Wednesday's Letters: Park and ride scheme was built in wrong place

Although I no longer live in Doncaster, until recently I lived on Warning Tongue Lane, very close to the Southern Park and Ride. My comments should be attributed mainly to that scheme.

There are several comments made by Mr Jameson, with which I would wish to take issue. Overall, I think Mr Jameson's letter shows how out of touch he is with the general public.

Firstly, the park and ride was inappropriately sited. That is because it is further out of town than the majority of Doncaster's southern suburbs. It should always have been obvious to the planners that this would present physical and psychological barriers to its use.

That is, most people would not be inclined to travel further away from town to park and bus it back into town.

Further, I believe it was a mistake to have dedicated buses to the park and ride when Rossington buses scheduled approximately every 10 minutes, pass the entrance/exit.

Surely, it would have been far more efficient and effective to have Rossington buses set off and pick up passengers there, perhaps with the added benefit of an increased frequency to Rossington.

I find it extraordinary that Mr Jameson claims that "objectives were not and never have been about solely filling the two park and ride sites".

Surely, it is axiomatic that good patronage would lead to full car

parks and, conversely, mostly empty car parks are evidence of poor patronage.

Mr Jameson and his colleagues should go back to the drawing board, try to stop being such "complete jobsworths" and listen more carefully to the public.

From: John Northedge, Green Lane, Dronfield, Derbyshire.

Sound money only way to bring growth

From: Michael Swaby, Hainton Avenue, Grimsby.

FRANK Field is one of the few MPs who still command wide respect, and he is to be congratulated on his article, in which he asks searching questions about the possible outcomes of the financial crisis (Yorkshire Post, January 15).

In briefly mentioning the currency, Frank Field touches on a potential danger and an issue that lies partly out of our control. In August 1971, our last link with gold was lost, when the US broke the Bretton Woods Treaty by making the dollar inconvertible.

I believe that the ensuing global fiat money regime is increasingly becoming an agent of instability, and is one cause of many of our present problems.

Fiat money's main characteristic is that it can be issued in unlimited quantities. In theory, this will be avoided by the skill and discipline of central banks. In practice, political imperatives and human nature have brought us to a point where one can be almost certain that, somewhere in the world, a credit bubble is being created. The present one is in China.

Our 19th century ancestors understood this well, and they responded by minting a small coin that was to become the mighty pound Sterling of the Gold Standard. Its purchasing power actually increased, during the 100 years to 1914.

US economist Judy Shelton has suggested that the US Treasury should take a small step in the right direction by making a limited issue of gold-backed notes. While in the short term this will not happen, in my view she is correct in believing that the key to recovery is sound money.

From: Simon Curtis, Gargrave, Skipton.

How refreshing to hear a politician talking some sense for once. I refer to the splendid article written by Austin Mitchell (Yorkshire Post, January 16) regarding the decline of manufacturing in this

country.

It was refreshing as well as a relief to hear someone else holding my own strongly held views on the subject, despite it coming from a member of the Labour Party.

Recent governments have put their collective "heads in the sand" and ignored the basic principles of economics. You either have to grow or make something to fund an economy for the longer term and for far too long we have lived in the never-never land of an economy that is

reliant on invisibles.

Textile manufacturing is one example of our willingness to turn our backs on an industry that employed a large number of skilled people whose reputation was the envy of the world. I suspect all manufacturing was simply not "sexy" enough for the City Wonderboys and look where that has taken us.

Three cheers for Mr Mitchell and let's hope the Opposition takes note.

If we all pitched in...

From: Dorothy Cope, Beckwithshaw, Harrogate.

WE see such a lot of interesting and sensible letters published in the Yorkshire Post. Barrie Frost (January 1) with excellent suggestions for New Year resolutions and John Weldon (January 9) on Labour peers, and yet none of the common sense shown seems to reach our MPs.

The present two generations, including politicians, have never known real hardship. In the Second World War, when Great Britain fought on alone, we had our backs to the wall. Everyone, whether in uniform or not, did their share.

Food was rationed, there were dried eggs, 2oz butter a week and 11 old pence of meat a week, etc. Fuel shortage, clothes rationing, no television, no mobile phones, overseas letters taking five or six weeks, total blackout, no street lights. Snow and frost far worse than this month.

In spite of everything people struggled to work, and so many gave their young lives, especially aircrew often killed on their first mission. We all fought for our lives and Great Britain and to keep our precious freedom.

