Where were Hamzah’s protectors?

Bill Carmichael (Yorkshire Post, October 4) says that Barack Obama has laid off 800.000 non-essential workers in the US and asks why, if they are non-essential, they are there in the first place?

I wonder how many of the staff in the social services in Bradford consider themselves to be non-essential.

It appears to me to be quite a few, having read all the horrific details of the death of young Hamzah Khan.

It seems the mother had other children existing in the house while she spent all her benefit 
on vodka.

I can’t believe that something like that could happen in this country in the 21st century.Where were the social workers, the teachers, the medics and, of course, the neighbours? Someone, somewhere, has to be held responsible for this state of affairs.

There will now be a lull before the next case of child abuse hits the headlines and the spokesman for the relevant authority will appear on TV absolving his staff from any neglect and blaming Government cuts and a shortage of staff.

When I read what some of our local government workers are earning, especially those at the top, I despair. In cases like this, they are obviously not doing what they are paid to do.

From: David Quarrie, Lynden Way, Holgate, York.

every time these terrible crimes against children occur, someone in “authority” says: “It must never happen again.”

But it always does and in many cases the crimes are even more horrendous than the previous ones.

This appalling situation will continue until social workers have the power and legal backing to remove any child who they feel is in immediate danger or very soon will be in a very serious situation.

Also those who commit and/or assist in these barbaric acts of cruelty, neglect, sexual and/or physical abuse, should be put to death.

Until our laws are changed to properly reflect the awfulness of these crimes against babies, kids, little and big, young and old children, this ever increasing evil will only escalate.

We have pussy-footed around for far too long.

From: Hilary Andrews, Wentworth Court, Nursery Lane, Leeds.

Yet another serious case review following the death of Hamzah Khan.

How many have we had in the last few years and what have they achieved?

Wouldn’t it be better to spend the money it costs for these reviews on more social workers or other agencies that should be taking care of our children if their parents are unfit?

Amazed by
HS2 claims

From: Dr David Hill, Chief executive, World Innovation Foundation, Huddersfield.

I WAS quite amazed by Bridget Rosewell’s statement to the Conservative Party on the economic benefits of HS2 (Yorkshire Post, October 3).

Not for her maths, but for 
her ability to predict that HS2 would not produce the £15bn a year boost to the economy 
that KPMG predicts in its Government report, but £18.75bn per annum.

That’s an £18.75bn profit on a mere £50bn investment and just does not ring true. Or is it just me?

As an economist, she will know that there is only one economic pie and if you take from one part somewhere, someone else suffers.

Therefore she must be aware of things that we do not know and that the UK is going to increase its trade in real terms, but where? I cannot fathom that one out and many more cannot either.

The reason is because for an economy to increase in “real” terms there must be the emergence of a new industry, 
not just take from another part of the economy, adding jobs here and taking them away somewhere else. Therefore, if what Ms Rosewell states is correct, what new industry is going to emerge?

Brand of news
we don’t want

From: Graham Branston, Emmott Drive, Rawdon.

THE furore around Geoffrey Levy’s article in the Daily Mail about Ed Miliband’s father Ralph is both predictable and, in my view, a brand of journalism we neither need nor want.

His sons must be understandably livid with the headline stating that Ralph Miliband “hated Britain”.

As a Marxist academic, it seems he had firm views about capitalist economies and also about the strong nationalism he found in Britain.

Many other academics at the time were also supporters of Karl Marx’s ideology.

However, this does not mean they hated Britain and Ralph did serve for several years in the Royal Navy during the Second World War.

Maybe they wanted to change the economic and political structure, but for me they needed to accept the radical socio-economic changes that have occurred since the grossly exploitative days when Marx was alive.

The bottom line is that Ralph cannot defend the assertion against him and of course 
Levy’s article quite rightly 
has led to Ed Miliband 
expressing concern about 
the Daily Mail’s brand of journalism.