YEP Letters: January 27

Thank you to refuse collectors Carol Dewison, by email The refuse collectors suffer enough abuse in their daily tasks without giving them more bins to collect. Automatically they are the ones on the front line. Most of them do not deserve this, people really don’t realise how much they have to take. Also I was shocked that a lot of them are walking in excess of 20 miles a day. People just don’t realise how much stress they have from the public when it’s often not their fault. I feel sorry for them. A lot of them are tradespeople or ex-students that have taken on this job rather than be out of work. I respect them for doing the job. The situation of giving them more bins will just escalate the abuse they suffer. I would just like to say thank you to them. Concern over bank closure in Headingley Greg Mulholland, Lib Dem MP, Leeds North West. I AM extremely concerned about the recent announcement by Yorkshire Bank to close their Headingley branch later this year. This branch is an important local service and if the closure goes ahead many customers will seek to find an alternative bank. Yorkshire Bank closing both branches in LS6 and abandoning the Headingley and Hyde Park area, isn’t acceptable. I understand the next nearest branch of Yorkshire Bank is in Leeds city centre, which is wholly inappropriate as it is a significant distance for many older and vulnerable customers, and shows a lack of understanding of the diverse nature of Headingley. Headingley has a large number of older residents who prefer to visit their local branch, as well as local traders and other residents who prefer to seek financial advice face-to-face. Yorkshire Bank needs to take the concerns of Headingley residents into account and immediately reconsider the closure of this branch.” Demise of city market S Kavanagh, Morley Reading the correspondence from Jean Crossan from Filey and Mrs M Partridge from Kendal in the YEP (January 18) I say congratulations to both for voicing what hundreds, maybe thousands of people, still domiciled in Leeds, have likely been thinking for months, even years, in relation to the demise of what used to be a thriving Leeds Market area. To read what former residents observe when revisiting Leeds is an indication as to Leeds City Council (LCC) losing sight of what residents want in relation to Leeds Market. The comments from Coun Richard Lewis outlined in Mrs Partridge’s article says it all, relative to the inefficiencies of LCC. If he thinks rate payers/voters will believe, for a second, his feeble excuse that some of the £13.5 million spent on Leeds market was for clearing 2600 tonnes of rubble from a market fire in 1975 (his quote not that of anyone else) then he is simply living in “dreamland”. Does he really expect readers to swallow such a rubbish statement? As Mrs Partridge says, “Are the council telling her it has taken 42 years to clear some rubble”? Get real Coun Lewis. It has been said before, and by many, that LCC waste money hand over fist and yet again they are looking through blinkered glasses and cannot see the deterioration of Leeds Market in front of their own eyes. LCC lost respect when they recently moved what became the successful Briggate farmers’ market back to the previously failed Kirkgate area, only to reverse the move because their decision was another failure. Helping the elephants Carol Lee, Cookridge Well done to TV presenter Alesha Dixon who is raising awareness of the cruelty imposed on elephants in Thailand in order to train them to entertain tourists. Elephants are one of the most intelligent and emotional animals and to be treated as a source of entertainment is unnatural and to my mind disgusting. What is wrong with tourists just seeing these animals acting normally in a natural environment? I am not famous like Alesha but I will try and raise awareness as much as possible and also subscribe to the charity World Animal Protection. We can look after ourselves Edna Levi, Leeds Now that President Trump’s opening “show” of handshakes, back patting and cheek kissing is over, can we drop him from our daily media reporting and revert to our own important matters? When Mrs May visits him this week she should (politely) inform him that we are still GREAT Britain and are as proud of this as he is of America. We do not want a re-emergence of the suffrafgette movement because of abortion, feminine prejuduce etc. Whilst the USA is our great friend, we can look after ourselves - as we did at the start of WW2. More for less B Leonard, by email Once again the taxpayer of the city has to pay more for less. Car park charges going up and the bin rounds getting cut, the next think working staff cuts. It used to be the case that when you got a reduction in the service you paid for you got a reduction in the price for less of the service, not so in Leeds with all the money gone on waste such as revamp of the market and the cycle highway. LCC must be awash with money, the only way to save money is get rid of some of the top paid waste in the civic hall. Loss of skills Ernest Lundy, by email Subsequent to great interest shown on the subject of lost industries in Leeds, in particular the clothing industry, it goes to show just how many skilled people we had in employment in the city in the years after World War Two. Hundreds of ‘Loiners’ replied to a comment I made on Facebook, recording their own experiences particularly on the clothing trade. The sad part about this is that with the skills of those people no longer in use, are we to lose them, as at the same time others are not being taught them. A sad state of affairs for a part of the country always known for the quality and multiplicity of its products. Indeed the whole country seems to have become one of service industries and retailers, with very little being produced as in days of old. We all know, or should, how the lower costs of manufacturing abroad has led to the decline of many well known brands in almost every department, particularly engineering, clothing, chemicals, printing, cloth and numerous other trades. Perhaps this was partly due to our own heads of business sitting as it were on their laurels while being out thought by overseas producers; mainly Japan and China, followed more recent by countries based in south east Asia. When Brexit becomes a fact, what a strong position we would hold if we were still producing quality goods made by a fully active workforce. Perhaps this is wishful thinking, but surely it is not too late to reinvent or should I say revive those skills before it is too late? As a final comment a recent economist stated that the pound is overvalued and has been for some time. Does this tie in with the suggestion that if the heads of our once large companies had thought more about investment in the past, and keeping people in work, than profit, we would still be a producing nation with people in full employment, selling quality goods at competitive prices? Wicked to use NHS as emotional tool BJ Cussons, Ilkley DRAGGING the NHS into the European debate is not relevant as it needs handling from a totally different aspect. It is quite wicked to use this emotional tool. If our own children more often fly the local nest, and we have so much more medical help to live longer, we should expect to pay a realistic sum into the health service. As for employment issues, didn’t we always have seasonal help from Europe? Why should that change unless it is Europe that is intractable?