YEP Letters: March 12

Check out today's YEP letters

Keep our local libraries open

John Appleyard, Liversedge

I welcome readers letters and comments in your newspaper opposing library closures and hope they are successful in keeping them open.

I’m particularly concerned about the future of Heckmondwike Library which seems to be receiving very little attention. This library is used by school children who have no computer at home and are reliant on the library computers to do their home work. Unemployed people use the library for the job club which helps them to find work.

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It’s hard to believe but there is actually a Government Minister for Libraries called Michael Ellis, he doesn’t seem to have done anything about opposing library closures or the cuts in its budget.

Pothole problems around Leeds: your views

Potholes are the bane of motorists’ lives. 
They cause severe damage to tyres wheels and steering and are a major contributor to axle and suspension failure – a problem which accounts for one third of mechanical issues on UK roads and costs car owners an estimated £2.8 billion every year. 
With the brutal weather we’ve been experiencing these crater-like cracks have become increasingly prevalent across much of the UK’s roads – and they’re not only a problem in winter. 
We asked YEP readers for their views and here’s what some of them said on social media..

Lindsey Bell

Maybe if people stopped claiming for every ridiculous slip trip and pothole damage they could afford to fix the roads!

It costs the council about £3million a year to respond to legal claims and they defend about 75% of them.

Peter Mellars

Every trip is dodge the crater day!

Gary Wainwright

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Soon as the pothole problem becomes the new PPI claims line the better. I have never seen our roads in such poor condition.

Stu Dobson

Just about every road in the country.

Sarah Mckie

People pay road tax yet nothing gets done to the roads.

Nicky Brookes

Middleton Town street is full of then from start til end.

Stephen Swales

We used to drive on the left of the road.

Now we drive on what’s left of the road.

Richard Whitfield

The potholes of Horsforth, Nidderdale and Manchester helped my car fail the MOT yesterday and beyond being economically worth putting right.

Drive shafts, coils, springs and broken wheels in the last couple of years finally put paid to our Volvo.

Built like tanks but not enough to cope with the state our roads have been allowed to deteriorate into.

Jayney Baybe

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My car passed its MOT then driving home from Leeds one evening a pothole strikes.

Took the wheel out of my hands huge bang at the passenger side, I get out to have a look, only broken the spring.

Two days without a car, hundred quid lighter in my purse. So much for passing its MOT with flying colours! Will I get a rebate on my council tax?

Government riding roughshod

J Patrick, Pontefract

THE British government is not pursuing a policy of fracking in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, but only in England, particularly in Yorkshire.

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The British Prime Minister insists that fracking will benefit the UK. What the British Prime Minister means is that fracking will benefit Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland because it is only taking place in England, and Yorkshire in particular.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will not suffer any fear of their communities being exposed to any adverse health problems associated with fracking.

Nor will they suffer from falling house and land values and affordability of insurance, and the detriment of thousands of lorries tearing through their communities and countryside. These issues will only happen in England, and Yorkshire in particular.

Unfortunately, it is English taxpayers who finance the running of the British Isles, but who are the last in the queue when it comes to receiving health and social care benefits, services and democracy, and whose infrastructure is the worst in Britain.

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The British government continues to ride roughshod over England and Yorkshire in particular and nothing will change until England has equal democratic rights with the rest of Britain.

We must demand equal democratic rights for England and we must do it now.

Quandry over hedgehog food

Mrs M Whitehead, Leeds 7

I am now somewhat confused by conflicting statements concerning the feeding of hedgehogs.

I recently cut out an article from the Telegraph which reports that these little creatures are suffering crippling bone disease because we have been leaving out bowls of mealworms.

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The British Hedgehog Preservation Society says the latest thinking is that too many mealworms can cause problems because they 
do not offer much 
nutrition. A few picked up that have dropped from the table is not a concern, but offering bowls of them as food is best avoided.

In the article (YEP February 27)) in the list of suggested food, mealworms are included, also raisins, peanuts and sultanas. These too are in the no-no list from the BHPS, so quandary.I am hoping that the hedgehogs that appeared last year have taken up residence in my garden.

I didn’t leave out cat food as there are several cats around here and word soon gets around of a likely cafe.

I did get hedgehog food, so fingers crossed.

Missing work was unheard of

Jean Norfolk, Knottingley

I agree with the comments of Geoffrey North regarding the recent weather.

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I too can remember far worse winters than we have experienced so far this year, and yet people carried on working, and children still attended school.

We had an elderly teacher who cycled to school each day from his home about five miles away, and no matter what the weather, he was always there every morning along with the rest of our teachers well before the first children arrived.

I lived in a cottage in Cattle Laithe, Knottingley, and I can recall when I was about 14 years old waking up one morning to discover over four feet of snow. My father and Mr Fred Bugg, a neighbour set to work digging a way through from the cottages to the crossroads so that children could walk down the lane to school.

Missing a day’s schooling because of the weather, or grown ups missing a day of work was unheard of in those days!

Recognising female carers

Stephanie Stone, Revitalise

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March is the month that as a nation we celebrate Mother’s Day and I’d like to take a moment to recognise the estimated 2.9 million female carers in the UK.

Experience has taught us how incredibly steadfast many unpaid carers are in their devotion to their loved ones.

With the value of unpaid caring work that female carers provide believed to contribute £7.7 billion to the UK economy, we’re passionate to do everything we can to be there for people in a caring role.

I work for Revitalise an incredible charity that provides respite holidays for disabled people and carers all across the UK.

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We welcome thousands of guests every year, seeing for ourselves the vital importance of respite in enabling carers to spend quality time with their loved ones and to continue coping.

That’s why we’ve chosen to celebrate marvellous mums everywhere, while highlighting the need to support unpaid family carers - regardless of their gender - particularly in the respect of regular respite from caring.

I’d like to invite your readers to get behind Revitalise’s essential work supporting carers and their loved ones from across the UK.

For more information and to find out how you can help visit www.revitalise.org.uk or call 0303 303 0147.

Message for Chris Grayling

CV Barton, Burley-in-Wharfedale

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REGARDING the YEP February 26 “Why Government must back city’s transport plans”.

Message for Chris Grayling:

1. Approve construction of Leeds Supertram cancelled by Alistair Darling.

2. Re-open all lines and railway stations closed during the Ernest Marples and Doctor Richard Beeching period.

Get in touch

THE Yorkshire Evening Post wants you to share your views with other readers. Whether you’re commenting on a local topic, a national story or international affairs, please join the debate. You can email [email protected] or write to The Editor, Readers’ Letters, Yorkshire Evening Post, No1 Leeds, 26 Whitehall Road, Leeds LS12 1BE. Please keep letters under 300 words.