Our region’s broadband is not designed for home working

I LIVE in a commuter suburb of the region’s largest city and have just spent most of the period between 8 and 9am trying to get an internet connection in order to do some banking. I sympathise completely with the internet problems of those in rural areas.

My internet connection problems have coincided with Covid-19 and the sudden presence of large numbers of people working from home.

The very big reduction in traffic pollution is great for our health, but the additional homeworkers are a disaster for a communication infrastructure never fully upgraded from old copper cables to fibre by BT.

This provides a very uneven quality across the town, as unacceptable here as in the country.

You do not need a degree in town planning to know that the sudden introduction of large numbers of commuters into formerly balanced communities destroys the natural order and over-stresses all of the infrastructure, so why do it?

I will again be contacting my broadband provider, but am not hopeful that yet another neglected piece of northern infrastructure will do any better than our railways and roads.

From: Josephine Downs, Swinton, Malton.

I’M not against the principle of evening up North and South as we recover from the coronavirus crisis (The Yorkshire Post, May 16), but any business plans and activities – and indeed everything we do in our lives as individuals – needs to take into account the looming climate crisis and the urgency of emissions reduction.

As we gradually come out of lockdown, it is a good time to re-evaluate how we can develop a more sustainable economy that will provide employment.

Many different actions across the world will be required to bring down global warming emissions, but here in the UK a massive programme to insulate our poor housing stock will not just bring down overall levels of CO2 emissions but also cut household bills, create jobs and help local economies.

The coronavirus situation has also highlighted failures in both our care system and in the way we financially support people in difficult times. The introduction of basic Income Support for everyone would ensure that, at a time of crisis, help would be available across the board.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

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James Mitchinson