YP Letters: We should shout about our free society

From: Richard Wimpenny, Huddersfield.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid has announced a new strategy to fight extremism.Home Secretary Sajid Javid has announced a new strategy to fight extremism.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid has announced a new strategy to fight extremism.

SOFIA Mahmood’s column on violent extremism (The Yorkshire Post, June 4) really is monumental nonsense.

To suggest that the young, dissatisfied and vulnerable are potential terrorists is an insult to the millions of youngsters who have grown up in disadvantaged circumstances since time immemorial without seeking violence on others.

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And apart from the Islamic jihadists, who are the other extremist groups queuing up to slaughter men, women and young girls?

The facts are very simple. Islam claims to be the one true religion. Unbelievers are the enemies of Allah and should be treated as such.

Thank goodness millions of Muslims worldwide, and particularly those who have come to the West, wish to be at peace and enjoy the benefits of living in a free democratic society where they have the right to worship as they see fit.

The vast majority still wish to recognise their cultural heritage, but have no desire to murder their fellow human beings on instructions drawn up almost 1,500 years ago.

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But this does not alter the fact that violence is carried out in the name of Islam not by a few extremists but by some of the people who would consider themselves the most devout on the planet. Suicide bombers have no political agenda, other than carrying out the wishes of Allah, and booking themselves a place in paradise.

There are many devout Muslims, and the more devout they are the greater the danger. Until this simple fact is recognised by our leaders, who should be shouting from the rooftops the advantages of living in a free society instead of forever apologising for perceived failures, we shall never get to grips with the problem.

Bird site lifted our spirits

From: Mrs W R Cross, Beverley.

IT was frustrating to read your item about the closure by East Riding of Yorkshire Council of the bird feeding site at Goodmanham alongside the disused railway line (The Yorkshire Post, May 7). It was not, as printed, in ‘Goodmanham village’, but about a mile from there, with habitation not even close.

The proposed cemetery replacement site on Londesborough Road has been sanctioned, despite rats being said to be present where birds are fed. It is very close to housing. It has been good to see that your paper has consistently been concerned about loneliness in society; at the dell which was suddenly closed in February, people met, filled the feeders, talked, saw a great variety of birds (some on the endangered list) and had their spirits lifted. Densely planted hawthorns now prevent access.

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I suspect that the council does not intend to feed the birds at the two new sites. It will probably not allow the public to do so either. Birds will not come to sites where no food is served.

You say that Patrick Wharam, council ‘countryside access manager, is ‘delighted’ with the way things have gone. We will see. I feel his title is a misnomer.

The South-East must come first

From: Coun Tim Mickleburgh (Lab), Boulevard Avenue, Grimsby.

A DAY or so after as you highlight transport failings in the North comes the announcement of a third runway for Heathrow (The Yorkshire Post, June 6).

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This really does show the bias in the Government’s priorities. If you want to develop air travel (and in these days of Skype and video-conferences we ought to be discouraging this environmentally unfriendly way of getting from A to B), then it makes sense to use the spare capacity of regional airports and ensure they have good rail links.

No, under Theresa May, London and the South-East must always come first.

Reverse cuts to general practice

From: Dr Richard Vautrey, BMA GP committee chair, Leeds.

WE have seen the devastating effect of practice closures over the last few years, with more than a million patients displaced since 2013 (The Yorkshire Post, June 8). Patients already face unacceptably long waits for appointments, and without urgent Government action and significantly more investment, this will only get worse as millions more are left without a practice and struggling to find a new one.

The Prime Minister has pledged to lay out a long-term funding plan for the NHS later this year, and she must use this opportunity to tackle the decade of under-investment in general practice.

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General practice has been the foundation of the NHS for the last 70 years. It’s time the Government takes urgent action to guarantee its future for the next 70 years and more.

We want Tour

From: Dave Ellis, Magdalen Lane, Hedon.

SURELY it is time that South Holderness hosted the Tour de Yorkshire, which increases footfall in towns and villages and brings the communities together.

We have beautiful villages, Keyingham and Patrington, and towns Hedon and Withernsea, to mention just a few of the forgotten communities on the east side of Hull.

Superb grant

From: Max Nottingham, St Faith’s Street, Lincoln.

BBC TV’s A Very English Scandal about Jeremy Thorpe was a cracking series which will win many awards.

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Hugh Grant’s portrayal of Thorpe was superb, not to say masterful. It took Grant’s acting to another level.

The series meant more to people who were old enough to have lived through the original political drama and trial.