Wednesday's Letters: It's worth fighting to preserve our small local libraries

My own local library at Shadwell is also on the "hit list" and the other residential areas also adversely affected may be interested in our experiences over the past 10 years since the threat of library closures has existed.

Our response then was to form a small Friends of Shadwell Library committee which presented a case in person to a meeting of the then Leeds City Council expressing local opposition. Our spokesperson and leading light was (and is) Mrs Barbara Garden MBE, an ex-councillor, whose eloquence was rewarded by a (then) stay of execution. The lady has continued to write a monthly report urging increased use – the "use it or lose it" argument.

Against the national trend, this has maintained a steady level of "issue" by our library. I must also give credit to the professional library service staff in our regional grouping who have maintained an excellent and improving service of a few hours on four days per week. This has involved all library services including the installation of a computer linked to the internet. A good deal of expenditure has also been incurred on repair and renovation of the fabric of the building.

This (to me!) is a very beautiful and atmospheric one time Wesleyan Chapel which is a pleasure to visit. It is a Grade II listed building which I believe was ceded to Leeds Corporation on the understanding it would continue in socially valuable use. To allocate it to other uses would present legal difficulties and the unacceptable substitution of a library bus would "save" little money.

The use of the main libraries at Moor Allerton or Wetherby would be a small inconvenience to people with access to a private car, but would constitute a hardship (and expense) to elderly, disabled and generally less mobile people. Recently, a well attended public meeting in Shadwell voted unanimously in favour of maintaining the status quo.

Small local libraries are of great value to many people of all ages. The total expenditure on library and information services is a small part of local authority expenditure, from which no doubt other less damaging cuts could be found. In a society in which authorities are often accused of "dumbing down" the closure of libraries would be an act of vandalism comparable, on a local scale, with Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. I urge our City Fathers to think again.

From: George R Hill, Main Street, Shadwell, Leeds.

Tories out of touch again on wedding

From: Quentin Deakin, Crossflatts, Bingley.

SENIOR Tory Lord Young thinks that alarm about the cuts is a fuss about nothing (Yorkshire Post, November 20). While our millionaire prime minister has reluctantly dismissed this dinosaur, he has revealed a similar capacity for being out of touch by pretending that a public holiday to celebrate a Royal Wedding will dispel the economic gloom.

Not so, it merely adds to it. Membership of the Republican Campaign has soared since the announcement of the wedding as people revolt against the idea of even more public money being frittered away on our already subsidised monarchy. And before anyone tells me about the tourist benefits, I'll give you republican France, tourist mecca, where the palaces are wide open and full of visitors. The wedding is just a timely reminder that monarchy, the last feudal hangover, is long past its sell-by date.

From: MH Claxton, Arden Court, Northallerton.

POOR Lord Young! And he was right, you know. Not very long ago, it was only the rich who could afford servants. Now almost everyone has them. They have odd names like electricity, machine and engine. When I want a light, I don't have to ring for Mary to light the candles, I just reach out for the switch on the wall. I don't bend over a rubbing board to clean my clothes or employ someone else to do it, and if I need to travel a few miles – even if I don't own a car – there are buses and trains, rather than carriers carts or coaches. We do tend to take things for granted.

From: JT Pinder, Liversedge.

THE reaction to Lord Young's interview regarding well-off Britain has proved the point that the timing of a speech can be of more significance than its contents.

Had Lord Young made this speech four years from now with a General Election on the horizon, it would have been welcomed across the Tory ranks. On the other hand, had he made his speech in April of this year just prior to the election, he would have been fleeing from a Tory lynching party.

Students must learn to work

From: Dennis Whitaker, The Grove, Baildon, Shipley.

JAYNE Dowle asks: "As the dreaming spires turn into a nightmare of debt, who wants to be a student" (Yorkshire Post, November 18)? She then points out that we have a generation of students who literally believe they have to fight for their survival. For fight, substitute work!

Tony Blair's wish that half the population should go to university was (in my view) "pie in the sky", so let's think again! Anything you want in this life has to be worked for.

Sound research, experience and advice is necessary, whether it is to further a career, become self-employed or perhaps a student.

Since students do not have experience, they have a safety net. A person wishing to become self-employed, may, with the right criteria take out a bank loan. If the company goes pear-shaped, the money still has to be repaid – which can cause hardship. Under current legislation, students only pay back when their earnings rise above 21,000 per annum.

To prospective students, I would say: "Firstly, you must have confidence in youselves, research your chosen course and be prepared to work". The world is full of winners and losers but it does not owe any of us a living! You will encounter highs and lows – everybody does but university is a privilege and also a stepping stone to helping others, which brings its own rewards. University is not for everyone.

Thousands make it without but there is no substitute for education – take it from a secondary school chap who left at 15 without a single paper qualification!

Size and democracy

From: Coun Chris Greaves, Wharfedale Ward, Braford Council.

