YP Letters: Culture of greed takes us back to 1930s

THE directors of Carillion have come under the spotlight for a culture of greed and avarice that has seen thousands lose their jobs (Tom Richmond, The Yorkshire Post, May 24).

In other areas we can see how the Government has been using every conceivable device to further continue the process of privatising the public sector – most noticeably the NHS and education – and the result is a massive explosion of corruption and financial mismanagement, while two hospitals lie empty in Liverpool, mothballed.

If the British people cannot see all this, they are sleep-walking back to the grim days of the 1930s and earlier and, yes, it is the young who will pick up the tabs for this appalling age of possessive individualism and rampant greed that is now out of control.

It is this that has liquidised the “vision” of William Beveridge. I will not venture to analyse the outcome of Brexit.

However, it has sown the seeds of resentment and bitterness between the old and the young, who will pay a hefty price for all of this in the future.

I was born and lived in the good times. I lament the way Britain is going and despair for the future of the young.

Are the “dreams” of Beveridge able to be salvaged? Not without a drastic change in our attitudes, politics and acollective rethink of the future.

At the moment we live in an “I’m alright Jack” Britain with little concern for others.

We have become a selfish, materialistic society. Other EU countries care for their elderly relatives. Here, old people are cast aside like unwanted dolls. Brave new world!

From: Jenny Dent, Harrogate.

REGARDING recent coverage about funding for children 
with special educational 
needs, their home-school transport and impending cuts to the budget, I am the grandmother of a child with special educational needs.

Currently my grandchild is in inclusive education – she is three – and we hope she will manage.

Should the need arise for her to attend a special school, it will require my daughter – who doesn’t drive and can’t afford a car – catching eight buses a day.

As my granddaughter has significant health issues as well as being disabled, there is no way she will be able to attend school under these circumstances.

Given the Government’s budget cuts and benefit cuts, there is growing unrest at a feeling that these children no longer matter.

It begs the question ‘what happened to the vast amount of taxes we pay’?

Reasons for oil sanctions

From: Dr David Hill, CEO, World Innovation Foundation, Huddersfield.

YOU don’t need to be a Nobel economist to understand the reason why petrol and diesel prices have soared over the last few weeks.

You only have to look at the Washington hawks for the answer, and America’s sanctions on Iran with regard to oil exports that have caused the price of oil to surge across the globe.

For Iran is a global oil powerhouse, and once you take it out of the equation, you take out the fifth-largest oil producer in the world. So why is this really happening?

Well, when you look at what is going on with the imposition of US sanctions and a situation where the US will become the largest producer in 2018 according to some oil analysts, the US needs people to sell its US oil to.

Therefore the best way to do this is to put sanctions on a major global competitor, and that is the untold story of what is actually going on behind these sanctions if truth be told.

Potholes on road to ruin


From: Tim Bradshaw, Slaithwaite, Huddersfield.

REGARDING the potholes on our ‘Third World’ condition roads – perhaps better described as cart tracks – it has recently been mentioned that the service industries often leave roads where they have carried out repairs in a worse condition than before they were dug up.

Local councils also complain that they are short of funds for repairs, but are often to blame for their own “quick fix” attitude which often entails, eventually, a repeat visit to rectify a problem which should have been resolved in the first place.

Perhaps we should all apply for the Tour de Yorkshire to pass our front doors so that we might all have a road surface which deserves to be called a road.

Protect our town’s trees

From: ME Wright, Harrogate.

IN his response to the Sheffield tree debacle, Speaker John Bercow displayed an abysmal, but not surprising knowledge of matters Northern (The Yorkshire Post, May 23).

Harrogate’s trees are as prized as Sheffield’s. They belong to Harrogate Borough Council, but many are rooted in pavements which are the responsibility of North Yorkshire County Council.

Given NYCC’s past history, the possibility of a North Yorkshire ‘Sheffield’ cannot be dismissed.

Should this arise, I think we could rely on Andrew Jones MP to do more than Speaker Bercow’s “chunter” on our behalf.