YEP letters: September 1

X-Factor is breaking my heart!

R Kimble, Hawksworth

I have just inadvertently caught a snippet of X Factor at the moment some young man with a daft haircut has announced he is going to sing Cecilia “a song by The Vamps”. This song is not a Vamps song it is a Simon & Garfunkel song, just like Hallelujah is a Leonard Cohen sing and not an Alexandra Burke song, as I have heard one “contestant” state. Why can’t ordon’t these people check a song’s credentials before singing it ? Why, also, do the judges not challenge such misconceptions?

I watched clips from this show because I’ve seen reports on BT News items that it has improved. Not so. We get the same old stories from contestants : I was bullied at school ; I’ve got self-esteem issues; I’ve got confidence issues I want to live the dream and not stack shelves . What is this attitude to hard working people?

Profanities will become the norm

John Wainwright, by email

I AM not as bothered by occasional swearing as A Hague (letters Aug 30), but one thing which does depress me is the lack of variety.

Most young people these days only appear to know one swear word which they use incesssntly - every other sentence they utter being punctuated by effing this and effing that.

Worse still if/when these people become parents their offspring will inherit their casual profanity as if it is normal.

Farewell to MISTER Jepson

Tony Winstanley, Castleford

It was with great sadness that I read of the passing of the greatest ambassador Rugby League has ever had.

Harry Jepson was the secretary of the Hunslet schools rugby teams in the 1960s when I was attending Middleton secondary school.

I was fortunate enough to be selectad to play for the Hunslet schools team and Mr Jepson was always there encouraging the youngsters of South Leeds of whom he was always so proud. Many many years later I met him whille shopping in Rothwell and I was absolutely staggerd when we not only discussed those days but without been propmted he remembered my name.

I read recently that Gary Schofield said that having known Harry Jepson from schooldays you would forever address him as MISTER Jepson.

That is exactly how I addressed him that day. To hundreds of south Leeds schoolboys he will always be MISTER Jepson. R.I.P. Slr. And Hunslet WILL sweep the seas again.

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Wait is too long for diagnosis

Jaimes Lewis Moran, by email

In response to recent news about the NHS failing to diagnose Autistic people, or to be exact younger children (despite their pledge to do otherwise) it’s worth noting that these failings are more than likely down to never-ending cuts to essential services, central Government constantly demonising doctors, nurses and experts, or worse new legislation that demands foreign students go home immediately after their courses end.

Also, speaking from experience I too know what it’s like to ‘need’ a diagnosis; in my case it took a many number of months to achieve.

It’s worth mentioning too that I was only diagnosed with Aspergers in 2015, AND I’m twenty two years old!

To make matters worse, throughout four years of college not a single tutor was aware or indeed noticed my quite obvious Autistic mannerisms.

Flood defence or cycle routes?

Kevin Brook, by email

Let’s think about it Flood defences or new Cycle routes. It’s a no brainer

Asking the right questions

D Angood, by email

As a long standing opponent and critic of the super cycle highway I have to take Coun Lewis to task over some of his positives for the project.

First he states it did not cost £30m only £21m, then says the Government contributed £18m and the remaining £11m from WYCA and Leeds and Bradford.

Elementary addition makes that £29m. However nobody but the council saw the actual breakdown of the figures concerned. We still wonder what the actual cost of the cycle highway will be when it is finally completed and are any time penalties incurred by the contractors?

Did the WYCA and Leeds and Bradford councils really converse with cyclists as to what would be an appropriate scheme to improve the area for cyclists or did they decide to construct a white elephant and then force people to use it?

Surely a more advantageous way of spending the allocation would have been to look at the access to where the cyclists want to cycle and then provide a scheme that they would use. More cyclists are leisure cyclists so a scheme to cater for those, for example, improving the A65 from Leeds to Skipton with offshoots to popular places such as Otley, Bolton Abbey, Burnsall, Grassington , Malham and so on, would have been a more befitting use of the money.

I too travel the Stanningley Road stretch virtually every day at different times and I have yet to count cyclists in double figures using the track on any journey undertaken. I have seen a very small number still using the carriageway causing other vehicles to take evasive action. Is this going to be made into an offence like those for a vehicle encroaching the cycle track?

“It has been retro fitted into our existing imperfect road system”. Does that quote tell a tale? Can Coun Lewis enlighten the poor benighted vehicle driver why we still have an existing imperfect road system? I am sure many of the electorate can supply a succinct answer to that.

The question about priorities that was raised lies with the majority of road users and that majority is with the drivers of motorised vehicles.

Countries like Holland and Denmark are similar in nature to the fenlands of Lincolnshire and Cambridge, they do not have hills, valleys, dales and mountains, which is why they are able to provide adequate facilities for cyclists quite easily. Does Coun Lewis have the option of flattening the land between Leeds and Bradford to make the landscape void of any undulations?

I agree with his comments regarding Park and Ride as these have proved positive and more should be done to provide more in relevant areas, e.g. next to railway stations where there is sufficient space.

Vernon Wood in his letter printed on the same day states the obvious as to why cyclists will be reluctant to use this misbegotten construction. He is right when he says that any journey will be an uphill struggle and it is inconceivable to believe that large numbers of commuters will be willing to face such a journey either before or after a gruelling eight or nine-hour shift.

There could have been so many better ways to use that money if only a proper consultation had taken place with the right questions being asked. Right now there is a questionnaire from the council that will be used as a consultation process regarding the future of transport in the area that does not ask the right questions. Are we going to see a similar result to this process as we have seen in the provision of the CSH?

Photo would stop abuse

Michael Dean, Leeds

Further to stories in the press re abuse of Blue Badges, I note that some time ago the Government of the day attempted to do something about this.

They had new badges printed with the photograph of the owner on. As I understand a female pressure group insisted that it would make their members vunerable to attack, therefore the Government gave in to the pressure and said the photograph should be placed on the reverse of the badge. What a farce!

No wonder theft of badges have trebled in the space of three years and the number of people caught abusing the scheme has risen nearly threefold in five years.

In my opinion the government should have stuck to its original intention to display the photograph and maybe the abuse could have been stopped.

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