YP Letters: Bikes were there before motor car

OH dear, my advocacy of cycling has hit a raw nerve with your correspondent Hugh Rogers (The Yorkshire Post, May 11).

I will not argue with his tetchy response, except to say that of course I would not attempt to cycle along the M1 – it’s not allowed. Regarding general highway access, I would draw attention to the Cyclists’ Touring Club, of which I am one of 67,000 members and which must be the oldest organisation representing road users.

It can trace its origins back to 1878 and was lobbying for highway improvements long before the infernal combustion engine arrived on the scene.

As such I would say that, whether by law or not, we cyclists have a prior claim to road space over motorists who are the Johnny-come-latelys.

There were places – think of York and Hull at the start and end of the working day – where cyclists were a force to be reckoned with on the streets.

There is no reason why their presence should no longer be acceptable and they should be given their due respect.

Of course, this will stretch the tolerance of those of the Jeremy Clarkson way of thinking.

Decline of Westminster

From: Richard Carter, Leader, Yorkshire First, Meltham.

THE recent elections are yet another sign that the old politics is dying. People are becoming more and more disillusioned with the two main parties, and are seeing that there are alternatives out there.

They are also seeing that fair voting in Scotland, Wales, and London is giving different outcomes to the tired old system with all power being sucked up to Westminster. In those parts of the UK with their own government, it is interesting to see that they can decide on issues, such as fracking.

Wouldn’t it be great for Yorkshire to have the powers to make a difference to the people of our great region too?

BBC failure over Games

From: Ian Smith, Bradford.

IT’S a real shame that BBC managers and producers decided not to devote additional time to showing more Invictus Games action.

Out of four and a half hours of fairly good TV, only one and a quarter hours – and that’s being generous – covered action during the five-day event. Fine coverage of background information – stories, interviews and explanations; no criticism of that, but where was the action?

The athletes committed themselves to hours, days, weeks, months and, in most cases, years of effort.

Was it not disrespectful of BBC management to commit only one quarter of TV air time to showing and proving their tremendous skills and competitive abilities?

BBC programme makers do not cover enough sport as it is -–apart from the footie fanatics – and when there’s an opportunity to do good all round, they even ignore that.

Four days of competitive sport – so at least two more hours devoted entirely to the action next time around please.

Cheques and balance

From: Martin Fletcher, Thorpe Hesley, South Yorkshire.

I HAVE some sympathy with Mr Round (The Yorkshire Post, May 14). I suspect that he does not like direct debits either and moans at the extra cost for letters and cheques. Companies do not run businesses for us, especially utilities.

I do not, however, agree with most of his sentiments. And he may find that if he will not do business, in a couple of years with those who do not want cheques, he will not do business at all.

City is going nowhere

From: ME Wright, Harrogate.

WITH the abortive Leeds trolleybus line now abandoned, how many more years of congestion, pollution and talking must there be before something actually happens (The Yorkshire Post, May 13)?

Presumably the plans for the three-line tram network languish in a Civic Hall drawer. It could be built in less than five years, but Westminster’s rather patronising £175m falls somewhat short of the umpteen billions spent, and about to be spent, on London’s Crossrails 1 and 2. A viable Leeds is crucial to West Yorkshire and beyond. Commercially and socially, Harrogate has far more in common with Leeds than with North Yorkshire, so please include us in the mix.

Spot the difference

From: Michael Ellison, Knapping Hill, Harrogate.

YOU published a submitted picture (The Yorkshire Post, May 18) stating it is Fewston Church.

Having lived in the Washburn Valley during my childhood, I will be one of many readers who will correctly identify the church as being at Blubberhouses.

Here is a photo of Fewston Church. The major difference between the locations of the churches is that Fewston is surrounded by trees whereas Blubberhouses is exposed on a hillside.

Editor’s note: Thank you for pointing out this error.