Wednesday's Letters: Time now to focus on Leeds Met's successes

I was fortunate enough to be an apprenticed journalist during the days when two famed investigative journalists were at the height of their writing craft, Harold (Harry) Evans at the Sunday Times on the

Thalidomide scandal and the late great James Cameron's reporting on the Vietnam War.

But I would ask that we now move on from this debacle and focus on why Leeds Metropolitan University is in business – teaching the future stars of tomorrow.

I work both in the private and public sector, as an associate senior lecturer in the Faculty of Business and Law at Leeds Met and as the global media relations manager for a worldwide Scandinavian shipping and logistics company.

Let's not saddle Leeds Met students graduating this summer with the disgrace of our recent failings for which their architect is well off the scene. I am not asking the Yorkshire Post to talk up the university. That would be crass, but I am asking you to think of the students leaving in June who need support to secure jobs in what is a very tough business climate.

I've been both a union leader and a managing director of a company and am proud to be associated with a university that is producing some of the best talent I have seen in my 42 years in business.

Many of our undergraduates, especially in Leeds Business School, are being applauded for the "outstanding contribution" they are making to business during their placement year out.

It's not me saying this but the senior executives of FTSE 100 companies and global brand leaders who employ these students.

Leeds Metropolitan is a leading university in many disciplines, so let's now focus on its successes rather than damn it for what it was.

From: Robert Minton-Taylor, Meadow Lane, Cononley, Keighley.

Editor's note

The Yorkshire Post investigation has focused on the profligate and, in some cases, uncontrolled spending of public money by Leeds Met.

The efforts of the students have never been called into question – the emphasis has remained on the hierarchy of the university.

The former vice-chancellor, Simon Lee, has left Leeds Met and the governors' chairman, Ninian Watt, is due to leave in the summer.

The remaining members of the governing body, who controversially approved a payment system for themselves while overseeing this embarrassing chapter in Leeds Met's history, are still in place.

A three horse race that could be won

From: JG Riseley, Harcourt Drive, Harrogate.

SOME readers may recall the classic party political broadcast in which John Cleese sought to counter the mind-set "I won't vote for that party because they can't win" with the very straightforward argument that actually, if people vote for them, they can win.

How different the Liberal Democrats' message is now in Harrogate and Knaresborough, and no doubt in other constituencies where they are front runners.

The party line here is don't waste your vote on the also-rans, with a helpful picture of two racehorses for those who find difficulty with words.

Perhaps the old idealism lives on in those seats where the Lib Dems

trail in third place.

In that case, it may be an important central office role to ensure that literature for different constituencies doesn't get mixed up.

From: Tim Mickleburgh, Littlefield Lane, Grimsby.

NICK Clegg wants to be careful about what he says in connection with the Liberal Democrats doing any kind of deal with either the Labour or Conservative parties.

In fact, he should leave all his options open until he knows what the result of the General Election is.

He must also remember that if he enters into a formal pact, he will almost certainly ensure the Government has the backing of over half of the electorate. This would certainly legitimise any such arrangement.

From: Barbara Stark, Ridgestone Avenue, Bilton, Hull.

WHILE Nick Clegg basks in his new found popularity, let's not forget that the leaders of all the other parties, particularly Ukip who came second in the European elections, were denied the privilege of prime time air time during the recent TV debates. How grossly unfair is that?

Let's not forget that Nick Clegg and his Liberal Democrats are pro the European Union. A stance that does not reflect the democratic wishes of the people, most of whom wish for a much reformed EU or to come out altogether.

Let's also not forget that at the last general election, the Liberal Democrats promised to support a referendum on the EU Constitution.

From: Peter Asquith-Cowen, First Lane, Anlaby, Hull.

I HAVE listened carefully to all of David Cameron's remarks about education (Yorkshire Post, April 26). I watched both him and Nick Clegg being interviewed and have come away with this conclusion.

Why cannot the Lib Dems win an outright victory?

Why do the pundits on TV and in the press keep pushing the idea that the outcome of the election can only be a "hung" or "balanced" Parliament?

I think the public do want change. Mr Clegg's vision is clear and well-expressed. I think the only error the Tories seem to be making is this absurd idea of people running their own schools. The public haven't got the time.

This is why we have government.

Leeds missed out on trams

From: Paul Kirby, The Chase, Wetherby.

