YEP Letters: August 22

Sad to see landmark buildings go

Mrs Judith Harris, Leeds 17

I READ with dismay in last Saturday’s edition of the YEP (August 18) that there are plans to demolish part of Thoresby and Leonardo Buildings in Leeds city centre to build yet another office block with a hotel.

If this new complex has to be built, could it be incorporated into these Grade II listed buildings, therefore no need for demolition?

So sad to see these buildings go as they are a landmark for Woodhouse Lane.

Leeds works to retain its status as a safe city

Leeds is still a safe and enjoyable place to enjoy a night out say city leaders who are working to retain its reputation as a top leisure destination. Leeds BID (Business Improvement District) the council and police and other agencies are preparing a 600-page document that sets out Leeds’ offering in relation to security and crime and variety of appeal for all ages and cultures - from nightclubs to theatres - and what vibe is created for people between day and night. The Purple Flag scheme recognises towns and cities for meeting set criteria in relation to five core strands and while Leeds has held this for two years it is preparing its submission to renew the accreditation amid the aftermath of two stabbings in the city centre in the space of a week. We asked YEP readers for their views and here’s what some of them said on social media..

Veronica Prefers Viv Anne

They need to start closing pubs - nightclubs by 12 - all night drinking is always going to be trouble.

Liam Marriott

It’ll be even worse if they all shut at the same time and everyone is on the streets trying to get in takeaways and taxis at the same time.

Leanne Claire Dixon

If they close earlier people will just try cram more drinks in. It’s about educating youngsters about the dangers of knife crime. Unfortunately whatever is done to try and stop it it will never end. Maybe harsher police sentences for carrying knives with intention, life in prison only that way will the world learn it’s not acceptable and we as a country will not tolerate it.

Lindsey Peplow

I DON’T feel safe. I was followed after going to the cash machine yesterday morning on my way to work. I had to run. Need more police out and about. Someone else I know got their bag snatched at lunch time the other day too. This is happening in broad daylight at peak times.

John Brooks

All cities are the same. Humans were not meant to live in such big communities and so far from open countryside. It’s not healthy emotionally or physically. 
There are still intercity kids who think that potatoes grow on trees and milk is man made. If one’s life has no significance, then neither does anyone else’s!

Richard Lodge

We swapped Millgarth for a giant white elephant of a luxury shopping centre - what did people expect would happen?

Anthony Ward

Too many solicitors getting people off, poor conviction rates, poor sentences or no sentences, too many community service sentences, too few police officers with zero incentive and mountains of paperwork, too many years of politically correct laws, zero respect taught the list is endless, but believe me it won’t get any better.

Richard Nich Dobson

Every city is the same, all respect has disapperared in today’s society. I mean look at the state of the prisons. National Service is the answer.

David Fred Thorp

How about making prison sentences really a sentence? You take a life, you get life not just five years.

Wendie Drammeh

Metal detectors are needed to start getting some of this metal off the streets. They are doing it in Birmingham so why can’t our police have these handheld ones too? It’s a start and might just deter some not to carry knives.

Delight at retro photograph

Stephen McGrail, Leeds 17

My mother, Joan, was suprised and delighted to see that she featured in the retro section star photo in Saturday’s edition (front right wearing a dark hooped coat.)

She remembers the 1970 Women’s Circle visit to Harewood and being greeted by the Countess. Mum is still a regular reader and she looks forward to the daily paper delivery.

Labour needs to summon up courage

Mike Harwood, Leeds 5

If Corbyn and today’s Labour Party could summon up some of the vision and courage to go forward to the days of Atlee, Nye Bevan and the rest of the Labour Party of 1945, today we might not face the poverty to which our NHS has been abandoned, the mess that our railways have been privatised into and most recently the state of our prisons where in some at least the prisoners rather than G4S or the government seem to have taken control. Above all they would lead and inspire the total rejection of Brexit, with its threat to our green environment, its threat to the employment protection of our ordinary workers (regardless of race, colour or religion) and so reject the spurious interest of the likes of Boris Johnson.

Backing Corbyn

John Appleyard, Liversedge.

JEREMY Corbyn, like all previous Labour leaders, will never receive fair treatment from the media.

Swathes of researchers are being paid by Establishment figures in an attempt to make him look anti-semitic. Ed Miliband, Labour’s first Jewish leader, was treated with the same contempt as Corbyn by the right-wing media, as was his late father Ralph. I, for one, stand with solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine, as by the way do many Jews, and fully behind Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

Vote re-run puts democracy at risk

Ian Smith, by email

A FEW days ago, I had an online dialogue with a devout Remainer, who, like many, claims lies during the campaign up to the referendum, such as £350m a week for the NHS if we leave, caused the outcome.

So it’s time to have another one, with “the people making a decision based on a clear understanding of what will replace our membership”, and “opinion polls are showing that as the people become better informed about Brexit, that support for it is falling”.

Our dialogue ended after my last response, which was: “Well, before the hype, I decided to vote ‘Leave’. Maybe you’d decided to vote ‘Remain’ well before the hype – in which case, the nonsense presented by both sides during the campaign, had no effect upon either of us; but not so the rest of the electorate, eh!

“We both know that ‘sides’ in any argument are always biased. Providing misleading information, projections and forecasts plus lies is what ‘sides’ do. To expect any difference were there to be any re-run is, frankly, naive. The foul play mischief has now put the democracy we know at risk, because the poll that mattered then and now was held on June 23, 2016.”

World’s Biggest Coffee Morning

Joanna Lumley, c/o Macmillan Cancer Support

Macmillan Cancer Support’s World Biggest Coffee Morning event is fast approaching and we would love readers in West Yorkshire to get involved. Having become a national institution since it launched in 1990, it has raised millions to help change the lives of people living with cancer.

Last year some 200,000 people said that they were planning on taking part in homes, workplaces and schools across the country - but the idea remains as simple as ever: come together as a community in support of people living with cancer and raise money for Macmillan. Cancer can affect every aspect of a person’s life, from their day-to-day living and relationships to their finances and mental health. Macmillan is there to help people with cancer live life as fully as they can. Offering a broad range of cancer information and support services - including a free support line and a community of over 7,700 healthcare professionals - demand for Macmillan’s services is constantly growing, but we rely on the generosity of the public to provide this support. Macmillan’s Coffee Morning takes place on Friday September 28 (but people can host whenever they want) and people will be making a difference however they get involved. If people can’t bake, that doesn’t have to stop them. Throughout September, headline partner M&S will be selling a selection of limited edition Coffee Morning products - including lots of cakes, biscuits and two exclusive mugs - with 10% of proceeds going to Macmillan.

Readers in West Yorkshire can find events nearby using the interactive map on the Coffee Morning website (www.macmillan.org.uk/coffee).

Thank you to everyone who gets involved: every coffee morning changes lives.