It is only when the people of this once great country realise how much better it could be for us all, if we all pitched in and got rid of this nanny state and made a real effort to put the Great back into Britain.

City of wealth and wonder

From: Paul Stephenson, Cliffe Gardens, Shipley, West Yorkshire.

IN 1910, Bradford was the wealthiest city in Great Britain and one of the wealthiest in Europe, and this type of quality, even with the declining wool trade continued until about the early '70s. Its shops and services (transport, police, water, etc) were second to none.

Over the last decade or so, it has really gone downhill. The

destruction of the Broadway shops without a guarantee of a replacement, the proposed loss of the Odeon (Gaumont, New Victoria) building, the Odsal Superdome that never happened, etc.

There's hardly a decent shop left and shoppers will now go to Halifax, Huddersfield, Keighley, Harrogate and Leeds, of course, before Bradford.

Looking at the magnificent Bradford City Hall with its Florentine clock tower evokes memories of its once great past and the aldermen, ie businessmen, who built and controlled the city's affairs. Whoever would have thought it would have descended into the present state?

Sad indeed.

Concern over plans for building societies to merge

From: Roland Baker, Repton Close, Luton.

WE still do not seem to be getting much debate on the merger of the Yorkshire Building Society and the Chelsea, but I note that the Office of Fair Trading has approved it.

While you say (Yorkshire Post, January 14) that the members of YBS still have to vote on it, I think your headline was meant to say that the OFT will not object to the YBS-Chelsea merger on competition grounds alone if both societies vote for it.

The competition considerations are the least of anyone's woes. If the Chelsea's board thought that members of the Chelsea would have the best future trading independently, they would be duty bound to recommend the members to do that.

The OFT would not be involved in approving a decision to cease to trade on competition grounds. It cannot force a business to carry on, if it is not fully viable, and make losses to ensure competition.

The risks are regulatory, macroprudential and commercial. Commercially, cannibalisation of the YBS brand must be on the cards. Chelsea members have had interest rates related to their risks but, when the risks have happened, been bailed out by the YBS so they have had interest but no risk and do not have to pay any of the interest rate back.

So, if the merger is approved, I will move my money from the YBS to the Chelsea and hedge my bets by moving a bit to the Barnsley as well. Sadly, this does not fulfil the obligation of YBS to treat its

customers fairly and it creates significant moral hazard while losing the YBS money.

Life of a true gentleman

From: John BS Nicholson, St Eulalia de Vallcanero, Girons, Spain.

The celebrated heart surgeon, Geoffrey Wooler (Yorkshire Post, January 8) saved my father's life in Cassino, he was also very kind to me.

I last met him in Leyburn Market 20 years ago when he recognised me from the days my father did work for him at West Burton, but I remember his splendid Sunbeam Talbot 90.

A true gentleman who saved the life of President Tito and prevented mayhem in the Balkans.

May I refer also to the obituaries for Gordon and Sheila Kirk (January 16). The Kirks were magnificent friends at Roundhay Rugby Club at Chandos Gardens, where Gordon "held court", swinging around a cloud of smoke and ash to make his point.

Only he, along with Sheila, could have a funeral at Roundhay Methodist Church and a wake at West Park Leeds Rugby Club at Bramhope. I wish I could be there.

Universities' vital research role

From: Dr K Swann, Senior Research Fellow Emeritus, Bradford University, Summerdale, Gomersal, Cleckheaton.

YOUR editorial "University blues" (Yorkshire Post, January 11)

detailing the possibility of the Government reducing the funding for our leading universities is an amazing proposal.

This is at a time when Barack Obama makes the commitment to the United States that they will be the world leader in technology as recorded in his recent books: The Audacity of Hope and Change We Can Believe In.

Mr Obama recognises the competition of China, Japan and India and we should, bearing our special relationship with the US, recognise the increasing need for research at our leading universities who should be at the forefront of research to strengthen our future economic

structure.

Making a meal of TV coverage

From Terry Duncan, Greame Road, Bridlington.

WOULD it not be of some interest to TV viewers if they were told how correspondents, their crews and presumably their directors and producers, live and eat while covering the likes of the Haiti disaster, while millions are starving and going thirsty, are dying and lying injured just a few miles away?

And, are the TV companies' aircraft flying without supplies or medical equipment, or taking up valuable airport space?