LETTERS: February 17

Don’t want a speeding fine? Then don’t speed!

Colin Itzinger, by email

I thought it was a spoof letter written by Nick Keer about speeding fines (YEP Letters, February 15).

The more I read the more it became apparent he was serious.

Listen Nick, if you think speeding fines are excessive and nothing more that a cash cow the solution is, frankly, blindingly obvious.

Stick to the speed limit.

Anyone who ends up paying does so voluntarily.

Will commercial groups get cricket cash?

Couns S Field and M Dobson, Garforth and Swillington Independents

We were delighted to read that the Deputy Leader of Labour run Leeds City Council, James Lewis, has announced that no sports club in Leeds will receive the £4 million gift from public funds, which was being planned for Yorkshire County Cricket.

This, combined with the closure of dementia care homes in Leeds, was a major reason we left the Leeds Labour Group, along with a sad and painful decline in the party’s ability to lead the city since 2015.

While we welcome the u-turn, we are left wondering if Coun James Lewis will confirm that no commercial group will get any multiples of millions in freebies in a time where frontline services teeter on the edge of collapse?

An important clarification we feel.

No courage in MP’s vote

Mrs J Green, Leeds

In response to Michael McGowan, former MEP for Leeds, who wrote on February 14 to commend the courage of Mary Creagh Labour MP for Wakefield who voted to Remain in the EU.

Mary Creagh was the only Yorkshire MP who refused to vote to trigger Article 50 in the hope of obstructing the vote because it is against her principles.

This was despite the fact more than 66 per cent of her Wakefield electorate had voted to leave the EU. Her ‘courage’, noted by Mr McGowan, seems to me more akin to political suicide, which may well become apparent in the next election.

Her belief that she knew better than her constituents and her failure to support the very people who elected her into office has already been noted considering the criticism levelled at her.

It is the MPs who voted to remain but who decided to vote to commence Article 50 that should be commended, they are the politicians who set aside their own feelings because they are the ones who value their constituents, they are the ones who have a desire to work to advise them and serve the majority in their bid for the democratic change in their lives.

Mary Creagh may have commendable credentials in local government and international affairs but it is a pity she could not put her expertise into proper use instead of standing on her pride and making her electorate feel cheated.

Drive motorists into city, not out

Shaun Kavanagh, Morley

Reading your report regarding the hike in weekend parking charges to be implemented by Leeds City Council - nothing ceases to amaze with regard to LCC.

They bleed ratepayers at every given opportunity yet waste millions on projects that benefit few and on projects which do not get beyond the drawing board, ie the recent abandonment of the trolley bus project which, again, would have only benefitted the few on its route.

That project must have cost thousands for design, planning, meetingsm, etc, so what a another waste of valuable resource.

To put up parking charges at weekends will hit the motorist and will likely cause people to re-think where they go.

This could mean businesses in Leeds seeing fewer customers arriving at their door.

LCC should be looking at ways to bring people into the city not drive them further afield. The council should read the dozen responses from readers who took the trouble to voice their opinions to the YEP (January 26) and think about how many more feel exactly the same.

You can bake a difference

Eric Lanlard, Cake Boy

Readers, it’s time to dig out your pinny and dust off your rolling pin. Bowel Cancer UK’s fundraiser Be a Star, Bake a Cake is back for a second year.

Join me in supporting this baking campaign to raise awareness and funds to help stop bowel cancer.

More than 44 people die from bowel cancer every day in the UK, however that shouldn’t be the case. It’s treatable and curable, especially if diagnosed early.

Whether you’re a whiz in the kitchen or if baking sends you into a tiz, the campaign has a recipe or an idea for you. Test your piping skills with my lemon meringue cupcakes, make your chocolate brownies less devilish with Deliciously Ella’s sweet potato brownies or if you’re after indulgence, Tom Aikens chocolate cake will satisfy your sweet tooth. There’s a host of inspiration from other celebrity chefs on Bowel Cancer UK’s website.

It’s easy and everyone can get involved whether you love to bake, get creative in the kitchen or prefer to buy something delicious from your local supermarket.

Hold a cake stall, coffee morning or afternoon tea and invite your friends, family and colleagues to sample the delicious treats.

Your bake will make a real difference – sign-up here: bowelcanceruk.org.uk/be-a-star,-bake-a-cake

We need tough sentences

D Angood, by email

Following the recent incidents involving the use of knives and guns inLeeds surely it is time to introduce a telling deterrent.

It is time for those soft bellied politicians and legislators to listen to the mood of society as a whole and not just their preferred groups.

The majority of the population is of a law abiding nature and find these crimes abhorrent.

The obvious solution is to make the offence of carrying weapons subject to a mandatory sentence with no leniency or mitigation allowed or accepted.

Is it not possible for the politicians and legislators to approve and pass a bill to make such a solution happen?

It is time to stand up for the majority and mandate a sentence of five years for carrying a knife and 10 years for carrying a gun.

Have our politicians got the backbone to introduce such a law?

Labour Party in need of unifying

DS Boyes, LS13

READING East Leeds Labour MP Richard Burgon’s letter calling for unity in the country, I thought he needed a reality check.

It’s the Labour Party itself that needs unifying, driven apart as it has been by internal strife ever since Jeremy Corbyn became leader, maybe even before with the failure Ed Miliband.

Did it escape Mr Burgon’s notice that 47 Labour MPs defied a three line whip to vote against the interests of the people?

This after many either refused to serve under Mr Corbyn or resigned from the shadow cabinet when he was elected.

If more sackings are a consequence of this betrayal where will Mr Cobyn find replacements?

As for accusations against Theresa May of a bargain basement Britain, is Mr Burgon aware that Luxembourg has made a success of this by just undercutting its neighbours of France, Belgium and Germany on taxes and duty on petrol, alcohol and tobacco, plus offering lower than UK corporate taxes to multinational companies.

Let’s face it, the Lib Dems are a nonentity and Labour a busted flush in whom the working class has lost confidence as shown in the Brexit result.

With only the Conservatives showing any positive influence, and perhaps UKIP snapping at their heels very soon.