YEP letters: December 6

Free admission to musuems, sharing your faith with others and training nurses area few of the topics up for discussion in today's readers' letters.

Don’t ignore the residents

Liz Goodwill, by email

PROSTITUTES are again in the paper.

Whilst no one deserves violence, if you

choose that type of life, it comes with the territory.

And please don’t say “no, it shouldn’t”, get in the real world.

You may say I’m totally unsympathetic, I’m not, but as a long-standing Holbeck resident I can tell you my life has been blighted by this situtation.

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I am someone who has never asked for it, but has over the last 18 months been propositioned, threatened with a knife and spat at, to mention a few incidents just walking home.

We in Holbeck have been totally disregarded by the police and the local councillors.

Ignore the local residents at your peril, our patience is now at its limit.

Museum will continue to be free of charge

Simon Wallis, Director of the Hepworth Wakefield

Retaining free admission to our galleries and museums is currently the national norm for the UK’s regional and national public galleries.

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We will continue to offer free access to Wakefield’s nationally important art collection and our international exhibitions programme at The Hepworth Wakefield and to ensure our charitable work benefits and reaches as wide an audience as possible.

In doing so we work closely with our two major stakeholders, Wakefield Council and Arts Council England to ensure that the gallery always achieves its charitable objectives to provide world-class art and learning for everyone and contributes to the positive profile and growth of the area. Many of the philanthropists, trusts and foundations that invest large sums in our work do so on the premise that we offer free entry.

While the council contributes to just over a third of the gallery’s running costs we are dedicated to developing and driving forward our self-reliant income streams through commercial activities such as event hires, weddings, and through our café-bar and shop. It was wonderful to see 6,766 visitors enjoying our Christmas market last weekend, which has grown substantially year on year since it was launched in 2014.

Our visitors help support the gallery’s work as a charitable trust through generous donations and last year we were able to match-fund all our donations through our Arts Council England Catalyst Arts Funding.

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We have established one of the most critically and popularly acclaimed galleries in the UK in just five short years; we’re so proud of the work we do for Wakefield and we are building on this extraordinary success so our region thrives and manifests its ambition on a national stage.

The creative industries are one of the unique selling points for the UK on a world stage and we need to assert and exploit that success now more than ever.

Keeping the faith to yourself

Alex Gillies, by email

Having worked on building power stations, installing quarry/mining equipment, oil rigs in all quarters of the UK, Holland and Germany, I never once heard or discussed religious faith in my workplace.

The Bishop of Leeds, the Rt Rev Nick Baines, says Christians are scared to speak about their faith in public.

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I always assumed that someone’s religion was a sacrament, like who you vote for, your doctor’s Hippocratic oath and not for discussion in public.

I have visited Kingdom Halls (mum’s faith ) and stopped attending when I discovered fags, ale, bookies and women. Religion has always been part of my life. In school years we had assembly every morning with prayers and scriptures read, I marched every Sunday with the Boys Brigade to church side by side with all colours and creeds. People in the UK are scared to speak in public in general, even cracking a joke seems to cause offence to someone.

As a friend of mine never lets me forget, God is good but the Devil is not so bad when you get to know him.

Not enough nursing staff

Terry Maunder, Kirkstall

The RCN and Nursing Standard have both indicated three issues recently, since Hammond’s “Budget”, that have barely got a mention. There is a workforce crisis because Hammond failed to take the opportunity to scrap the 1 per cent payrise cap.

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More than 50 per cent of NHS Trust Leaders have made it clear they do not have enough staff with the right skill mix and quality to meet the needs of the service.

A significant number of overseas nurses are leaving because of “hate crime” behaviour toward them following Brexit. And what does he do? He designates £7.6m to help rescue Wentworth Woodhouse, an estate that has links to a Tory MP.

Oh yes, they care about the “JAMs”, alright. And this on top of Hunt’s desperate attempts to resolve the Nurse Training issue by going back to the 70s.

Are we just being ignored?

Susan Powell, by email

It is obvious to most astute political observers that the political elite will ignore the result of the June 23 referendum and keep the UK in the EU. There are many factors that lead to this unfortunate conclusion.

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First, the Government is clueless about its position in relation to leaving the EU, having no plan whatsoever, otherwise Article 50 would have been triggered.

Secondly, legal challenges are serving to confuse matters further. This is what the challenges were designed to achieve. To counter these challenges if they were upheld by the courts, the government should state that it will seek to repeal the 1972 Common Market Act of Accession. This, of itself, would mean the UK leaving the EU.

However, the Government is shy of doing or even threatening this, as it knows the majority of the MPs and Lords would vote to remain in the EU.

Therefore, the obvious conclusion is that the political elite will snub the referendum result and defy the will of the British people, as they believe, wrongly, that they know best. In this disgraceful exercise they will be supported by big business, who fear losing access to the single market and losing cheap compliant labour from EU east European states.

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When this happens, the majority of British people opposed to EU membership should get off their knees and fight for democracy to be upheld.

There is no going back

Ernest Lundy, by email

Our ears and eyes are constantly being assailed by new words attached to the subject of Brexit, words such as ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ Brexit.

The remainers are producing all kinds of arguments to deny the referendum result. They use the tactics of prevarication, and that by so doing hope to see a democratic vote reversed by the old methods of delay, divide and conquer.

Over the years those of us who have been involved with meetings on various subjects, in which differing views have been put to a vote, a majority decision has always stood.

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What an indictment it would be if the intractability of those with opposite views were to achieve success by denying democracy.

We would become the laughing stock of Europe, if we are not already.

The months are passing swiftly since the vote was taken and all we see and hear is talk. We have reached the point of no return and there must be no going back.

Fiver furore leaves me cold

Nick Keer, Cottingley

I was wondering how long it would be before I read about the new £5 note containing an animal by-product.

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Come on! It’s not like you’re going to eat any of them, is it? And getting all steamed up over something so unbelievably petty is laughable.

I love sausages, steaks, chops and Sunday roasts, and I’m not going to let any veggie or vegan try and convince me otherwise. The day I join them will be February 30!

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