YEP letters: November 15

You have your say on striking bus drivers, Donald Trump and a young boy's pride in his great-grandfather's medals.

So proud of his family’s medals

Marie Mosley, by email

This is Charlie Bishop aged five in Featherstone on Sunday.

He asked if he could go to the service as he is very proud of his great grandparents medals.

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The YEP asked readers to send in their photographs of Remembrance Sunday and we loved this one of Charlie.

If you, your family or friends are taking part in any event, or if you just want to share a moment, a favourite view, a celebration or you see news in the making, we’d love you to share your pictures and your comments with us and other readers. You can do so on Facebook by liking our page and commenting or sending us a message, writing in or by emailing us at [email protected].

Your social media comments on the bus drivers strike action.

Angry bus drivers in West Yorkshire yesterday held a 24 hour strike which began at 3am, and affected buses from 6.30am.

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Members of the Unite union had rejected a pay deal and voted for strike action. Arriva runs services across the region including from Leeds to Wakefield, Pontefract, Castleford, Dewsbury, Batley, Heckmondwike and Morley.

YEP readers took to social media to express their views on the industrial action, and on bus services in general. Here are a few of the comments from the Facebook page.

Lee Golding, on Facebook

Dear Arriva. I have two kids who I pay for and they both have monthly bus passes so please advise how I can claim money back for the day’s travel they have lost, as I now have to take them to and from college.

Danny Hirst, on Facebook

So Arriva strike instead of First but yet Arriva charge more than First do in the first place for bus fares, so I don’t understand how Arriva have room to complain nor pay more to their drivers than First do. Both are a joke.

Amy Green, on Facebook

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Disgraceful behaviour yet again. I hope Arriva bosses don’t back down. Dock their wages and ban overtime. Then let’s see who’s striking.

I’m all for standing up for yourself, but do it in the correct way. This just gets the public’s backs up.

Margaret Moffat, on Facebook

It’s not the drivers’ fault the fares are high and the buses are rubbish. Some drivers are nice and polite, some are not, but they have families to feed and have to pay rent and other bills so I don’t blame them.

Lisa Booth, on Facebook

Myself and my kids catch the bus to get to work and school each morning. Obviously today I am affected but have made alternative arrangements. I fully support the workers over pay, bus travel is not cheap so where is the money going?

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With regard to timetable this is something that needs looking at. It’s a shocking service, I often wait 30/45 minutes for a bus to show.

Michael John Junior Daniels, on Facebook

Arriva and First, sort yourselves out. The buses are disgraceful looking, they 
smell and the service needs fixing.

Can’t stand the prices we have to pay, you don’t just charge us an extra 5p you charge us an extra 20p, then you still strike.

When I get a smile from the bus driver, a pleasant journey to and from work, the service is on time and the prices lowered then I’m sure we customers will be a lot happier. Customers come first.

Jason Manners, on Facebook

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I WOULDN’T mind if they turned up on time and smiled and said thank you, until then don’t moan about pay!

Michelle Readman Wood, on Facebook

Glad they’re standing up for themselves. More people should do it. I am totally behind you. Good on you.

Wendy Stringer, on Facebook

Neither Arriva or First deserve anywhere near what they get, never mind a pay rise. It should be a pay cut.

Andy Byrne, on Facebook

Good on them. Demand the 11 per cent MPs just awarded themselves or Google Arriva bosses and see what you think.

Tracy Rogers, on Facebook

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THE only people they disrupt is the people that pay their wages. Idiots!

Let us know your views

Your letters, every day

Join the debate or start one of your own. Email us at [email protected]

Politicians have no place there

R Kimble, Hawksworth

Yesterday I watched the Remembrance ceremony and also saw interviewed two men seriously injured in Iraq. Then Tony Blair appeared in a line with other no-marks like Brown and Major.

That war was illegal so what was he doing there? It’s an insult to the dead and especially those who died or were injured in that war. In fact, the presence of any politicians is an insult.

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These politicians are the people who fight wars from their armchairs. I find it thoroughly distasteful and I know my dad would be turning in his grave at the spectacle of them being there.

Spend the cash fixing the roads

Shaun Kavanagh, by email

Reading the Yorkshire Evening Post (November 10) regarding the best way to spend £173.5m then the answer is easy – repair the abomination of what thousands of motorist call our road surfaces in and around Leeds.

Coun Richard Lewis recently stated in a YEP article that £100 million would be needed to carry out proper repairs, instead, no doubt, to the botched repairs we see all too often.

The trolley bus idea was another harebrained idea by the current Leeds City Council, which would have favoured the few, whereas road repairs would favour the vast majority of vehicle users in our city.

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By all means create a panel of experts to looking at spending, but that should have been done long before now.

Perhaps he’d like Trump

R Kimble, Hawksworth

If Bernard Duffy (Opinion in reply to T Maunder, November 9) thinks that a policeman hitting a striking miner over the head several times with his truncheon is a good example of “upholding the law, brought in by Parliament”, then perhaps he should move to America now Trump is in charge.

He likes a bit of State Police control of protest himself, doesn’t he? They could become good friends.

Trump is first sign of reform

Martyn Greene, Director of the Free Parliament Campaign

Donald Trump’s victory is the final proof that it is game over for the political elite. Corbyn, Brexit and now Trump; all add up to an attack on a system that is no longer fit for purpose. However, this is not the beginning of the end for democracy; it is simply the end of the beginning. After we won the vote, not much more than 100 years ago, we made a big mistake in abrogating our power to political parties. Politicians quickly set us at war with each other to further their own careers and the rest is history.

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The political elite have marginalised and impoverished their constituents. At the same time, failing education, healthcare and employment have created a downtrodden class whose hopes and dreams have been crushed. Little wonder that people have tired of political tribalism and are now fighting back.

Our campaign, which has the backing of Lord Digby Jones, will help candidates overcome the big parties. Independent MPs alone can put the needs and aspirations of their constituents ahead of the demands of a political party.

The election of Donald Trump as president of the USA is without doubt a game changer and will help speed the reform we so badly need. For that reason alone, we welcome his success.