YP Letters: High speed rail will fuel a brain drain

I SEE that the HS2 boss Sir David Higgins is forecasting that the new line will bring massive prosperity to the North (The Yorkshire Post, October 31).

Well my French friends remind me that this is just what the French government said when the high-speed line from Marseilles to Paris was planned. The huge benefits to Marseilles were absolutely guaranteed.

But with what result? The outcome was a drain of prosperity from Marseilles to Paris. Talent, investment – all made a bee-line for the capital.

HS2 will purely benefit London. It will drain enterprise from the North.

That is why it is going to be forced upon us – just you see. HS2 will go ahead, HS3 will never see the light of day, and the disparity between London and the North will increase.

From: Colin Cawthray, Stowe Garth, Bridlington.

COUNCILLOR Richard Lewis is executive member for regeneration, transport and planning at Leeds City Council. What a title that is.

He responds to Greg Mulholland, Leeds North West MP, who believes Leeds risks lagging behind other major cities if they do not improve the existing network.

Councillor Lewis says he does not think Leeds has a traffic problem. He believes traffic at peak times moves relatively easily.

I visit Leeds once a week, and travel into the city on public transport, leaving my car in the suburbs.

Buses have difficulty travelling up and down the Headrow and Eastgate at midday.

Leeds’s traffic situation is a mess. Do the council realise that park and ride is the thing, and you, Councillor Lewis, are 20 years behind places such as York and Scarborough? Wake up!

NHS needs urgent cash

From: Dr Mark Porter, British Medical Association chair of council.

THE BMA has been urging this Government to be honest about NHS funding for some time and our calls are now being echoed by experts and interested parties from all sides of the political landscape now (Dr Sarah Wollaston, The Yorkshire Post, October 31).

The Prime Minister and Chancellor need to explain how exactly the NHS will keep up with rising demand without the necessary investment. Theresa May talks about injecting £10bn into the NHS, yet in reality the increase in health spending is less than half of that.

The NHS is already the most efficient health care system in the world. The notion that the funding crisis can be solved with further efficiency savings is a myth, and these are not savings, they are year-on-year cuts that have driven almost every acute trust in England into deficit, led to a crisis in general practice and a community and social care system on the brink of collapse.

The NHS needs urgent action to put it on sustainable financial footing. Failure to invest now will result in a disaster in the future, both financially and in terms of patient health and care.

From: Dick Spreadbury, Liversedge.

WITH all the money spent on the NHS, we should be the healthiest and fittest country in Europe. I get the impression this is not the case.

We have to face the unpalatable truth. The NHS is a financial black hole on one hand, but a vote-generating gold mine on the other, hence the intractable problem.

Perhaps the NHS should reinvent, and start charging for treatment required for self-inflicted conditions such as obesity, smoking, excess drinking / drug taking, fighting.

Better to spend the EU money on re-inventing a British industrial base, with as many sweetheart deals as needed, so the country has some wealth to spend in the first place.

Blair’s Brexit battle in vain

From: Bob Swallow, Townhead Avenue, Settle.

I READ that the old war horse Tony Blair is at it again. He wants a re run of the Brexit referendum – presumably until he gets the result he favours. Were such a thing to happen, this country might well descend into a different type of war – civil war.

He never learns, thank heaven he is no longer in power (The Yorkshire Post, October 29).

Trump’s populism

From: Coun Tim Mickleburgh (Lab), Boulevard Avenue, Grimsby.

IN Britain, we wonder how on earth Donald Trump can still be in the running for the US Presidency. Yet the populism which has driven his campaign is part of the same anti-establishment force which saw a victory for Leave in our EU referendum. And Hillary Clinton hasn’t helped with her words against the coal industry which remains a source of employment for many blue collar workers.

World where women lead

From; David H Rhodes, Keble Park North, Bishopthorpe, York.

IT is often claimed that there 
is a “glass ceiling” for women 
in the business and political worlds.

Consider then the possibility of Hillary Clinton, Angela Merkel and Theresa May all being in power together. That’s the West sorted, now for inroads into Russia, China, Korea etc for a clean sweep.

Maybe we should just look for the right person at the right time regardless of gender?

If that time is now, then so be it – go for it girls!