuse collectors, doctors, nurses, court clerks and others with key tasks – but there are probably far more jobsworths who need to be trained to do something useful.

Genuine public sector workers are absolutely vital and to be admired, but the shirkers should be given their cards.

Sadly, many of the latter were misled by Blair and Brown into believing their invented non-jobs were useful, so they should blame them, not Cameron and Clegg.

Further, there appears to be a total lack of understanding of the nature of profit and loss, value for money and incentives to achieve.

Added to that seems to be the case that the public sector, with its flexible working hours and statutory sick days, is the hot bed of having more time off than any commercial business dare imagine. Either the work stops when someone is off, or spare staff fill the gap.

Stress appears to be a common complaint. My recollections of a hard commercial life were that one took the tablets and got on with the job.

It is interesting to note the different attitudes taken by the private and public sectors to having to pull in their belts. Some of the latter seem to have the time to parade around with banners, while those in the private ambit roll up their sleeves, work hard and devise ways of making do and mending and looking for new opportunities.

From: RC Curry, Adel Grange Close, Leeds.

Role of vested interests in arms review

From: Keith Hartley, Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of York.

PROFESSOR Eric Grove identified the role of vested interests in the Defence Review focusing on the RAF versus the Navy in the form of the Harrier versus the Tornado choice (Yorkshire Post, October 22). But he failed to expand on the wider role of vested interest in the Defence Review.

The review raised vested interest questions about the future of the RAF as a separate force; it removed the RAF maritime air capability which could have replaced some of the Navy's frigates; and the Navy achieved successes in its acquisition of more Astute submarines and the bizarre decision on its two aircraft carriers.

The carrier decision reflected vested interests in the military-industrial-political complex. The previous Government and industry agreed a contract which made cancellation costlier than continuation of both carriers with obvious jobs benefits for some constituencies. The Navy was obsessed with acquiring large carriers – a choice which distorted the Defence Review.

As a result, the Navy has shown that the UK can do without carriers for 10 years which invites the Treasury to ask why we need carriers from 2020 onwards? Or are the Navy vested interests playing a canny long-term game? If the economy improves by 2015, they can argue that the UK needs two "proper" carriers by 2020 placing an additional order for more Joint Strike Fighters to operate from the carriers.

Both the carrier and Nimrod decisions are also a major indictment of MoD's continued mismanagement of the procurement budget. The new

Nimrods were delivered to the RAF way over cost and massively delayed. They will not achieve operational service and should have been cancelled many years ago.

From: MK O'Sullivan, Victoria Street, Allerton Bywater, Castleford.

David Cameron, in his Commons speech on defence, made a comment which should forever haunt him, that American or French aircraft might use the British aircraft carrier when it is operational, as this country will have no planes to do so.

This crass comment from Mr Cameron, in my view, shows his ignorance of naval aviation. The Americans have 11 carriers in their fleet, all nuclear powered, the French have one carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, with just enough aircraft to carry out their operations.

With the Harriers being grounded and Ark Royal taken out of service, highly trained and experienced pilots are destined for the scrapheap. I ask is it not beyond the wit of the MoD to have such pilots trained on American carriers, to operate the F-18 Hornets or Super Hornets, gaining experience in such operations, before the Joint Strike Force aircraft are in use?

I know that such training will take years, but if started soon, surely by the time the JSF fighters are operational would be complete, or nearly so.

The American navy is already looking ahead to the next generation of aircraft carriers, the Gerald R Ford class. In 2015, the first one will enter the fleet, two more are already ordered, and they will gradually replace the Nimitz class carriers. The Gerald R Ford will replace the first nuclear powered carrier USS Enterprise.

Another issue on carriers – has the Royal Navy enough frigates,

destroyers and submarines to form a Carrier Battle Group? In the US Navy, a CBG usually consists of a Ticonderoga class cruiser, two destroyers, two frigates, one or two submarines, and a supply ship.

Hedgehogs at risk

From: Patricia Tricker, Yoredale Natural History Society, Arrathorne, Bedale.

DOUBTLESS, everyone knows that pets should be kept indoor on bonfire night to avoid being terrified by the noise of fireworks. However, wild animals also suffer at this time of year, and none more than hedgehogs.

