YP Letters: Fond memory of bygone rugby days

MEMORIES indeed of the old Rugby Stand (The Yorkshire Post, April 14) at Headingley.

Another endearing memory springs to mind – shared by many others no doubt – of the scantily-clad waitresses expertly negotiating steps and rows of spectators to deliver trays of beer.

The highlight being when they elegantly climbed the ladders up the TV gantries to quench the thirst of the grateful cameramen.

No mean feat with tray in one hand and the other holding on. And not a drop spilt! Huge cheers, and I daresay, exciting action on the field being missed. Ah! Happy days.

Regional variations

From: Brian H Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.

I WAS interested in Peter Hyde’s comments on the difference in the dialects of the three Ridings (The Yorkshire Post, April 12). As a native of South Yorkshire in the West Riding I find little difference in accent and dialect of, say, Halifax and South Yorkshire.

I find North and East Yorkshire speech patterns very different from ours with terms such as ‘butler’, ‘dub’, ‘lunt’ and ‘slaphole’ equally incomprehensible.

Finally I can’t help quoting a letter from a lady from Hull to another newspaper.

She wrote: “People say we Hull folk talk funny but I aren’t bothered.”

More to life lived offline

From: A Hague, Bellbrooke Grove, Harehills, Leeds.

SO Leeds City Council is trying to persuade our elderly to improve their digital skills.

It’s time they realised that many of them (like myself) just want to be left alone and do what they like best, like reading, writing and climbing or going on walks to keep fit. There is more to life than gossiping all day on mobiles so leave us alone.

Student loan pledge flawed

From: Nigel Boddy, Fife Road, Darlington.

Now we see Jeremy Corbyn hinting at a policy of a free university education in England and a major national newspaper saying this would cost £10bn.

When the SNP introduced free university education in Scotland in 2007, am I right in thinking they wrote off student debt?

When I worked for the Student Loan Company up until a year ago we were told the student loan book was the government’s biggest asset and was worth £90bn.

A small proportion of that was loaned to EU students.

So does Mr Corbyn intend we should not abolish student debt in England but just fund future English students with grants and free university tuition moving forward?

Or has that major national newspaper miscalculated the cost by 800 per cent? Were we as employees of the SLC misinformed? Or is Mr Corbyn only doing half the job?

In the 1997 election campaign Tony Blair allowed people to run away with the idea Labour would not introduce university tuition fees.

Then Labour came to power adopted Tory spending plans for their first two years and used this as the reason why university tuition fees were introduced.

Is Corbyn dangling that same carrot in the hope of outflanking the Greens, taking their seat in Brighton Pavilion and seeing off their challenge in Bristol West, Sheffield Central, Bath and the Isle of Wight or does he mean it?

We’ve been up this garden path with Labour already once before.

Vote based on gut instinct

From: Karl Sheridan, Selby Road, Holme on Spalding Moor

It’s not often that I actively listen to any of Tony Blair’s ramblings, having been thoroughly disillusioned by both his term in power and the damage he did to Labour’s image. However listening to his take on the snap general election taking place and his comments regarding Brexit, I found to my dismay that he did actually make a sensible point regarding our leaving the EU.

The electorate’s vote was based purely on spin and rhetoric from both sides – none of us knew the true facts because there has been no comparison in our history of politics and so most of us voted from a gut reaction.

Too many migrants being allowed in; our laws are being made in Brussels, foreigners taking our jobs etc, swayed some voters to vote leave. Alternatively, the fear of losing our jobs, the financial sector deserting us, the fear of companies relocating abroad swayed those doubters to vote to stay.

However as Tony Blair pointed out, Theresa May and some of the Conservatives are intent to deliver Brexit at whatever cost. Quite sensibly he explained that we the electorate should be given a final say in that if the severance is going to mean pain and hardship for us all, and even a more severe economic turndown, then the population of the UK should be allowed to have the final say as whether we stay or go.

In other words another referendum on the final outcome – but this time round we would be in a better position to make an informed decision given that we would then have all of the true facts and not merely pie-in-the-sky supposition as we had before.