YEP Letters: December 9

Hoping dance newcomer wins Strictly

Edna Levi, Leeds

I thoroughly agree with Kelly Pegg (YEP December 7) regarding the Strictly Come Dancing show.

I rarely bother to vote but last week I voted for Mollie King and Joe McFadden. I am sick of the crocodile tears of Alexandra Burke and the fake humility of Debbie McGee.

All the non professionals are good and I just hope one of these newcomers to dancing will be the winner not a professional “amateur.”

Don’t blame the EU for City of Culture decision

Henry Grogan, Garforth

The European Union’s announcement that UK cities are ineligible to be European Capital of Culture 2023 is not a snub, it’s just a statement of fact, and complaints by Leeds and the others are based on a sense of grievance rather than any real logic.

It’s not the Eurovision Song Contest, open to any country in Europe – the Capital of Culture is an EU project, limited to members of the EU, members of the European Economic Area (such as Norway or Iceland), and countries applying for membership (as Turkey was when they hosted it in 2010).

The rules don’t allow it to be awarded to a former EU member which has left both EU and EEA (as we will have by 2023); and it’s a bit much to expect the EU to change their rules just to be kind to a country that’s chosen to put two fingers up to them.

Criticism of the EU for not announcing their decision immediately after the referendum is misplaced, as there was a possibility that the UK might still have decided to stay in the single market and therefore the EEA (the so-called “soft Brexit” option), it was many months before this was ruled out. So don’t blame the EU, and don’t blame Leeds City Council – having started the Leeds bid long before the referendum, they had to keep on with it, fingers crossed, to the bitter end.

If you have to blame anyone, blame the small majority of the British public who got us into this whole sorry mess in the first place by voting to leave the EU, and those in government who have chosen to damage the country even more by insisting on a hard Brexit.

Home grown culture city

Alan Thornton, Leeds Project Manager, Helping Britain Blossom.

LIKE many, we are disappointed that it looks like Leeds can’t be the official European Capital of Culture, but we also share the sentiment of “let’s do it anyway”.

Leeds has a growing movement of 50+ community orchards. We hope that by 2023 that everyone in Leeds will be within half an hour’s walk of an orchard. Then we can justifiably call ourselves England’s first “orchard city”.

We can do this anyway without the permission or the support of the European Commission. These community venues will be great stages for hundreds of community events. The only difference will be they won’t have quite such an international audience.

Blame lies with leave voters

Michael Meadowcroft, Leeds

THE Brexiteers are getting even more distant from reality. The convoluted attempt to blame the European Union for Leeds and other cities being excluded from bidding for the EU sponsored City of Culture 2023 is perverse.

The blame lies squarely with those who voted Leave. Did you not realise that being excluded from EU institutions follows Article 50 as night follows day?

The only culpability resting with the EU is the time it took to announce the inevitable, and the cities should be compensated for their interim costs. All I can say to the Brexiteers is you ain’t see nothing yet! Another month or so, with further divisions in the Conservative ranks and no beneficial settlement in view, will slowly, but surely, unveil itself. Presumably it’s just what you voted for.

Blame managers for NHS problems

Paul Muller FRCS, Wakefield.

MANAGERS in the NHS must be seriously reduced in numbers.

They earn far too much for what they do. Their idea of efficiency is to reduce the number of nurses and to get rid of consultant secretaries.

There are more senior managers in Mid Yorkshire hospitals than there are Cabinet members in the Government, and some earn more than the Prime Minister and MPs. Let the doctors and nurses treat their patients without interference from hospital managers.

Fewer targets, and more love, empathy and proper compassion for patients and relatives, should be the hospital motto.

Support RNIB this Christmas

Amanda Holden, RNIB supporter

With Christmas just around the corner, the season of goodwill and generosity is well and truly upon us.

But with a seemingly never-ending Christmas shopping list, it can be hard to find the money to donate to a good cause.

This Christmas, however, there’s a way of supporting the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) – a charity close to my heart – that won’t cost you a penny.

All you have to do is collect used stamps from your cards and parcels. Your old stamps will be recycled and transformed into much-needed funds to help even more people with sight loss access the information, support and advice they need.

And with millions of cards and parcels sent in the run-up to Christmas each year why not ask your friends, family or work colleagues to get involved as well? Simply visit www.rnib.org.uk/stamps or call 01413 289357 to request your pre-paid envelopes. You’ll then be able to send your stamps off to RNIB in the post – it really is that easy!

Every day 250 people will begin to lose their sight and many will face a future without any help or support.

By supporting RNIB this Christmas, you can help change this and give people with sight loss the gift of a brighter future.

Thank you.

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