YEP Letters: January 4

Praise for caring, dedicated staff Marie Nelson, Leeds I visited St James’s Hospital many times again in 2016 as an inpatient and several outpatient appointments. I just want to wish all the caring and dedicated staff a very Happy New Year. A special thank you to all the staff on ward 24. Rachael and her team on ward 23, Eunice and her team on ward 98. Also all the staff in the breast clinic. Thanks again all of you in helping me get better and best wishes to you all for 2017. Bus lanes: drivers are own worst enemies Shaun Kavanagh, Morley In relation to your December 27 report about fines for driving in bus lanes, drivers are their own worst enemies as they leave themselves wide open for criticism, and fines, by not reading the signs or observing road markings etc, they simply carry on regardless! Signs etc are clear for everyone to see yet drivers ignore them, then wonder why they receive the fine. Bus lanes, with timed restrictions, are clearly marked but how many vehicles do you see not using the lanes when restrictions are not applicable, too many and why? This demonstrates the fact drivers are oblivious to what they can and cannot do and when. If only they would learn the basics and observe what is in front of them then they would not fall foul of the signage or cameras. If they did observe no fines would result so failure to do so simply emphasises the fact drivers are their own worst enemies! Furthermore, the suggestion of a warning system is ridiculous, unnecessary and would be a further drain on resources for the very reasons mentioned. We are at a stage where there are too many cameras but they are in place simply because of irresponsible drivers. If drivers used common sense, instead of flaunting the law, then perhaps there wouldn’t be the need for so many. Society today shows drivers not having patience with a significant number wanting to arrive at their destination yesterday, which can be witnessed all too often on our roads. It has to be said,some fines are perhaps OTT by Leeds City Council, but the fine issuing procedure is likely automated and little can be done other than appeal the fine. If however the indiscretion was on video then the viewer of the film may have made an error of judgement, as might be the case of Ms Porter and I hope an appeal is ongoing, and successful! Council ‘obviously hates motorists’ Ernest Lundy, by email Liverpool Council have been messing about with bus lanes since 2014. First they reduced them, and then reinstated some. Dublin is considering removing them completely while other councils are also undecided as to their viability. We in Leeds are constantly being told by our traffic supremo how much money they are making from the numerous restrictions on our roads. Some time back he even suggested that it would stop car drivers from deliberately using them to get to work on time. If this is true there can never have been such a stupid statement issued from a council which obviously hates motorists. I’d be willing to wager that of the total victims being branded as criminals, condemned out of hand, no excuses allowed, for erroneously venturing into a bus lane, hardly any would have done it deliberately. The main reasons being: unfamiliarity with city centre roads, over familiarity with roads as they were for many years before changes and drivers with little or no experience on the roads per se. If the suggestion of this worthy City Father were true, it would cost a transgressor £300 (over five days), a week’s wage for many, to get to work on time. Never heard such rubbish. This is a total misconception formulated by the desire to fill council coffers. Furthermore I would suggest they refer to the words ‘accident’ and ‘accidentally’ in the Oxford Dictionary. Governments play dangerous game Rev Robin Paterson, Leeds What are our governments up to? This question was asked by your correspondent Philippa Lloyd in the YEP January 2. A pertinent question as both the US and British Governments appear to be accelerating a new arms race. She draws our attention to the recent film by John Pilger, “The Coming War on China”, released at the beginning of December and apart from a showing on ITV, largely ignored by the media. Our leaders are posturing, pompous, and arrogant as they seek to fool the public into believing that Russia and China are adopting an aggressive attitude towards the West. The Establishment is playing the same dangerous game that British and European leaders played in the run up to the First World War. They strutted like peacocks, vying with each other for power and expansion of territory, quite content to send millions to their deaths, not for so-called freedom, but for their own vainglorious strategies. The same thing is happening again as we are conditioned to believe we should fear the Chinese and Mr Putin. As Philippa Lloyd points out, “we do not realise what our Governments are up to”. John Pilger himself said: “We don’t know, and we have a right to know”. My question is; why has the mainstream media, including the BBC, ignored the important fact that the US has ringed China with over 400 military bases, and why are we not told of the environmental damage and human rights abuses arising from 60 years of US expansion in the Pacific? Well done YEP for airing this issue in your letters pages. Exiting the EU John Wainwright, by email John Cole says that leaving the EU is ‘manifest lunacy’ - I won’t bother enumerating the reasons that doing so is the correct course of action as I suspect I would have as much chance of converting him to my point of view as he would of converting me. I won’t bother to dispute his crass assertion that the referendum was ‘flawed’ - only because the side he favoured lost the vote. What I do take issue with is his suggestion that MPs should ignore the vote and vote to remain in the EU. It is because MPs have been so out of touch with the opinions and concerns of the voters in recent years that they have become so despised, and rejecting a decisive public vote in such a manner would only push them even lower in the eyes of the electorate, who would inevitably take their revenge at the next parliamentary election. The MPs know that, and their sense of self preservation will tell them to abide by the referendum result. I wonder how Mr Cole would he feel if the public vote had been to remain, but MPs were to opt to get out? Dithering is sign of weakness Terry Watson, Adel It’s time Mrs May stopped talking about what kind of Brexit we want and did something positive about leaving the disastrous EU. Dithering is a sign of weakness and does not command respect from the Brussels mafia. We are threatened with all kinds of punishment for daring to leave the worst trading block in the world, this is to deter other countries lining up to do the same. Any threat of trade sanctions should be ignored. If they impose them, we should ban all exports from Europe. We can punish them much harder than they can hit us. We have had a massive trade deficit every year since we joined. Instead of triggering Article 50 in two years, we should repeal The 1972 European Communities Act and be out in weeks saving us millions in membership fees. Many constitutional experts believe that Britain isn’t actually a member of the European Union as our apparent entry was in violation of British Law and therefore invalid.