Why HS2 and wind farms hasten Britain’s moral decline

HAVING read the excellent letter from John Watson (Yorkshire Post, November 6) on the moral decline of the UK, one must ask who is responsible for this serious situation.

There is no easy or straightforward answer for we are all in some part responsible for the mess that we are in, but the politicians must take the most flack and blame for overseeing the decline of our once admired educational system, overspending and misuse of public funds on schemes such as HS2, useless wind turbines, lack of foresight in ensuring that the UK has a secure and efficient nuclear power base and most importantly passing our independence to the undemocratic and bureaucratic EU super state.

Meanwhile our politicians turn a blind eye to issues such as the Plebgate affair, phone hacking, rising crime, and the economy.

Witness the latest diatribe from Ed Balls pontificating to the CBI, Miliband, and Dave Cameron constantly lecturing us all about how GB is so great when it is in slow decline.

Surely the answer lies with we the electorate to get involved in politics and re-elect people who have something positive to offer based on actual experience of business and commerce instead of career politicians.

From: Brian Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.

JOHN Watson appears to recall a golden age when “this once great country of ours” was defined by its high moral standards (Yorkshire Post, November 6).

Does he really believe that before the availability of pornography online there were no precocious children capable of behaviour of the most appalling depravity, or that young children were not abused daily and that pregnancy among young girls was not an issue?

Paedophilia, incest and abortion all took place en cachette, an expression the French use to describe village transgressions committed on the quiet. Swearing was endemic in industrial areas but the female ear needed to be protected from it. This brings me to the sexism in Mr Watson’s letter. He can “laugh at a dirty joke as much as the next man”. What of the next woman? How patronising. The husband of these good old days would be squandering his hard-earned wages “down the pub” while his wife was slaving away at home craving for a divorce that would never happen because that was not the done thing. And who is Mr Watson to decide what “should be private and what should be for universal perusal”?

Nor can your correspondent resist another dig at homosexuals. I stoop to no-one in sneering at the ludicrous soap Downton Abbey but why should anyone who admits he doesn’t watch the programme want to complain about the proposed introduction of a gay story line?

Heaven knows there is 
much to be ashamed of about modern Britain but surely we are now much more civilised in terms of our treatment of 
women, and of minorities and bringing to light the horrors that have been going on behind closed doors.

Times have changed in our lifetimes and Mr Watson really needs to get over it.