Will cuts hit our response to crisis?

IN almost every edition of the Yorkshire Post in recent times, I read articles concerning cuts or changes in emergency services because of the lack of adequate funding, whether it be to the police, fire service, Enviroment Agency, NHS or local authorities (Tom Richmond, Yorkshire Post, December 1).

All of these as far as I can tell have responded exceedingly well to the two major cross-county and nationwide floods we have all experienced recently.

I know as a nation we always respond well in a crisis but I do begin to wonder if these emergency services will be in such quantity and strength to help when called upon as they have in recent days once the cuts have bitten.

The Government, when the floods are shown in the media, are full of promises and words but it is only through action on the ground and money provided will problems be overcome. I know we are in a period of financial recession and we all must accept our fair share, but the point is what is fair? I am sure the man in the street knows where he would wish for funds to be provided and not cut.

We can make our wishes known and hope that sense prevails.

Choppy seas for NHS trust

From: Tony Flanagan, Mallorie Close, Ripon.

HEALTH overlord Kevin McAleese chastises this newspaper (Yorkshire Post, November 28) for stating that NHS North Yorkshire and York is “going down like the Titanic” with the departure of three senior directors.

As chairman of that body and a former Merchant Navy navigator, he objects to the expression that they have “jumped ship”.

On the other hand, while Kevin was struggling manfully at the wheel, perhaps his shipmates were peering nervously from the crow’s nest at the breakers beyond his horizon.

We’ll pay price for drink law

From: Peter Bye, Park Crescent, Addingham.

THE increased cost of alcohol will certainly reduce the consumption of legally purchased drinks, but unfortunately it will not reduce the consumption of alcohol In fact it may increase it.

Smugglers, for want of a better name, will view this as a huge opportunity to illegally import even greater amounts and will probably need larger vehicles as a consequence.. Good for commercial vehicle manufactures. Those who in their thousands distill their own spirits will need larger stills and need to purchase more grain. Good for the farmers. So how will this improve our city centres? The answer is it won’t. So what will?

The old offences of Found Drunk and Drunk and Disorderly could be once again be the ideal solution to restoring law and order to our cities,with some additions.There must be a calculable cost of policing, arresting,charging, accommodation and court appearance fees. Let’s say £750 as a “standing charge”. Therefore let’s imagine the standing charge becoming an “arrest fee” [whatever the cost may be] with an additional fine on top. Subsequent arrests for these offences would involve the “arrest fee” increasing by multiples.

Would this clean up our city centres? Yes of course it would. An additional benefit is that it would produce more direct income for police authorities to assist in policing the streets and keeping citizens safe,which is what they were supposed to be doing in the first place.

Political will is another matter, and the prospect of taking even more tax from law abiding citizens is far more attractive to using brains and guts to resolve a difficult situation.

A minor concern

From: Cecil Hallas, Cubley Rise Road, Penistone, Sheffield.

WHAT’S all this fuss about gay marriage? Most of the weddings I’ve attended throughout my many decades have been gay, with the odd exception of course where tipsy relations have been at one another’s throats however, I’ve been told that I’m old fashioned and that gay no more means the lively, cheerful, merry individual described in my dictionary and that if today I say that I feel rather gay, I might be looked at in a rather peculiar way, so I have to be careful.

I’m also old fashioned enough to think that marriage is between a man and a woman, the procreation of children, all that stuff. But why this obsession with sexuality? Sexuality’s only a part of the individual’s make up (“He’s gay, you know, but having said that he’s a good chap.”) We’re all different, thank God, and all part of the odd mixture that makes up the human race.

If statisticians are to be believed, somewhere in the region of three per cent of the population are gay. Out of this group it can safely be assumed that many couldn’t care less about marriage, as is the case for non-gay people.

So why this huge controversy 
by the Church, politicians and 
the media about something which perhaps involves one in 100 people?

This campaign has received far more publicity than the subject merits. We are being stampeded into something few people want and in which many are simply not interested.

It is yet another example of how the few trumpeters under the “equality” banner have rallied the nation to what in reality is a very minor issue.