YP Letters: Boudica May won't bend to Brussels' will

I READ with interest those letters which view Theresa May as a kind of Joan of Arc. Perhaps they should also add Boudica, as both women fought against subjugation of their country by a foreign force.

Britain stood alone in 1940 and here we are again albeit in different circumstances. I note that every male Prime Minister since Edward Heath has capitulated to appease the ever-increasing and audacious demands of the unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats of Brussels.

Despite being good Europeans and paying all our dues, we have failed to find a single ally within the EU. Even when our then Prime Minister went on bended knee in a pathetic attempt to request favourable terms as a condition of remaining within the EU, we were derided and mocked (humiliation doesn’t even come into it).

There is little doubt in my mind that a female presence in the forthcoming male-dominated negotiations could not fare any worse than previous British prime ministers whose only purpose, it seems, was to bend to the will of Brussels.

From: John Fisher, Menwith Hill, Harrogate.

THERESA May is promising to greatly reduce immigration, a promise that no party has been able to achieve. Without compulsory ID cards controlling immigration and removing illegal immigration, it would appear an impossible dream.

Our first-past-the-post election system promotes minority governments with short-term answers to long-term problems. Brexit has now brought these problems into focus and short-term measures no longer appear a useful option for our economic future.

The pound has not recovered from Brexit and it now faces a period of economic uncertainty during the negotiations with the EU and its future post-Brexit.

Mrs May requires a strong government and a reduced Labour Party could require the Conservative government to be part of its own opposition. A hard Brexit with the pound under pressure could require a strong Conservative government to make a very difficult decision which could decide the future of the UK for a generation.

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

RIGHT-WINGER President Trump is having great difficulty getting his policies into law.

If our left-winger, Jeremy Corbyn, wins and becomes Prime Minister, he would have even greater difficulty getting his policies into law.

When it comes to the crunch, there are more powerful forces in democracies than the voters.

I sometimes think every letter I publish has had more influence than any vote I have cast.

From: Michael Ellison, Knapping Hill, Harrogate.

I AGREE with Jarvis Browning (The Yorkshire Post, May 8) that all local councillors should be local non-political individuals.

To answer his query about the past, I would state that there was a major change in 1974 following the local government reorganisation.

As a result of that change, Wharfedale Rural District Council was abolished because the area it covered, villages to the north and east of Otley, were split between North and West Yorkshire.

I recall that previously the councillors were generally termed as Ind (Independent) or Ind-Political Party Abbreviation, to indicate their allegiance.

In 1974 the majority of these councillors who stood for election to the “new” district councils were officially supported by a political party.

From: Christine Smith, Latham Lane, Gomersal.

I SEE Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, says “grammar schools are a total distraction from most important issues facing children’s education”.

What a hypocrite. Guess where Mary Bousted was educated? Yes, at a Catholic girls grammar school, Typical, just like Socialists – do as I say not as I do.

From: Hilary Andrews, Nursery Lane, Leeds.

SO Comrade Corbyn is going to turn the UK into a Communist state. Will we be sent to a gulag in the wilds of Scotland under the care of Comrade Sturgeon if we disagree with him or the party?

Time called on real pubs

From: John Mollett, Ruthven View, Harehills, Leeds.

YOUR special on pub closures makes truly depressing reading, despite Camra’s positive spin on the subject. Yes, Camra has been remarkably successful in supporting a whole new range of real ale and craft beers while seeing off such ghastly products, but there is a view that their work is now done.

With hindsight, what we also needed in the past was another campaign to support the real pub, but sadly it is now too late for such a movement as virtually all such outlets have gone. We are left with a huge array of what are better described, not as 553 “pubs” in Leeds, but 553 licensed restaurants or trendy new bars for the 20-somethings.

There is now no pub within walking distance of where I live in which to enjoy a “nightcap”, and as the idea is a quick couple of pints, it doesn’t justify the long wait for buses to do this elsewhere. And when did you last see dominoes played in a pub?

Charities need reality cheque

From: A Hague, Leeds.

I HAVE just had to withdraw from giving money to another well-known charity for starving people abroad, all because they will now only accept direct debit.

I used to send postal orders, then cheques, but they won’t accept my preferred method. Every week now there is a knock on the door and I say direct debit and it’s always yes. Those who will accept cheques will now get more because of this.