YEP Letters: May 24

Check out today's YEP letters.
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Is nothing sacred with the Government?

John Appleyard, Liversdege

My late grandfather served in the Durham Light Infantry Regiment during the First and Second World War.

More than a million men died or were injured in 141 days in the Battle of the Somme 100 years ago.

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Many of the men who returned didn’t like speaking about their experience. it was supposed to be the war to end all wars, but it wasn’t as our leaders repeat the same mistakes over and over again.

The Durham Light Infantry Museum which remembered these brave men is now closed.

Is nothing sacred with this Government?

Norway should be our example to follow

M Meeson, Leeds

The Government’s scare tactics over the EU are false and made by those with everything to gain – the rich and business leaders who will benefit most.

People worry that if Britain left we would lose access to the Single Market and not be able to travel freely. But that is not the case. Britain can cancel its membership of the EU and retain the trade benefits, following Norway’s example.

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The only thing we will lose is the bureaucracy and expense. Norway’s five million people were asked twice whether they wanted to join – with referendums in 1972 and 1994 – and each time, after impassioned debate, narrowly voted no.

Instead Norway, along with Iceland and Liechtenstein, joined the European Economic Area (EEA) – an association of all 27 EU member states, plus the three non-EU members, which are all governed by the Four Freedoms: the free movement of goods, services, persons and capital.

Norway is subject to just one third of the regulation of full EU members, although the EEA has no say over agriculture, fishing or justice and home affairs.

For Norway the arrangement appears to be working well. It is one of the richest and most contented nations on earth, with a GDP per capita of £40,000 – compared to £23,000 in the UK, and an EU average of £21,150.

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Unemployment is at 3.25 per cent, while GDP is growing at 2.75 per cent per year – as it has on average over the last 40 years.

This is the information the Government should be given us and let us make our choice.

Leaving EU will see us prosper

Derek Barker, Moortown

The EU remain propaganda campaign, headed by David Cameron and George Osborne, is again peddling plucked out of the air scare stories in an attempt to persuade those they perceive as being comparatively poorly educated products of a state school education into believing that if we leave the EU it would cause a million job redundancies, falling house prices and World War Three, plus a host of other negative doom and gloom scenarios.

I don’t know how much the private educations of Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne actually cost, but if I were a parent of either of them I would be going back to their private schools and asking for a substantial rebate, for their failure in instilling even the slightest vestige of common sense into them.

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The EU provides us with a trading block of half a billion potential customers to sell our manufactured goods and services to. The rest of the world, which the EU prevents us from trading with, consists of potentially eight billion potential new customers.

I fail to see how leaving the EU can do anything other that increase the prosperity of this country as it is only commonsense that a potential customer base of eight billion is going to provide greater opportunities to sell our goods and services to than a customer base of a paltry half a billion people.

I am convinced that the remain campaign is driven by the personal greed of those who are the big fish in the small EU pond, as I have so far not heard anyone who hasn’t established their political careers, or who have become billionaires or multi-millionaires, as a result of establishing some kind of monopoly in some area of commerce, including the entertainment industry who supports the remain campaign.

The UK used to be known as the workshop of the world because we manufactured and sold a vast array of goods to almost every country prior to our entry into the EU. The unelected EU commissioners, aided and abetted by our own career politicians, deliberately sold every ordinary working man and woman in this country down the river.

Where was our consultation?

D Angood, by email

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What a fine example of a politician’s hypocrisy from Cllr Wakefield in the wake of the criticisms of the Super Cycle Highway (YEP Letters, May 18).

He states that from the start they have consulted widely and involved cyclists in the design to ensure users had the chance to influence construction, also that an independent advisory group of experienced cyclists scrutinised all aspects of the scheme and further to that they had sought input from experts across the country.

Cyclists, experts, independent advisory group, Uncle Tom Cobley et al – everyone it seems except the citizens of Leeds. Were these cyclists the ones who don’t bother about junctions, red lights, riding on pavements and speeding with no concern to other road or pavement users? Were these “experts” transport academics or just someone who can ride a bike?

A line from one of the Goon Shows springs to mind where a new minister for food and fisheries is required. The volunteer says he will do it and by way of qualification states “I’ve kept goldfish, you know”.

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I dread to think what the design was like before the many changes were made, especially so if those changes were meant to be beneficial.

Did those involved think to consult other road users whose numbers are far greater than the present or proposed cyclists?

Did they not foresee the many hazards that would be imposed upon them due to the construction and design.

The carriageway has been narrowed in places to such an extent that any parked or defective vehicle immediately becomes a dangerous obstruction.

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All this just to provide two or three people an hour, who are on two wheels, a free run.

Electric route is way forward

G Geapin, by email

It would have been a travesty had the money been granted for the Trolleybus project.

Had Leeds City Council and the Labour Party bothered to refer to the Edinburgh project they would have seen it exceeded the £300m cost by nearly a billion pounds. With the £170m it has the council has the opportunity to use the latest technology electric buses, or hydrogen, and select one route.

The selected company would operate the whole system – timetables, shelters, maintenance, etc. The latest buses will travel 400km to a charge.

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Any money left over could be used to repairs the terrible roads in Leeds and surrounding areas.

When the cost to the ratepayers of the hearing alone cost £2.3m the mind boggles. And to think Hilary Benn and Councillors Wakefield and Richard Lewis endorsed this insane project. How they keep getting elected baffles me.

How can we put trust in them?

Terry Maunder, Kirkstall

Brexit or Remain? What information do I have to make an informed decision, as a politically responsible individual should do?

Cameron runs a negative campaign based entirely on the dangers of leaving the EU. If you want to motivate people to vote you shouldn’t scare them with stories about house prices, the economy in general, wars and all the negative aspects of leaving, you should regale us with all the positive aspects of staying. It’s called positive reinforcement.

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Then there’s Boris. Positively, he gets bicycles on the streets of London. Unfortunately he failed to provide cycling lessons.

Traffic light jumping pavement cycling and verbal abuse to pedestrians doubled. Whilst his carefully cultivated buffoon image works surreptitiously for him, such decisions in London make his deliberations on leaving just vacuous.

How can I trust either of them?