YEP Letters: July 11

Brace yourself for news repeats

Edna Levi, Leeds 17

I wholeheartedly agree with all the point raised by Woodward’s World (YEP July 7) regarding recent TV newscasts.

How many times did we have to see Corbyn coming (unsmiling) out of his front door, Boris Johnson putting on his helmet and his rear view on his bike and Farage knocking back yet another glass of beer?

Now we are obviously going to see Blair entering and alighting from his car! Add to these political snapshots the pre-match cheering of Welsh football fans before (sorry) their great team lost. Being a tennis fan I can tolerate all the useless chatter by overpaid commentators prior to a match but then we get them telling us what we have already viewed.

Viewers brace yourselves! The next big debate is whether the Spice Girls are going to get together again - hope you can withstand the time til the news explodes!

Women plead for equality over pensions

Lynne Bell, by email

WASPI – Women Against State Pension Inequality – demonstrated at the House of Parliament on Wednesday, June 29.

WASPI is an action group campaigning against the unfair changes to the State Pension Age (SPA), imposed upon women born on or after April 6, 1951 (and how the changes were implemented). This includes both the 1995 and 2011 Acts.

Women have seen their pension age changed twice with little or no notification. Retirement plans have been shattered with some women having to sell their homes in order to survive. Quite a few women in their sixties now find themselves on the job market due to redundancy or other reasons and are having difficulty finding work, as there is still a lot of ageism in the workplace.

JSA (Jobseekers’ Allowance), if you qualify, can only be claimed for six months and then it is means tested resulting in no income at all until they reach state pension age for those who have a small private pension or some savings. Most are having to live on these savings in order to survive. These women have worked for more than 40 years and will therefore have nothing to show for it.

The quick acceleration of the second rise in state pension brought in by the 2011 pension act means that women born post-April 1953 had four months added to their pension age for every month born which results in women born in the same year who left school at the same time (aged 15 for most) now have a difference of more than three years in their State Pension age.

For instance, my friend born on April 1, 1953 has her state pension, bus pass and fuel allowance now while I was born just six months later and have to wait until March 2018. Almost two years later.

As this act was brought in 2011, women who were approaching their sixties then had no time to prepare for the increase. To be clear WASPI does not want to undo the 1995 Pension Act. It is unfair that because of this, WASPI’s concerns and requests for “fair transitional state pension arrangements” are being dismissed and taken out of context. It is unfortunate that the government continues to misinterpret this. There is a group for Castleford and surrounding areas named Castleford Waspis which also attended this demo last month in London. They had pre-arranged to meet up with Pontefract and Castleford MP Yvette Cooper after the demonstration. Ms Cooper is a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group set up to help the WASPI Women and has been very supportive throughout.

Democracy part of culture

James Kirk, by email

I would like to thank Rev Robin Paterson for the rambling didactic in response to a letter printed in the Evening Post in which I expressed my dismay at the vile vitriol aimed at the leave voters.

He takes exception to my use of the word ‘sheep’ to describe remain voters, yet makes no reference to my defence or support for foreign fighters and workers who have helped build this country.

Just what culture is the Rev ‘wanting to preserve’? I thought the Christian thing to do was tear down walls not put them up.

I am fully aware this is a Christian country, and as a Roman Catholic would never use religion to suggest a country is some how civilised and shaped by it.

I would like to quote a very prejudicial doctrine that was handed down from the Supreme Court in 1823. It said that Indian nations do not have title to their lands because they weren’t Christians. That the first Christian nations to discover an area of heathen lands has the absolute title.

Chief Pontiac. “They came with a Bible and their religion. They stole our land and crushed our spirit and now tell us we should be thankful to the ‘Lord’ for being saved.”

I have never had a problem with religion. Only the people that practice it. For the Rev to suggest exit voters “got their way” tastes like bitter wine. Is not democracy a part of our culture?

How in the name of God has a referendum spiritually damaged the United Kingdom or the nation changed overnight as the good Reverend states? More doom and gloom forecast, am I sensing a pattern here?

Religion is for those who fear going to Hell, spirituality is for those who have been there.

Rev Paterson can no more see the future than I.

The best way to predict the future is to create it, show some faith!

Residents need pride in city

Mike Loakman, by email

I live in New Zealand but Wakefield will always be my home.

I have seen the top of Westgate turned into a soulless area during the day, as all the nightclubs are situated there. The pride of Wakefield, the fabulous open markets which attracted shoppers from all over the West Riding, have gradually been eliminated in favour of sterile malls.

I simply find it absolutely incomprehensible that the council has allowed the total eyesore of the ABC Cinema to still remain standing after all the discussions about refurbishment.

Doesn’t anyone on the council have the guts to say that’s it and implement a compulsory purchase order to rectify the situation asap?

What about the famous Wakefield Trinity grounds at Belle Vue? Like the flower gardens that used to greet visitors to the park, they have both been neglected over the years.

Residents need to have pride in their city, and if these few areas I’ve mentioned were addressed with a genuine pro active intent then Wakefield would become a far better place to call home.

The open markets could always be re-established in a suitable location with encouragement from the council – and I don’t mean the half-hearted effort they tried last time by the bus station.

In the case of open markets, the bigger, the better.

Annoying habits on tennis courts

Malcolm Shedlow, Moortown

Is it just me that while enjoying watching the tennis at Wimbledon finds it annoying that the players in doubles matches touch hands after every stroke?

This silly habit goes on whether the point is won or lost.

Even worse than the doubles players is the top class player who touches his shoulders, his neck and his head before serving.

Well done to plucky Wales

T Maunder, Kirkstall

Further to my recent letter the YEP published about the woeful England team, may I say “well done” to the Wales team, who put the overpaid, selfie-obsessed, so-called “celebrities” of the former team to shame.

Likewise their fans who have been, apparently, the epitome of politeness and good humour compared to some of the England fans.

The Welsh players made a point of applauding their fans at the end of the Portugal match, which is more than some England players bothered to do.

The fans have expressed their thanks to the team for doing so well and for providing such hope and entertainment (one of the main reasons sport is supposed to exist for , let’s face it).

So, well done and thanks for entertaining me, a person who can, most of the time, get by quite happily without taking the slightest interest in footie.