YEP Letters January 17

Check out today's YEP letters
Leeds coat of arms, featuring owls and a fleece, as seen on the Leeds Bridge.Leeds coat of arms, featuring owls and a fleece, as seen on the Leeds Bridge.
Leeds coat of arms, featuring owls and a fleece, as seen on the Leeds Bridge.

The history of Leeds’ Coat of Arms

Michael Meadowcroft, Honorary Alderman, Leeds City Council

Neil Hudson’s “Fact of the week” (YEP, January 8) charts the history of the Leeds Coat of Arms following local government reorganisation in 1974.

That year two boroughs, Morley and Pudsey, and five urban district councils, Aireborough, Garforth, Horsforth, Otley and Rothwell all had their own coats of arms.

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They joined with the Leeds County Borough to form the new Leeds City Council for which a brand new design was produced with three arrows representing three motorways - such was the era of these roads!

This was almost universally unpopular and the former Leeds coat of arms, with the owls and fleeces, then reappeared.

It became adopted purely by usage and, as far as I recall, there was never a formal resolution of the city council to make it official.

I was always surprised that the “outer areas” did not object to this Leeds takeover.

NHS plan will preserve nation’s most prized asset

Stephen Hammond MP, Minister of State for Health.

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THE NHS touches all our lives at some point. Whether that is new lives, brought safely into the world every day at hospitals like Jimmy’s in Leeds, or lives about to end, saved by world-leading medicine and our extraordinary emergency services at the Leeds General Infirmary.

And across the country more than one million hardworking staff dedicate their professional lives to the NHS. It isn’t just hospital services. The NHS is doing more now than ever before to help people to live longer in their communities and at home – joining up services and helping to tackle issues such as loneliness so rightly highlighted by this newspaper.

In Yorkshire, you know the NHS is feeling the pressure. Our growing, ageing population, means more people living for longer, often with multiple complex conditions.

While this should be celebrated, it’s inescapable this is having an impact on our beloved NHS. Whether in Sheffield, York or Hull, the truth is we must act now to safeguard it for the future.

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That’s why last year, as the NHS celebrated its 70th birthday, the Government announced it would be giving it an extra £20.5bn a year by 2023/4 to preserve its future.

The NHS belongs to us all, so it is right that taxpayers know how their hard-earned cash is being spent. This week, the NHS published a plan for the next 10 years, shaped by the clinicians and staff who know best. So, what’s our vision? In short, by 2028, we will have a health service that continues to deliver world-class care, from cradle to grave.

Care that always starts with prevention, that is personalised and bolstered by cutting-edge medicine and technology. And of course, care delivered by the very best staff.

We will do more to keep people healthier for longer, so GP and community services – the bedrock of our NHS – will receive a funding injection of £4.5bn. The extra investment will also help prevent 150,000 heart attacks, strokes and dementia cases over the next 10 years. Through earlier detection and better treatment, 55,000 more people will survive cancer each year.

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We will renew our commitment to achieve parity of esteem by introducing mental health waiting times targets for the first time ever, and hundreds of thousands more children and young people getting access to vital mental health support in schools. The NHS is rightly our most prized asset. Through this plan, we are taking steps to preserve it in Yorkshire and across the country.

The case for a second vote on Brexit

Richard Kimble, Leeds

I GROW weary of the constant letters by Brexiteers going on about the democratic outcome of “that” referendum and that the “people” have voted.

Let’s think about the principles of democracy and voting. Russia is allegedly democratic now but there’s really only one person to vote for – Vladimir Putin – so hardly democratic.

Firstly, voting must be based on accurate, factual, truthful information by all parties. The slogan on the side of “that” bus was not truthful nor accurate. Principle One undermined. People were voting for a lie if they thought they were voting “for” the NHS.

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Voting must be based on ethical behaviour by all protagonists. There was nothing ethical in any of the debates I saw or listened to. Arguments for and against were based on lies and any of the eight types of manipulative behaviour, in particular expressing surprise at opponents’ opinions and making promises that couldn’t be kept. Principle two undermined.

Political arguments for or against must be based on theoretical issues and not personality. Principle three undermined. I could go on. That referendum was not democratic and neither was the outcome. That’s why there should be another, observing the proper principles.

Wrong definition

John Barber, by email

I notice that the Yorkshire Evening Post has fallen into the same trap as other media sources by describing some street robberies as “moped” crime when they should be described as “scooter” or “motorcycle” crime.

A “moped” is a form of motorised cycle that can be started and even ridden, with difficulty I agree, by using pedals. One rarely sees such machines these days and mopeds hardly ever had a pillion seat.

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A “scooter” is a two-wheeled vehicle that is totally dependent on an engine or electric motor for propulsion and very often have a pillion seat.

Apppointments concerns

Richard Chapman, Tingley

After reading the letters about appointments I decided to tell our story.

My wife was referred by our GP for cancer tests last May and we are still waiting for them to be completed.

She has had four appointments for admission to hospital for the major one, and all have been either cancelled or aborted on technicalities.

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The last occasion was on Sunday January 13 when she was to be admitted ready for the test to happen on the 14th, this never happened because someone did not arrange the transport to hospital I had requested (there are no buses running in our area on a Sunday and we don’t have a car).

I feel this is also a waste of time and money, we had been waiting since 8am for the call to come in but were not contacted until 14.15, this would have been too late even if we did have our own car.

Get in touch

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