YP Letters: Let's invest in today's women, not a statue

I READ with interest that Rachel Reeves MP and Judith Blake, leader of Leeds Council, are using International Women’s Day to call upon the people of Leeds to fund a statue of one of Leeds’s great women (The Yorkshire Post, March 8).

What a curious way to hijack International Women’s Day. At a point in time when many women in our great city are struggling to feed their families and buy essential items, wouldn’t it be wiser for our political leaders to point their efforts into setting up a fund in the name of a great Leeds woman to support women trying to set up businesses and create employment opportunities for others?

The “mumpreneur” economy is, after all, worth £7bn and it would be great to see a bigger slice of this in Leeds.

All of the women mentioned, including Barbara Taylor Bradford, Nicola Adams and Beryl Burton, seem to me to epitomise everything that’s great about Leeds women – pragmatic, practical and determined and, I’d guess, would be horrified at the thought of the people of Leeds having their money wasted on a statue.

Magnetic rant repels

From: Colin Jones, Killinghall, Harrogate.

I AM disappointed that a journal of your otherwise estimable quality should have given editorial space to the ill-advised, inaccurate, and derisive rant about Maglev (The Yorkshire Post, March 8) and so called magnetic trains.

Maglev is an established technology with many advantages over conventional rail. It operated successfully at Birmingham Airport 30 years ago. The Shanghai system opened in 2004 and sends more than 100 trains daily over a 19-mile route in eight minutes at an efficiency of 99.97 per cent, timed to the second.

Had your contributor actually read the article he was criticising, he would have seen that the proposal is to go under the Pennines not over them, as with Crossrail in London. If attitudes like his were to prevail, the Northern Powerhouse will never happen.

Born with the spring

From: Mrs EH Bell, Newland Avenue, Driffield.

I WISH to express my thanks to D Webb of Rothwell (The Yorkshire Post, March 6) for drawing attention to the fact that March 21 is still the first day of spring and certainly not the first day of March.

Although I am now quite ancient, it still gives me a lovely feeling that I was born on the first day of spring and I’m afraid that it makes me feel quite irritable to learn that the first day of spring is now even in danger of being changed – what a thought – in addition to numerous other things which in my opinion, would be much better left alone.

Left boiling with anger

From: Brian Cottingham, Millgates, York.

I AM going to phrase this politely I am ‘gassed off’ with British Gas. I rang in January to book a boiler service; the date given was to be February 28.

On February 27, I received a call to inform me this was cancelled; my new date given was April 24.

I was asked if my hot water supply and heating were working, a safety ploy to cover this delay and cover themselves as I am a pensioner.

I was then offered a £20 goodwill offer.

TV lost in translation

From: Pat Kellett, Aspin Oval, Knaresborough.

HOW I agree with Andrew Vine (The Yorkshire Post, February 28). I too have difficulty in catching what is being said – not only the “mumblevision” but speaking so fast.

It’s as though they are speaking in a foreign language.

The younger ones seem to be able to translate with ease. I think there should be some switch on radios to slow the speed down – then it should be harder for mumblers to mumble. I just loved Andrew Vine’s column – in fact I cut it out to keep!

Mutual contempt

From: DP Heyworth, Stevenage, Hertfordshire.

AS a Yorkshireman, I have my modest savings in the Leeds Building Society which is still ‘mutual’, i.e. serving its members, or so they boast.

Last year the interest on my deposit, my life savings, was one per cent. Many got less.

The chief executive had a rise last year of 2.5 per cent, bringing his pay to £728,000. His fellow executive directors took in excess of £400,000 each. Is this the fair society? Members can vote at the AGM in early April.

How cuts drive up costs

From: JKM Krawiec, North Thoresby, near Grimsby.

RE your article and editorial on local authority consultants (The Yorkshire Post, March 4).

You fail to mention that savage cuts in local authority budgets by the Government have hollowed out management and denuded councils of much of the expertise they had. This model of “anorexic management” has forced local authorities to go outside for advice when previously it could have been provided more cheaply in-house.

Undeniable majority

From: Mr C Christie, Swanland Road, Helmsley, York.

JOHN Cole (The Yorkshire Post, March 1) cannot count and again seeks to hide the truth over Brexit by quoting percentages.

The majority to leave was over one million. If that is not “substantial”, then what is?