LAST weekend, I had the chance to discover yet another city with a

better transport system than Leeds. It has less than half the

population of Leeds yet boasts an infrastructure to dream about. It is Nottingham, where the Bus Users UK AGM was held.

The city has an excellent tram system – Leeds missed the boat on that one so you might expect they would excel in other areas, like electronic displays. You would be wrong. Nottingham has a comprehensive city-wide real-time information system at most stops. Metro and First buses axed the last of the Leeds NightRider services 12 months ago after years of slow painful cuts and no publicising of the three remaining services.

Nottingham has eight weekend night bus routes going to all parts of the city at a cost of only 2 per journey. And during the week, their buses leave the city at midnight. For a supposedly happening city like Leeds, with its thriving night life, to have no night buses (except for

students in Headingley) is a disgrace.

It goes without saying that Nottingham has bus numbers on their bus stops. Metro took theirs off in 2003 because they simply could not be bothered to keep them up-to-date.

Council has little interest in public transport

From: Douglas Hartley, Irving Terrace, Clayton, Bradford.

THERE have been several letters advocating a through railway line for Bradford; instead of the existing stations, a central one with a bus interchange, a viaduct would need to be built, having a long gradient northwards, possibly as far as the former Manningham station.

The present interchange is a long way from the top of the town shopping area – too far for those with loaded shopping trolleys and those travelling to and from work.

The Tyrls and Channing Way have acted as a virtual central bus station, providing staging posts for buses serving many out-districts.

But this stretch of road is to be closed, to make way for a "stunning" mirror pool – what remains of Will Alsop's "masterplan" great lake, intended to surround City Hall, which the council once enthused over.

These many staging posts will have to be re-located. Sunbridge Road, Bridge Street and Market Street are already lined with bus shelters and filled with buses manoeuvring for space. There will be more congestion on these already crowded streets.

It seems that the council has little interest in public transport. The "stunning" pool, target for litter droppers, and unwanted by the majority of Bradford folk, is their main concern.

As for the 24m City Park: land to the west of City Hall, the site of

the old police HQ, could have been planted with grass, shrubs, trees

and flower beds, and furnished with seating. The Bradford Parks and Gardens Department could have planned and executed this, at a fraction of the cost we are paying to outside contractors.

Those contractors are just now excavating around Centenary Square and laying a network of huge diameter iron pipes to supply the "mirror puddle". Since Alsop was employed as consultant, the now defunct Bradford Centre Regeneration, and our leading councillors, have been water-obsessed. Bradford's rail connections would interest them not at all.

With regard to public transport, I should like to congratulate Metro. Apparently, at every single bus stop throughout Bradford, a metal-framed, glazed timetable has been installed.

Thanks to efficient airline

From: Jean Northrop, Hough Top, Bramley, Leeds.

I WOULD like through the Yorkshire Post to thank Jet2 for the excellent, efficient way we were flown back to the UK within a few

hours of the airspace being lifted.

At 9am on Wednesday, April 21 in a deserted Palma airport, the only action being Jet2, and there on the runway was a fleet of Jet2 planes. What a welcome sight! The many staff were helpful and efficient and when we were eventually seated on the aircraft, iced water was served.

I will remember this when booking my future flights.

Namesake's procession

From: Andrew Tulloch, Topcliffe Road, Thirsk.

YOUR readers may have wondered who the boy sitting next to the Archbishop of York (Yorkshire Post, April 26) was, and what he was

doing at the Pilgrims' progress to Rievaulx celebration.

The boy is our nine-year-old son Aelred who attends All Saints Primary in Thirsk and was chosen to lead the procession because it was his namesake's celebration. Aelred thoroughly enjoyed the event – and the cream tea afterwards.

Centre a lifeline for the elderly

From: Mrs M Davies, High Bank Approach, Leeds.

IT appears likely that Leeds Adult Social Care may decide to withdraw the funding they gave us here in Crossgates for the Crossgates Good Neighbours Centre.

This centre is a lifeline for the elderly, some of whom are in their late 70s and 80s.

A natter and a cup of tea with like-minded friends is a bright spot in a lonely week. Please help to keep up the good work in this community.

If it goes, it will be sorely missed.

A question of identity

From: R Potter, Low Lane, Grassington, Skipton, North Yorkshire.

WITH regard to the article on France's ban the burka policy (Yorkshire Post, April 22), could someone from our police constabulary please clarify/explain the position in law, if someone wearing a burka breaks the law in some way (eg driving), but cannot be properly identified?