These wonderful animals, which help to ensure that our gardens are not destroyed by slugs, find a pile of wood or leaves the ideal place to hibernate. And so it is if it remains undisturbed until spring, but if it is set on fire, they cannot escape and are roasted alive.

So please, do not store the materials for a bonfire in the place where it is to be burned but move it to its final position as late as possible before setting it alight.

Generosity of Jimi

From: Patrick Douglas, Spennithorne Avenue, Leeds.

I AM writing to pay tribute, albeit belatedly, to Jimi Heselden.

I was one of eight cyclists who completed the Land's End to John O'Groats ride, sponsored by Jimi in aid of the Help for Heroes Charity

in May 2009.

At the end of day three, by which time we had ridden nearly 500 miles in atrocious conditions to Whalley in Lancashire, Jimi and his wife met us and treated us to dinner that evening. They were terrific hosts and we wanted for nothing.

He put 100,000 in support to the charity and, with that level of sponsorship, there was no way that we could not complete the ride.

In conjunction with other contributions through friends, colleagues and people we met on the trip, a total of about 150,000 was raised.

Jimi was a genuine, generous down-to-earth person and will be sorely missed. My thoughts go to his wife and the rest of his family.

Model village school produced model pupils

From: JW Slack, Swinston Hill Road, Dinnington, Sheffield.

SARAH Freeman's feature on Mark Addy and Seebohm Rowntree's Poverty and Progress (Yorkshire Post, October 20) brought back memories of my teacher training at St John's in York during the mid-1950s.

My first school practices were at Park Grove Secondary Modern and the rest at Shipton Street Primary, both set in well-built council areas where the smell of cocoa seemed to hang permanently in the air. The school playgrounds were inadequate and post-war austerity still manifested itself in the clothing and general demeanour of the children who, on reflection, were inward looking and lacking stimulation.

My final practice was at New Earswick – the model village of Rowntrees –who reserved the right to pay extra teachers required should class size become more than 30. As a result, I found a specialist PE teacher who was also a science specialist on the staff as an extra.

The school was light and airy, had excellent playgrounds and a playing field, plus access to a substantial nature reserve within half a mile of the school which included a pond. I was dispatched to the local ironmongers with a shopping list with which to make a small observatory to study ants at work and a pupil invited me to his father's allotment where he supplied the ants plus a queen. The whole settlement was a delight to work in and a credit to the attitude of the Rowntree enterprise.

At the time, polio was a cause for great concern and a child, thankfully recovered although wheelchair bound, was admitted to the school but not before door widening and a ramp was provided and a desk provided suitable to his requirements – all done in less than one week.

I wonder what it is like now?

If they can build carriers...

From: Arthur Quarmby, Underhill, Holme, Holmfirth.

THE three most recent Cunard liners have all been built in Italy – are British shipbuilders no longer capable?

Does that mean that the two planned aircraft carriers will also have to be built in Italy?

Or am I right in thinking that BAE intend to supply them? And if they can build carriers, could they not also build liners?

Crime and punishment

From: JF Taylor, Butterwick on the Wolds, Weaverthorpe, Malton.

I REFER to the report of the conviction of Christopher Thompson (Yorkshire Post, October 19) who was given an indeterminate jail sentence for his savage sexual attack on an 85-year-old.

The judge ordered he should serve a minimum of four years before he could apply for parole.

May I suggest that such people should be subject to an additional sentence – being castrated. People engaging in such savage activities should be subject to savage returns.

Waste of a referendum

From: Alan Netherwood, Dorchester Avenue, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

IN reply to George Senior of Goole (Yorkshire Post, October 19) when will you and others realise that a referendum on the EU would be totally useless and very costly?

David Cameron promised a referendum as long as the Lisbon treaty was not signed. Unfortunately, Gordon Brown signed it without the

referendum he promised.

Even if one took place now and everyone voted no, it wouldn't do any good; it's already signed.

Savings for the police

From: GA Thornton, Queen Street, Withernsea.

WE could save millions of pounds if the police lived in their own areas and did not have to commute many miles to work.

We would all feel safer by seeing police walking our streets again, or even cycling around the towns. Not only would they be saving fuel, but also wear and tear on vehicles and roads and man hours.

We are all expected to save on our resources and hope that our police force would do the same.