YEP Letters: April 21

UK driving standards are abysmal

Shaun Kavanagh, by email

Being in the category of older drivers and having been trained to a very high standard, including pursuit driving, it is usually the inconsiderate “boy racer” type of driver who generally create problems on our roads or those with little or no consideration/patience for other road users.

Newly qualified drivers must appreciate that gaining a driving licence is only the first stage of developing skills in relation to the “art” of driving. Good driving comes with lots of practice, common sense, observation, anticipation, consideration whilst adhering to road traffic law.

Being granted a driving licence does not give anyone a God given right to drive like an idiot, as some do. Any government introduction which generates a better standard of driving has to be embraced. Driving standards in the UK are abysmal with inconsiderate and impatient drivers being seen all too often, including young and old alike.

Dry days so why no play at Headingley?

Rob Carlton, De Pinte, Belgium.

AS a long-time supporter of Yorkshire cricket, it had been with dismay and mounting resignation that I have been noting the cancellation of play at Headingley for each of the four days of the Championship fixture against county champions Essex.

From what I can gather, it hasn’t rained in Leeds during this four-day spell, although a long period of wet weather preceded the fixture.

However, it was reported in 2008 that ‘Yorkshire have been given a £600,000 grant to install state-of-the-art drainage at Headingley Carnegie, which should allow play to recommence much more quickly after rain interruptions’ – and this drainage system was installed the following winter.

How come, then, that a system that is less than a decade old is struggling to remove water from the outfield after three days without rain?

Given the natural slope of the ground away from the Kirkstall Lane end, I expect that the drainage system will have been engineered to take advantage of that slope to shift water away towards the Rugby Stand end.

That end is now being redeveloped, photos of which indicate the building site extended, at least during the winter, up to the boundary near the White Rose Stand.

I find it difficult to ignore the suspicion, therefore, that work on the new development may have blocked or at least compromised the outflows of the drains on the White Rose Stand side of the ground.

Information has been scarce, but what I have read has put all the blame on bad weather. I think it is fair to say that rain in Leeds is not unusual, whereas four dry days of a Championship match without play does seem extraordinary.

Powell’s views belong in past

John Appleyard, Liversedge.

RACISM was rife in the UK during the 1960s with a colour bar and discrimination in housing and employment, and the 1968 Race Relations Act was brought in by a Labour government to counter this racism.

Fifty years ago Enoch Powell made his speech against immigration and Europe to a meeting of Tories in the West Midlands in what became known as his ‘rivers of blood’ speech.

He was sacked by Tory Prime Minister Edward Heath, but even today there are people who argue that ‘Enoch was right’. Powell’s speech made racism look respectable and, in 1968, shortly after his speech, the far-right National Front marched through Huddersfield and, according to their organisers, gained eight new members on the back of Powell’s speech.

We then saw an upsurge of violence against immigrants.

Powell was an opportunist who was hoping one day to lead the Conservative Party. He failed miserably.

Racism still exists among some people but we have made advances in race relations by being far more tolerant with each other than we were in the days of Enoch Powell.

Mad to risk a world war

Dr David Hill, CEO, World Innovation Foundation, Huddersfield.

WHEN you take all the innuendos concerning the so-called chemical attack in Douma away, the decision that we have to take military action to show that we in the ‘wise West’ need to tell Assad to stop using chemical weapons, is sheer madness.

Indeed, if our politicians will risk a nuclear world war between the West and Russia (probably backed up by China, as they ordered one of their largest warships into the area just before the missiles rained down on Syria), they have not the sane intelligence as a normal human in my humble opinion.

Indeed by risking lighting the fuse of a major war like no other, they are not in my mind the people who should be leading this country. If everything had gone the wrong way, there would have been no people or no nation to see anymore after the event of nuclear Armageddon.

Thousands are being killed and injured each month in Yemen, including a large number of children.

Therefore a second question has to be solicited is, where is the West’s sense of proportion? There appear to be double standards on a colossal scale, and why?

Stronger action needed on flytipping

Sarah Lee, Head of Policy, Countryside Alliance.

THE Countryside Alliance welcomes the commitment to review the current punishments for the illegal disposal of waste, but is concerned that if stronger action is not taken then we will continue to see fly-tipping increasing every year.

We must all work harder to fight this blight.

Farmers and landowners must report any suspicious activity and put in place prevention measures to make it more difficult for people to fly-tip on their land.

But this must be backed up by local authorities using the full force of the law against those who fly-tip and strengthening the law where appropriate.

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