YP Letters: Nationalising steel would make no sense

“SAVE Our Steel”? Well, of course, but how? With tonnes of unwanted surplus steel rusting away in stockyards around the globe, nationalisation – using taxpayers’ money to make even more stuff nobody wants – makes no sense whatever.

Tax relief on energy supplies would only have the most marginal effect. Forcing public construction projects to use only British steel may not be allowed under EC rules but would in any case merely raise the cost of such projects, to the detriment of the public purse.

Maybe British steel plants should instead concentrate on producing the more hi-tech specialised steels, where there may still be sufficient demand worldwide to justify keeping plants open and steelworkers still in work.

From: Edward Grainger, Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough.

WITH the big guns of big business now getting into the act to influence the EU referednum vote one way or the other, it must not be forgotten that the individual has the final say and not the vested interests.

For me, the deciding issue came with the loss of the capacity to make high quality steel at the world-famous Redcar complex. With the closure came the loss of a minimum of 2,500 jobs. Others around the country were also lost.

This was an issue on which the EU could have acted collectively over six months ago when the world’s steel crisis broke, with the dumping of cheap Chinese steel. Then the EU could have protected the industry, as the US did

From: John Appleyard, Firthcliffe Parade, Liversedge.

GOOD to see Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn standing up for British steel workers who face massive job losses.

Steel is another industry privatised by Margaret Thatcher’s government in the 1980s and now we see the consequences.

The current Tory Government has announced plans to sell off the Land Registry, a profitable public service that records the sale of houses and land.

This is another short sighted move to make a quick buck. This could mean a worse service and a hike in price for all of us.

From: Karl Sheridan, Selby Road, Holme on Spalding Moor.

I PERSONALLY hope we vote for Brexit because past history is already proving that the EU is too large and unwieldy and any internal decisions can take up to a year to process, by which time any crisis has materialised and done irreversible damage.

Take our steel industry for example, although this demise is due, in part, to the Government being hand in hand with the Chinese.

From: John S Murray, Honley, Holmfirth.

THE EU brigade on the march: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece. Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta. Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden – 500 million people. How come they’re all out of step except us in the United Kingdom?

Game, set and cash

From: Brian Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.

FURTHER to the debate on equal prize money for men and women in tennis (The Yorkshire Post, April 2), it is manifestly unfair that men have to play best of five sets in majors for the same remuneration as women who play the best of three.

Setting aside the fact that more five set matches in Grand Slam events would cause huge scheduling problems, especially in the event of bad weather, there is a strong argument for all men’s matches to be played over the best of three sets.

Sceptics will rightly draw attention to the epic struggles between great players over five sets. In the past, but the game has evolved exponentially in recent times. Slower courts mean longer rallies mean more entertainment and longer matches, but as a result tennis has become brutal with players increasingly having to withdraw exhausted or injured. Watching ATP matches in the heat of Indian Wells and Miami, I feared for the health of the players: and they were playing the best of three sets.

Folly of homes on flood plain

From: Ron Anderson, Langthorpe, Boroughbridge.

WHERE is the common sense when the local planning department gives permission to build on land that floods badly? Have the authorities still not learned this lesson?

I refer to the site at Langthorpe which was totally flooded in 2012. I gather that any property built will have to be “piled” due to the risk of instability which will increase the costs considerably and there making insurance very difficult or impossible to obtain.

Another planning authority with no brains.

Signal failure

From: Jarvis Browning, Main Street, Fadmoor, York.

IF Emley Moor TV mast is getting a upgrade, does that mean we can now get Yorkshire programmes and news in Fadmoor? The only news we can get is Tyne-Tees from the Bilsdale Mast.