QUENTIN Deakin (Yorkshire Post, November 19) compares the importance of the secrecy of the ballot, and is correct when he states I supported that campaign, with the proposed size of constituencies. He argues that larger constituencies are undemocratic per se.

His argument is flawed as the two issues are unconnected. He is trying to compare fish with cheese. Good democratic representation in Westminster has nothing to do with the size of a particular constituency and everything to do with the quality of the MP.

Mr Deakin and I are both very fortunate that in Philip Davies we have probably the best constituency MP in the country. Should his constituency increase in size, I am sure his new constituents would receive the same high level of service that we are used to getting in Shipley.

Fewer and larger constituencies will not be a problem provided MPs, with appropriate levels of back office support, are conscientious in their duties.

Questions over pension

From: A Johnston, Cannock Road, Westcroft, Wolverhampton.

I REFER to the proposed increase in the State Pension which will mean a pension of 140 per pensioner, and even then will be well below the minimum wage figure.

Obviously, most pensioners will be jumping for joy at this long overdue upgrade, but perhaps one should be aware of those "bearing gifts" and due thought and diligence must rightly be the order of the day. On close examination of the proposal that the 30-year mandatory contribution base of payments will be abolished, one may ask why this change is to be implemented when the country is cash-starved and broke?

Further examination could bring forth a possible major answer to this vital and very important question, when one looks at the continuing arrival of immigrants from around the world, and who may already be too old to make the 30-year statutory contribution qualification limit.

Any immigrant who is 40 years of age upon arrival will be unable to qualify for a State Pension obviously, but the real question is about this present moment.

Can the party leaders inform the people, under the Freedom of Information Act, as to how many State Pensions are being paid at present to various immigrants who have never contributed to the statutory 30 year mandatory requirements, and in all probability have never even worked since they arrived. Also, how many European immigrants will qualify?

Classical languages are still living today

From: Keith Nunn, Burton Street, Farsley.

The learning of classical languages has long been derided by the ignorant as being of superfluous value. Latin and Greek are "dead" languages. Modern day linguists should learn French, German, Spanish, etc. How myopic, and how wrong (Yorkshire Post, November 20)!

Echoes of Greek and Latin breathe vibrantly through the English language daily. Moreover, verb conjugation, prose composition, and the study of quite brilliant tragedy, comedy, history and epic poetry, in the original languages, is both rigorous and intellectually rewarding.

Minds honed on complex syntax are minds broadened and refined by logic and the sheer thrill of discovering the foundations of so much that is precious to our mother tongue.

Schoolchildren should be given every opportunity to develop an interest in the Classics, and encouraged to pursue these studies at the highest level. Classical graduates have pursued many diverse career paths.

A degree in Classics was always highly prized and classical graduates sought eagerly by employers. Skilled classicists pepper every walk of British life.

Without William Tyndale's extraordinary feats of translation in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, the English Bible might not have been available to the ordinary countryman. Tyndale paid a tragic price for his beautiful and peerless rendition.

It will be a very sad sign of the times if the study of Classics in Yorkshire is ruthlessly axed. If so, then I presume CV (Curriculum Vitae) will succumb to plain old JH (Job History) in all matters of employment.

Let's hope that lifelong educational value outwits perceived financial expediency.

Light relief in bad weather

From: Harold Woolgar, High Street, Epworth, North Lincolnshire.

THE excellent snow picture and article (Yorkshire Post, November 22) was spoilt only by the BMW driver failing to appreciate that in snow, fog and poor light conditions, it is mandatory to drive with dipped headlights.

Dipped headlights cost nothing to run, but give pedestrians and other motorists at least three or four seconds more to see the oncoming vehicle.

In 1977, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland brought in the "Scandinavian" requirement for all vehicles to drive with dipped headlights. This reduced the number of accidents by 24 per cent and injuries by 41 per cent.

What is the problem with drivers, who drive in poor conditions and snow, who insist on driving without headlights?

Trials and error

From: Gerald Jarratt, Baghill Road, Tingley, Near Wakefield.

OUR Justice Secretary, Kenneth Clarke, states that "the coalition will not scrap trials without jury".

European law is superior to British law. The Amsterdam Treaty requires us to impose Corpus Juris, an embryo EU wide criminal code drawn up in 1997 on an unsuspecting British public, thereby creating a single "harmonised" judicial system throughout the EU based on Continental (Napoleonic) law.

Specifically, article 26.1 of Corpus Juris excludes judgment by "simply jurors and lay magistrates." No jury trial.

The Justice Secretary must explain how he proposes to circumvent the Amsterdam Treaty.

Deaf ear

From: G Robinson, Wood Acre Close, Threshfield, Skipton.

YOUR letter writer Mr Huffadine asks: "How does one tell Google that they've got it wrong?" A good question, but having tried in as many ways as I could think of, for the same reason, I gave up some years ago (Yorkshire Post, November 22).

Google either does not receive incoming messages, or if it does – it just ignores them.