YEP Letters: March 21

Check out today's YEP letters
Picture by Ian West/PA WirePicture by Ian West/PA Wire
Picture by Ian West/PA Wire

Walking is easiest way to keep active

Dr Ruth Gelletlie, by email

Now that the council is introducing 20mph zones, maybe we can do more to encourage children to walk to school.

You report that nearly one in four children finishing primary school in Leeds are now classified as obese, and half of all Leeds children are not achieving the recommended levels of physical activity. The report focuses on sport and leisure centres but walking is the easiest way to keep active.

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It is also free, doesn’t require special clothing or equipment and helps cut traffic-related air pollution too.

Meter problems ‘not of council’s making’

Coun Richard Lewis, Ward Member for Pudsey & Executive Member for Regeneration, Transport and Planning

Your front page article (March 15) on parking meters which have been put out of commission played down – quite understandably – the huge challenge faced by the council to keep meters operational.

Quite simply, there are organised criminal gangs who have powerful enough cutting equipment to get into the meters to obtain the cash inside – and this is happening country-wide.

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In Leeds, they are mainly operating in areas and at times when there are few people around, so certain parts of the city suffer more than others.

Given that the cost of replacing a parking meter is about £4,000, I’m sure your readers will understand that we have a problem on our hands.

Replacing meters in vulnerable areas where they may again be targeted makes no sense financially and the council needs the income to pay for council services.

Using Parkmobile is not ideal, but I would like to reassure your readers that the council does not receive a penny of the 25p administration charge.

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I am also particularly concerned about the inconvenience for people who do not use mobile phones.

The council is urgently looking at a package of measures to deal with the situation we’re in – but it’s most definitely not of our making.

EU has shown disdain for UK

Martin J Phillips, Leeds 16

I am unsure where John Cole (YEP Letters March 19) gets the idea that the people who voted for Brexit have now had a change of mind. Every Brexiteer I know is even more convinced they made the correct decision.

The way that the EU have talked of ‘punishment’ for British voters and the way they have tried to dictate the terms of our ‘parole’ and eventual ‘release’ has reinforced our commitment to leave as soon as possible.

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I actually believe that more people would vote to leave if there were a second referendum as the EU has now shown it’s true colours and the disdain it has for the UK.

Sadly we have a wimp of a Prime Minister who is allowing the EU to walk all over us.

While I was no fan of Margaret Thatcher, at least she would have stood up to the ‘bullies from Brussels’.

I made the right choice on Brexit

John Wainwright, by email

I was starting to hope we’d heard the last of John Cole on the subject of Brexit, but now he’s back and more arrogant than ever. Leave voters are “too stubborn to admit they got it wrong” he says, “pig-headed and refusing to re-evaluate” he adds.

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Well I don’t need to re-evaluate, because I know I got it right, and 17.4 million other voters agreed with me.

If Mr Cole wants to live in a country that gives away £200 million to the rest of the EU every week, and to have our laws made by a cabal of foreigners who we did not vote in and cannot vote out then that is his prerogative, but I do not, and the more I “re-evaluate” my original decision the more certain I am that I made the right choice.

Limit total of students

Hilary Andrews, Leeds.

I WAS pleased to read that the Higher Education Policy Institute had begun to realise that uncapped numbers of students going to university is unsustainable.

They pay £9,200 a year for the privilege, often to do a degree that will not help them get a good job, paid for by government loans.

These are not repayable until they earn £25,000 a year.

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Many of them never will and the taxpayer will have to pick up the slack. Surely a return to capped numbers accepted at university should be reintroduced and more apprenticeships provided?

Time for reform on council tax

Kamran Hussain, Yorkshire and Humber Liberal Democrats Regional Chair and Brexit Spokesperson

The Resolution Foundation has rightly called on radical reforms to the Council Tax system.

It has long been clear that council tax is no longer fit for purpose.

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What was meant to be a temporary replacement for the disastrous poll tax has itself become so deeply unpopular and seen to be unfair, that it can no longer be used for increasing the revenue base of local government.

Not only is council tax regressive in relation to income, but it is also based on property values almost three decades out of date.

It is time for reform.

More items on irritation list

T Maunder, Kirkstall

I would like to thank M Whitehead and K Smith for their responses to my letter about grammar.

Two other items on my irritation list are the way Americans pronounce the letter “a” in some words as if it is the letter “o”. Thus they say “Holloween”, “Oquaman” and “kebob”.

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The other is the constant pronunciation these days of the letter “s” as “sh”. Thus the advert on televison for “Lending Shtream” or the music of the rock band “Shtatush Quo”. Give me shtrength.

Rubbish belongs in the bins

Lynn Hale, Methley

REGARDING the letter from John Finch, I completely agree.

The amount of litter strewn around our beautiful country is unacceptable.

I live in a semi-rural area surrounded by fields with lovely walks, unfortunately on a daily basis items of furniture, garden rubbish, bottles, cans and paper are discarded, why?

So yes, it’s time to roll out a nationwide campaign to promote “Not to drop 
litter”.

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Let’s take pride in our outdoor spaces and dispose of all rubbish where it belongs, in bins!

Credit to Leeds dustbin men

DS Boyes, Leeds 13

LEEDS City Council bin men deserve a vote of thanks for maintaining the service despite very adverse weather two weeks running.

Although the bins may be cleared a day late or at a different time to usual, nevertheless both or black and green bins waste was remove in an efficient way.

Centenary pilgrimage to armistice site

John Phillpott, Press and publicity for Battlefield Memorial Tours.

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THIS year marks the centenary of the signing of the armistice in the forest of Compiegne in northern France that ended the First World War.

French commander-in-chief Marshal Foch convened the armistice talks near the tiny village of Rethondes on November 11, 1918. A memorial site now covers the treaty area. There is also a statue of Marshal Foch. During the Second World War, a second armistice was signed in the forest between France and Nazi Germany on June 22, 1940. Today, the site remains as a memorial to both major world events, and hosts a museum which houses a replica of the original railway carriage in which the treaties were signed.

This summer, Midlands-based research group Battlefield Memorial Tours will be taking a coach party to visit this historic site.

The trip - from Friday, June 22, to Wednesday, June 27 - will also take in a number of key sites on the Ypres Salient, Belgium, and in the Somme area of northern France, the setting for much bloody fighting during 1914-18.

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Battlefield Memorial Tours is an organisation that has evolved from a research group founded 45 years ago by the late Alex Bulloch. Mr Bulloch, a former Birmingham policeman, had an extensive knowledge of military history, and was awarded an MBE in 2008 for his valuable work in guiding and helping large numbers of people to visit the battlefields and memorials of Europe.

The current organisers worked alongside Mr Bulloch on the battlefield trips over a number of years and wish to continue his legacy. For further details, visit www.battlefieldmemorialtours.co.uk or contact organisers Malcolm Payne on 07850 775723 or Brian Long on 01629 650780.

Get in touch

The YEP wants to hear your views. Please send your letters to [email protected]. Please keep letters under 300 words.