YP Letters: Doncaster should have been chosen over Heathrow for airport expansion

From: CB Booth, Birkin, Knottingley.
Is it right for Heathrow to be expanded?Is it right for Heathrow to be expanded?
Is it right for Heathrow to be expanded?

I AM appalled but not surprised that the Government has given the go-ahead for the third Heathrow runway.

No further airport facility should be sited there. London already has four airports. There is a golden chance to shift the axis to the North, with the superb location of Doncaster.

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Doncaster already has the second longest runway in the country and is surrounded by thousands of acres of open, flat land. To shoehorn the third runway into Heathrow amid overcrowded, over polluted, over noisy London beggars belief.

Doncaster could be the catalyst for a huge revival of the North. Access to the east coast, rail and road routes is easy and inexpensive. No villages need to be demolished and costs would be far less.

Governments all over the world often get things wrong because they don’t do the geography first. Japan sited its nuclear generator on the Pacific side of Japan, and got it wiped out by a tsunami.

So I ask the planners – do the geography first between London and Yorkshire. While you are at it, do the geography on HS2 and scrap it.

Wrong choice for rail review

From: Bob Watson, Baildon.

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It is reported (The Yorkshire Post, June 9) that Councillor Judith Blake, the Labour leader of Leeds City Council, has been asked by the Minister for Rail to lead a review into the recent rail chaos.

However, one has to wonder whether this is the right choice considering that Coun Blake has presided over the shambles of Leeds and its lack of a proper local transport system for some years.

That there is no Supertram network in the city surely tells us much about the councillor and her colleagues.

Bad counsel over abortion

From: Paul Emsley, Hellifield.

I AM completely unqualified to make a judgement on the subject of abortion in Northern Ireland because I am a man and because I feel that, ultimately, a woman should be able to make decisions about her own body, without fear or prejudice from anybody else.

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The unborn child is a very important element of this debate, but the woman’s mental and physical health are surely paramount. However, why are we paying a bunch of judges – on their enormous salaries – to make a non-judgement on this emotive subject which would need to take account of a number of complex issues, including social, religious, personal, ethical etc?

If they knew that our English and Welsh laws and constitutional procedures would not permit them to make a judgement, then why did they accept the case in the first place?

Timetabling error on CBE

From: ME Wright, Harrogate.

HARD on the heels of the biggest railway mess in living memory, Network Rail’s Mark Carne is awarded a CBE (The Yorkshire Post, June 9). The timing was both unfortunate and unavoidable; but doesn’t it help to demonstrate that when we cock things up, we do it superbly and with style?

In the same mode, maintaining fiction and disbelief, is it time to shunt “Macavity” Grayling into some anodyne House of Lords siding?

From: Eddie Peart, Broom Crescent, Rotherham.

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I HAVE looked not once, not twice, but three times in the Queen’s Honours List and I still cannot find Geoffrey Boycott’s name in those who have been given a knighthood.

No car, no job in countryside

From: Karl Sheridan, Holme upon Spalding Moor.

I HEAR that Selby District Council, backed by East Riding Council is hoping to create more jobs with a new initiative of building a business/shopping complex upon the old colliery works near Selby.

This is to be applauded of course. However, the gaping hole in this initiative is the lack of public transport which would encourage local people to apply for jobs there. Here in Holme upon Spalding Moor we have a vibrant community. However, nearly all of us have to commute everywhere by car. This problem has been accentuated by the latest reduction in the bus service.

Unfortunately councils and indeed the Government itself fail to understand the basics, especially when it comes to a coherent transport system for rural communities. Why build more and more new housing when the basic requirement is that you will have to own a car?

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Wasting billions on HS2 will not benefit the ordinary working man. Sadly all the economy measures and austerity cuts being forced on us are nullified by Government blunders that cost us billions, and with no one apparently accountable.

Thumb and fingers on pen

From: Brian H Sheridan, Lodge Moor, Sheffield.

LIKE Arthur Quarmby, I was taught to hold a pen between thumb and two digits, unlike today’s youngsters who clutch it between thumb and fist (The Yorkshire Post, June 5).

By my father, whose handwriting, like his father’s, was beautiful, despite their limited education. Unfortunately my efforts to emulate them were thwarted by having to take notes at university.

However, intriguing as it may be, the debate on handwriting technique will become as pointless as two skinheads fighting over a comb: all correspondence will be by evolving technology.