YP Letters: A Churchill is needed for tough times

From: Paul Rouse, Main Street, Sutton upon Derwent, York.
Theresa May's Chequers summit ended with the resignations of David Davis and Boris Johnson.Theresa May's Chequers summit ended with the resignations of David Davis and Boris Johnson.
Theresa May's Chequers summit ended with the resignations of David Davis and Boris Johnson.

I NEED to stop following the news, it is so depressing.

Our elected representatives are acting like petulant children. Those who ‘lost’ the Brexit vote are doing everything they can to ensure we will not have a deal with the EU before we leave.

Those who ‘won’ the Brexit vote, and were tasked with negotiating the terms of our departure, have spit out their dummies because the Prime Minister imposed an unelected ‘advisor’ on them who came up with a policy they disapprove of.

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Theresa May’s judgement is called into question yet again, as she obviously failed to learn the lessons from her previous advisor-led disaster, which lost her working majority in a futile bid to attract younger voters and left her Government dependent on the support of a bunch of people who cannot even make their own Parliament work.

The far-left Mayor of London approved a large balloon which will provide a photo opportunity for every anti-British media outlet in the world and antagonised the leader of the United States of America, our most important ally and a country who we desperately need to do an advantageous trade deal with after Brexit.

In the midst of all this, and in an attempt to curry favour with the public, Mrs May has decided to pour money we don’t have into the NHS, seemingly without insisting on any further efficiency savings when there is, I believe, at least £1bn worth of such savings to be had.

The Europeans will be laughing at us until they remember that no deal with the UK will also cost them dear, whereas our own population seem more interested in the World Cup and Love Island than in mundane matters such as the prosperity of their own country. Because, that is what’s at stake. We are being badly served by those we elected to run our country, and we should be doing something about it. The situation is serious enough for an all-party coalition, or national government, similar to that we had in the Second World War. But, where we find a Winston Churchill this time, I have no idea.

A grouse over the shooters

From: CG Boddy, Springfield Lane, Kirkbymoorside, York.

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I READ with interest Adrian Blackmore’s article ‘Give gamekeepers credit for vital work’ (The Yorkshire Post, July 10). They do deserve credit but may I just mention another side of the story.

In 1976, the hottest summer I can remember, the North York Moors burnt from July to September and we firemen were stretched to the very limit.

Initially we had help from the gamekeepers but with the arrival of the Glorious Twelfth the keepers of all the shooting estates disappeared.

We still had help from the National Park wardens, the Forestry Commission and Teesside Volunteers but the grouse shooting just went on around us firemen. That summer on Wheeldale Moor due to a change in wind direction the Forestry Commission’s Green Goddess fire engine was burnt out and we (Kirkbymoorside B5 Station) saved our vehicle just in time. It did strike me at the time that grouse shooting certainly took precedence over moor fires.

Speak out on fracking issue

From: Julian Sturdy, Conservative MP for York Outer.

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IT is good to hear that the consultation on potential changes to local planning powers on fracking will open soon. I urge all interested local residents in York Outer to respond to it, so that their views can contribute to the decision-making process on this.

However, I would have liked to hear a clearer statement from the Government that local authorities should feel free to reject fracking applications if they are not supported by the local community.

I will be holding the Government to account on the Minister’s statement that fracking planning decisions have to be fair and respect local communities and the environment. In many cases, this may mean allowing local councils to reject or restrict fracking applications, and I will continue to make very clear to the Government that these local decisions have to be respected. I remain opposed to changing planning rules to classify early non-fracking stages of shale development as permitted development, and told the Government this as early as summer 2017.

Please rethink A&E plans

From: Jean Lorriman, Press Officer, Huddersfield Over Fifties Forum.

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I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with Thelma Walker MP and hope Matt Hancock, the new Health Secretary, will look again at the plans to downgrade Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

Jeremy Hunt was weakening and I think it was dawning on him what a ghastly proposition the move would be! I heard the news of Hunt’s departure ironically when l was on ward nine – a surgical ward – where my treatment was superb. The bunting on the ward celebrating 70 years of the NHS, and the wonderful work of staff, would have made Nye Bevan proud. Huddersfield needs its own hospital and A&E!

Man of honour

From: John Taylor, Steep Lane, Sowerby.

LISTENING to the obituary of Lord Carrington, one sensed a man of dignity and a sense of responsibility. I started to realise how far the standards of those in public office today have lapsed.

Lord Carrington, as the responsible Minister of State who failed to foresee the Falklands invasion, subsequently resigned. It later transpired that he was not directly to blame. As against our current Transport Secretary who seems to be responsible for nothing and in denial of everything.