YP Letters: Foreign aid shows Britain at its best

I’M so proud that over the past 25 years UK aid has transformed the lives of children in the world’s poorest countries. It’s important to me that our local candidates for election support the UK’s commitment to overseas aid.

UK aid means that mothers in some of the poorest and most dangerous countries can have a midwife by their side when they give birth and that their little ones get the vaccinations and medical treatment they need to make it through their first fragile years.

This election is about who we want to be as a nation. Aid shows Britain at its best. That’s why I’m calling on my candidates to commit to championing UK aid and ensuring it’s spent on helping the world’s most vulnerable children if elected.

From: Glynn Pearson, Pontefract.

ALTHOUGH the discussion on Brexit is dominating the election, I want to raise an issue that affects tens of thousands of people in the UK on a daily basis: bowel cancer.

According to Bowel Cancer UK, every 15 minutes someone is diagnosed with the disease making it the fourth most common cancer in the UK. It’s also the second biggest cancer killer with nearly 16,000 people dying from it every year.

But it shouldn’t be, as it’s treatable and curable if diagnosed early.

That’s why I’m asking all candidates to support Bowel Cancer UK in championing early diagnosis and improving access to best treatment and care. I hope all our candidates will pledge to take action locally and nationally if elected. By working together we can stop bowel cancer.

From: Nigel Boddy, Fife Road, Darlington.

AT the last general election, the MP for Richmond Park in London, Zac Goldsmith, promised to stand down if a third runway at Heathrow went ahead. It did go ahead and he did stand down causing a by election.

At this election, do all the candidates in Richmond, North Yorkshire, including the sitting MP Rishi Sunak, promise to stand down and cause a by-election if Darlington A&E is downgraded to a mere walk-in centre? Is it already too late to make the same promise regarding Northallerton’s Friarage Hospital?

From: Mrs Chris Dove, Fairways Court, Whitby.

DURING this election campaign, I am concerned with who will represent Scarborough and Whitby in the next parliament. There are many important local and national issues at stake.

As a supporter of Catholic aid agency CAFOD, I hope that candidates of all parties in Scarborough and Whitby will consider global issues too, and commit to build on Britain’s proud record in looking outwards and working with others to tackle poverty, inequality and climate change.

We live in an interconnected world. To say we can’t help people at home if we help them abroad is to present a false choice. We are big enough to do both: it is who we are and what we stand for.

From: Steve Oversby, Director of Barnardo’s, East Region.

IN the run up to the election subjects like tax, the NHS and improvements to the education system are of course the focus of the campaigns. It’s unlikely you’ll see anything about female genital mutilation (FGM) – but after the election MPs must not ignore this serious form of child sexual abuse.

Organisations across the world have pledged to end FGM within a generation and we want the future Government to make this a reality.

FGM is child abuse and no girl should ever have to live with the harmful physical and emotional consequences of this terrible practice.

Statistics from the NHS show that although FGM is a hidden problem, it affects thousands of women and girls.

Barnardo’s is leading the way in tackling the problem through innovative social work with girls and their families, and our training and education programmes at the National FGM Centre, run in conjunction with the Local Government Association.

We want the next Government to commit to helping us achieve our goal of ending FGM within 15 years.

We should not burn heather

From: Joanna Richards, Communications Manager. IUCN UK Peatland Programme.

FOLLOWING the article ‘Grouse moors vital for peatlands’ (The Yorkshire Post, May 8), we would like to draw your attention to the wider evidence available on the issue of burning in relation to upland management and peatland restoration.

In the article Jim Sutton asserts that “heather burning is a useful tool in the process of managing vegetation and for speeding up restoration work”. However evidence available indicates that burning can result in damage to peatlands and is not required for their maintenance.

Inconsistent approaches to scientific research on this issue have led to some confusion. However, where there is uncertainty as to the benefits of burning, we would advise the precautionary principle should be applied and burning avoided.

Word abuse not fault of US

From: John E Dodd, Belton, Doncaster.

YOUR regular corespondent Brian H Sheridan recently wrote of the incorrect use of the English language. In his letter he stated that America is to blame for the overuse of the word awesome.

Did he mean that some Americans overuse the word and some English people copy this trend?

Stating that a country is responsible for some people’s actions and generalisation in this way is also misuse of facts.