YEP Letters: April 14

Show respect for city’s history

Dave Walker, Wakefield

Queen Elizabeth Grammar School (QEGS) say they will buy the old Clayton Hospital in Wakefield but they have no use for it so they will destroy it and build a swimming pool.

Why don’t they have any respect for Wakefield’s history? If they don’t want the hospital, they shouldn’t buy it.

Why the NHS didn’t advertise to a wider market I don’t know. I pass the hospital nearly every day but never saw a for sale sign. Is it possible that the old hospital was offered only to QEGS? As an institution QEGS and the girls’ high school take from the local community and give sweet nothing. They pay no council tax or business rates because they are classed as ‘charities’. The parents of the pupils of schools cause endless traffic problems every morning which the schools refuse to address despite repeated requests from the council.

Obviously private schools are a bad idea and prevent social mobility. But it is worse because these schools – which purport to promote the values of “respect, responsibility and kindness” – just walk all over the heritage of the local community and destroy any historic buildings in their way.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE YEP NEWS HEADLINES

Make life better by filling in city’s potholes

R Chapman, Tingley

once again, “cash strapped” Leeds City Council seem to have got their priorities wrong.

While many roads in Leeds are full of potholes, some of which are bad enough to damage vehicles, the council has decided to install full width speed ramps on the mini-roundabouts in Middleton, enough tarmac has been used to do this as being enough to resurface the entire road end to end. Speed ramps and bumps have no evidence to show they help in road safety and if anything make matters worse with the increased pollution and congestion they create.

Pull your finger out LCC, if you have the money to waste on such projects, fill in the potholes and make life better for the people of Leeds and not just the anti-traffic brigade.

Worthless promises

Terry Watson, Adel

Why are some GP surgeries open seven days a week with open surgeries as well as appointments and late evenings?

Other practices in the same postal districts are open only five days and have no open surgeries, and a three week wait if a patient wants to see a named doctor. In the sixties if we wanted to see a doctor, we went to the surgery and waited in a waiting room to be seen.

If we were ill during the night, we phoned for a visit and were seen by our own GP. Some practices will only discuss one ailment at a time in the eight minutes you are allowed for an appointment,if you want to discuss another ailment you need to make another appointment. Cameron promised that we would all have GP surgeries opening seven days a week, twelve hours a day, but we should know by now what “call me Dave’s” promises are worth, not a lot.

European justice?

June Warner, Kirk Deighton

It is not just the ECHR which sends down scores of perverse decisions affecting the UK but the European Court of Justice is at least as bad.

The Luxembourg-based ECJ consistently defends giant banks and multinationals ahead of the interests of ordinary taxpayers and small businesses.Decisions undermining and overruling our tax laws could easily cost the UK up to £50 billion pounds!

Hardly surprising then, that these hefty refunds make the banks and giant conglomerates and CBI so very desperate to fund the ‘In Campaign’ is it?

Retesting older drivers

Ernest Lundy, by email

Current news reveals the re-emergence of two old subjects: so-called dangerous dog breeds and retesting of older drivers.

They keeping coming around like the seasons of the year. As for dogs, away from all other considerations, I like the comments of a person on the radio this morning who said: “They should look at the behaviour of the animal, and not the breed”. Seems fair enough to me. Most of us are aware that owners have, or should have, direct responsibility of how a dog is raised and treated, which influences its subsequent behaviour.

As for the retesting of older drivers, the same old arguments rumble on about failing eyesight, slow reactions and other problems of advancing years. These are conditions drivers must meet when licences are renewed every few years, with the recommendation of their GPs. Drivers of all age groups have accidents, and will continue to do so, regardless of all impositions of age, health, fully fit or not.

As so often in the past, as one who falls well into the category of ‘old driver,’ with a proven safe driving record going back to 1946, the continued attack on my ability to drive is nothing less than insult.

Furthermore, the gauge of who should or should not be subjected to retesting lies with the record of the individual, through their insurers and the number of accidents they may or may not have been involved in.

Then if there were to be some liaison between insurance companies and the DVLA, the testing or banning of offending drivers would have more merit, rather than wasting time testing the innocent regardless of age.

Humour has fallen flat

John Cole, Shipley

Recently you kindly published a letter of mine in which I suggested an amendment to the voting system to be used in the EU referendum.

My suggestion was that younger voters (18 to 38) be entitled to three votes, two votes for the middle aged and one for the elderly (of whom I am one).

For the avoidance of doubt, my suggestion was totally “tongue in cheek” - I was attempting to be satirical.

I now gather that my humour has fallen flat and most readers are taking me seriously. Please can this second letter set the record straight? It was a joke.

The serious point to make is that young people will have to live longer with the (adverse) consequences of any majority vote to leave the EU. Hence they have every incentive to go out and vote “Remain”.

Finally, all are welcome to my public talk on the EU issue – Thursday April 21, 7.30pm at Baildon Community Link Cliffe Avenue, Baildon.

Give me a refund!

Mavis Harrison, Leeds

Nine million pounds! A leaflet (glossy) to tell us about what leaving the EU entails, paid for by the taxpayers.

I would like a refund!

Time to save our country

C Allman, Farsley

When are the people of Britain going to wake up about Cameron and the Tories?

He has not told the truth from the day he was elected and if he did I would not trust him. He is ruining our country and nobody seems to care.

My hat goes off to doctors and nurses, they are fighting to save your NHS and getting no help at all. The Tory Government set out from day one to ruin the NHS so they could sell that off to some other country, like they have sold everything else off, and leave us with nothing.

Now they are scaremongering over leaving the EU. Well we couldn’t be any worse off than we are now, and it will all get worse with this lot.

Come out of the EU and 
get the Tories out. And Corbyn get your act 
together and fight these Tories, you have enough ammunition now and save our country.

Parade for the Queen’s birthday

Olga Twist, Whinmoor

Are we northerners too busy scratching out a living that the Queen’s 90th birthday seems to have passed by unnoticed?

No street parties, no big bonfire and fireworks in Roundhay Park. It seems only people down south seem to have entered into any flag waving.

Why have our cadets not put on a few parades throughout the towns if only to remind people the Queen also served in the Armed Services during the war? And the parades could be mustered on a Sunday for a church parade.

I am sure every cadet would be proud to say they were on parade for the Queen’s 90th birthday.