Police chief is telling truth
Dear Editor, ? So, Labour?s answer to Nottingham?s Chief Constable?s request for help is to sack him.
A man who has had the courage and honesty to stand up and say what all this country knows, that not only Nottingham but all the police forces in the shires are overwhelmed, undermanned and under-resourced.
This is a direct result of Tony Blair?s promise ?to be tough on crime and the causes of crime?. What a joke that has turned out to be.
No matter how much spin comes out of No 10, we know the truth and that is crime is rising fast.
The villains have it all their way, and there is no justice for the victims.
Tony Blair?s policy on crime has been a complete failure and it?s time to tell the truth on this.
Nottingham?s Chief Constable has only said what all the other chief constables in the shires are thinking, but they are putting their pensions first.
There is not one police force in the shires that has the manpower or resources to deal with a major event ? they all have to call on each other for help.
I challenge any of the other chief constables to say that they could handle the overwhelming problems that Nottingham has had to deal with over the last ten years without asking other forces for help.
COUN FRANK LEEMING
Former Magistrate, Derby City and South Derbyshire
Asthma
Dear Editor, ? I will be facing one of my great challenges when I line up for my second London Marathon on April 17, 2005 as part of the 500 strong Asthma UK team.
I am 42-year-old Marston Green resident and will be helping to raise #450,000 for Asthma UK to help to improve the health and well-being of the 5.2 million people with asthma in the UK.
My eldest son Samuel was diagnosed with asthma more than six years ago and as a parent I want to do all I can to help him (and others) to take control of their asthma and reduce the effect that it has on their lives.
One in 12 people has asthma. Money raised will fund further research to help understand more about asthma?s causes.
If anyone would be so kind as to sponsor me, please give me a call on 0121 770 1858.
KEN EDWARDS
Marston Green
EU benefits?
Dear Editor, ? It is depressing, but predictable that when you ran out of intelligent discussion the Euro enthusiasts resort to common abuse. (Neena Gill, Post, March 26).
As a state-employed politician Mrs Gill is dedicated to ?selling? the EU constitution to a supposedly gullible British public.
As usual, Mrs Gill misses the point. The people of this country are not interested in the benefits (real or imagined) of EU membership.
Since the Romans gave us up as a bad job, we have been making our own laws.
On May 29, the French will vote on whether or not to accept the EU constitution.
Opinion polls, (for what they?re worth) put the ?no? camp well ahead. If the French vote ?no?, the constitution will become invalid and a poll in Britain will be a mere formality, an endorsement of the French decision.
None of the Euro zealots has mentioned the dangers of the EU. One of the aims to the intention of forming a European Army, Navy and Air Force.
As for those woolly-minded Euro people who claim it is the EU that has prevented a war in western Europe since 1945, the answer is, nonsense.
The fact that Europe has not gone to large scale war for 60 years is because Britain and France are nuclear powers. Who would be dumb enough to argue with an atom bomb?
Take it easy Mrs Gill; over sensitivity is bad for your blood pressure. If you can?t stand the flak, keep out of the sky.
JAMES BENTON
Hall Green
TB solution
Dear Editor, ? As someone who was born with TB, I was interested in the solutions advocated by Christopher Johnson (Post letters, March 26) to tackle the current increases in Africa.
Far simpler than better wages, housing or promotion prospects might be to stop developed nations like our own from poaching medics to begin with.
The UK cut back NHS training of doctors and nurses and lured those from Ghana since 1998 saving #65 million to our training budget. The worth to our NHS of having such trained medics from Ghana alone is #39 million a year.
The effect in Ghana is that one child in five dies before the age of ten, compared with one in 150 here.
STEVE KIRKHAM
Kings Heath
Disabilities
Dear Editor, ? I think the article by Penny Bould (Post, March 31) was brilliant. Her positive attitude towards people with disabilities is correct and very noble. I have Type 1 diabetes and become angry with people who write off people with disabilities.
People with disabilities are not second class citizens: they have the same abilities as everybody else and show tremendous courage with their difficulties.
Every one of us can learn a great deal from their courage and perseverance.
JIM TUSTAIN
Droitwich Spa
High Hedge Bill is different
Dear Editor, ? A correction is necessary to the article on the new High Hedges legislation (Post, March 24).
As the campaign leader of the group Hedgeline, which has campaigned for this law for over eight years, I would like to point out that the facts are incorrect.
John Taylor MP along with a number of other MPs, notably Dr Lynne Jones MP, have given their time and skills to this legislative campaign. Mr Taylor put the first important hedge Bill through Parliament.
We were most grateful that he gave his only ever high placed Private Member?s ballot win to the High Hedge Bill.
He spoke most eloquently in Parliament on the distress and unfairness of the hedge-victim?s powerless state. He almost got the Bill through, but it was talked out.
He did not, however, draft that Bill, or the present Act, which is quite different from the Bill he adopted.
His Bill and the present Act were drafted by the Government, after intensive lobbying from Hedgeline members.
A list of the politicians and others who most significantly supported our cause is available on this site on Hedgeline.org/JhdgOfficThanks.htm
CLARE HINCHCLIFFE
Policy Director for Hedgeline
