YEP Letters November 9

Removing free TV licences ‘travesty’

Hilary Andrews, Leeds

SO the BBC is thinking of removing free TV licences for the over 75s. What a travesty this would be.

Many older people rely on TV for companionship, particularly in this day and age when many families live far apart and visit rarely. Why not take a few thousand pounds from so-called 
celebrities such as Graham Norton and Gary Lineker?

I’m sure money could easily be made from such modest cuts of enormous salaries without depriving older people of their best friends.

Infrastructure of airport is sadly lacking

Margaret Scott, Wrenthorpe.

I COULDN’T agree more with reader Phil Brown that Leeds Bradford Airport is not fit for purpose (YEP Letters, November 8).

I have used this airport three times this year and each time the escalator for arriving passengers has not been working. The last time was just a few weeks ago. We had an horrendous landing because of gale force winds and had to wait at least 15 minutes for the bus to arrive to take us to the arrivals entrance.

When I asked a member of staff why it wasn’t working, she couldn’t tell me. We have heard all the rhetoric about future plans for a brand new arrivals hall, but in the meantime passengers are facing all kinds of problems because the infrastructure is not capable of handling the movement of passengers and luggage when more than one plane arrives at the same time.

A relative recently experienced a long delay on arrival at the luggage retrieval area because three planes had landed and only one carousel was working. Could more effort be put into making the journey through the airport more organised, and providing more space for passengers rather than pubs, cafes and shops?

Remember animals that served in war

Petra Ingram, Chief Executive, Brooke Action for Working Horses and Donkeys.

THIS week, people up and down the UK will remember the soldiers from the British Armed Forces that served in the First World War, honouring the service they gave and the lives tragically lost.

This year is particularly poignant, as it marks 100 years since the end of the conflict. What many people don’t realise is that alongside the six million soldiers who left the UK to fight in the war were a million horses, donkeys and mules, conscripted from hundreds of thousands of British families. As some of the biggest and strongest animals that took part, chosen for their courage, strength and loyalty, they carried our cavalry, munitions, supplies and of course, our wounded.

One of our supporters, Anna who now lives in Spain, told us about her great uncle, Joseph Carling from Pateley Bridge, who served as a private in the 1st/5th Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment. One day he was sent out with a fellow soldier and two mules to find food supplies. Suddenly, the mules stopped walking and began to dig their hooves into the ground. A military vehicle drove down the road ahead of them and exploded. Joseph thanked those mules for saving his life as he would have walked over the bomb himself had they not stopped.

Brooke is a legacy of the First World War, originally set up to help the war horses that were sold into hard labour in Egypt after the war. We have now grown to become a global working equine welfare charity, improving the lives of horses, donkeys and mules all over the world.

At Brooke, we’re inviting animal lovers to join us for Every Horse Remembered Month, to remember the equine heroes that gave service and sacrifice. You can hold your own remembrance moment for horses at home, at a place important to you or even at your local cenotaph if you have permission.

Through November you can also wear an Every Horse Remembered pin badge alongside your remembrance poppy, as horses, donkeys and mules were alongside soldiers on the battlefield.

Join us at thebrooke.org/everyhorse and use #EveryHorseRemembered on social media to share your messages and photos.

In total, eight million horses, donkeys and mules died during WW1, many from the harsh environments they worked in. 100 million of these animals still work around the world today, supporting people’s livelihoods.

By joining us to highlight the struggle of horses of the past, we can create better lives for those living and working now and in the future.

Thanks to my knight of road

Barbara Bird, Stockport.

COULD you please help me thank a Good Samaritan who changed a wheel for me at the Ferrybridge service station on October 26?

He pointed out the flat tyre before I went out onto the M62 and did the job himself.

When I got to my B&B at Spurn, the owner took the wheel to a garage eight miles away and put it on the car when he got back. Is this just Yorkshire folk or do we forget just how kind people can be generally?

Young are force fed bitter Brexit

John Cole, Baildon

ONE of the most reprehensible episodes of British history just before the Great War was the forced-feeding of those suffragettes on hunger strikes in the prison system.

Today the Brexiteers are seeking to force-feed the UK population with our leaving the European Union. Their excuse is that we voted for it (narrowly – 52 to 48 per cent) in June 2016 and therefore we have to go ahead with it.

The above justification loses all value when we factor in the shift in popular opinion since the referendum vote. All polling evidence shows that, in the light of additional information, 53 per cent would vote for Remain, and that is using the most conservative estimate of the shift.

Since June 2016 nearly two million new young voters have come onto the electoral register. Of those who intend to vote, an astonishing 87 per cent would support Remain.

With what justification can our parliamentarians insist on force-feeding us Brexit when the majority have zero appetite for it?

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