FINING the BBC £400,000 for rigging its phone votes is a sick joke against the public, as your previous correspondent B Holmes, of Aigburth (Daily Post, August 1) has said.
Having deliberately defrauded the public, the BBC has been fined by the media watchdog Ofcom, but where does the money for the fines come from?
The public, of course – you and me! So, in essence, we’ve been defrauded twice for the Corporation’s dishonesty.
It’s almost as bad as the fine against Network Rail over its colossal disruption to rail services last Christmas.
The privatised railways are now getting a staggering four times more subsidy a year from the Government (even adjusted for inflation) than they were when run as a nationalised service by British Rail.
The only way we can actually see these penalties working is if the bosses’ grotesque bonuses are the target of the fines.
Boy, would we all then see the difference for the better, as those in so-called management faced actually having to improve services. If not, they’d have to sacrifice their fat-cat pay in our commercial culture that so readily rewards failure at the top.
J Barker, Birkenhead
Ban the booze
WITH regard to your story on fighting at the Liverpool Echo Arena.
I went to the Michael Bublé concert at the Arena and, while I saw no fighting, what I did see was a constant stream of people getting up and down, ferrying bottles of alcohol backwards and forwards to their seats and spoiling the concert for others.
Just why are people allowed to do this when attending a concert? Could it be that profits from the sale of booze are more important to Arena bosses than the enjoyment of the event for the majority of people?
The Liverpool Echo Arena is a great venue, but it is in danger of gaining an unwanted reputation unless something is done to curb excessive drinking there.
The answer is simple – stop people taking booze to their seats and close the bars when the event is on. End of!
MH, Wigan
No surprises
GUESS where the new “public funded” Royal Opera House (North) will be located. It begins with M and ends in R.
Bet you guessed first time.
Ronny Mills, Runcorn
Lib-Dem shift
SO THE long-held Liberal Democrat strategy of “decapitating” the Conservative Party is dead.
Instead, Nick Clegg is shifting resources away from constituencies they can’t win, such as those in Wirral, and into seats such as Liverpool Wavertree (“PM crisis doomed Merseyside MPs”, Daily Post, July 31).
Nick Clegg has recognised that voters in Wirral are bypassing the Liberal Democrats and, increasingly, switching directly to the Conservatives.
Even his own members in Wirral are coming over to the Conservatives, as we saw last month with Rob Earl, one of their top local candidates.
This Liberal Democrat decision makes sense – all parties have limited resources and must use them to best effect.
There is no point in the Liberal Democrats putting money into campaigns in the Wirral constituencies when they are in third place in three of them.
Whenever Gordon Brown, or his replacement, finally calls an election, the choice in Wirral couldn’t be clearer.
If people want change, there is, in Wirral, now only one party that can deliver it.
Jeff Clarke, Leah Fraser, Esther McVey, Prospective Conservative MPs for Wirral South, Wallasey and Wirral West
Super surgery idea
RE: THE plan for super surgeries. I think this is a super idea and I hope it gets the vote. I liked the look of the building in the plan in the Daily Post. Good luck with it.
L Burridge, Heswall
Focus on families
I WAS in the city centre yesterday and it was wonderful to see groups of children with their parents discovering as many Superlambananas as they could.
Children with their parents – now that’s an unusual sight anywhere nowadays, and must be applauded.
Such a simple thing – but it is getting family groups all laughing and joking and having a thoroughly good and spontaneous time together.
Let us have more of this type of thing and make our city a place to discover and interact with.
On that point – do we have anywhere that shows film archive of the city?
And, as we recently had the Tall Ships in here, is there a video library available for visitors to come and see and hear about each amazing vessel?
We must keep the momentum going, and from what I’m seeing it is bringing good vibes which surely can only be beneficial to us all.
Yes, it was pleasing to see such sights yesterday. Let’s keep it up for today and all our tomorrows. Just think, we almost let the Superlambanana go elsewhere!
George Gibbons, Orrell
Unifying logo call
I LIKE the logo for the Cornwall Council and I wonder if something along similar lines should be devised for the people of the British Isles as a whole?
Not only would this enable the crosses of the patron saints of England, Ireland and Scotland to be depicted in a new relationship with one another, but it would also allow the inclusion of the dragon of the Welsh.
Its purpose would be a device which would enjoy the allegiance and the affection of the people of the British Isles as a whole.
Richard Ede, House of the Commoners of the Isles of Liverpool
Grounds for change
YOUR correspondent R Noon (Letters, July 29) doubts union leader Tony Woodley’s recipe for a fairer society – namely, keeping a Labour government in business while nudging it away from the embrace of big business.
He offers no solution himself.
Whether we vote Labour or Conservative at the next general election, we will still get a blue or red Vichy government under the jackboot of big business with the few exploiting the many.
History teaches us that the real fight for a change is on the ground, building pressure groups and campaigns.
For the vision and stamina required, we can look to the example of the sacked Liverpool dockers and their families in their magnificent 2½-year fight for reinstatement.
Their struggle may be on record as a defeat, but their enduring spirit and belief can inspire the launch to a wider victory for all working people.
B Pritchard, Chester
Train delay absurd
IT’S about time that Virgin started using longer trains on its Liverpool to London route, but I cannot believe we have to wait until 2012 for them!
What is the company thinking? Doesn’t it know that trains are crowded and that if they had more seats they would sell more tickets.
The whole episode has been a joke. Just because we’re in the North West, we get worse treatment than they do elsewhere.
Do they really think people won’t want to use the line because they won’t want to visit Liverpool?
Surely that is an absurd sugges- tion. We really do get a second class service up here in the North.
P Bryant, West Kirby
Gas price too costly
WHILE I understand in a capitalist society that businesses have to primarily think of their shareholders, in the case of British Gas, who have announced profits of £1bn, an exception must be made.
Price hikes of 35% will cripple many families, and my family will find it tough to find the money. We’re also looking at negative equity on our home.
It is just too steep, and to hear of £80,000 dividends being paid to chief executives just rubs salt in the wounds.
Is the Government doing anything to negotiate with the oil cartels on fuel prices? It certainly hasn’t done much to reduce this country’s reliance on fossil fuels. How about subsidised solar panels and installation in our homes or coastal homes being linked up to wave power generators?
We need to speedily and seriously look at what we can do to avoid being at the mercy of greedy oil cartels and the likes of Centrica.
T Owen, by email
Miliband rock star?
I WONDER what other readers of the Daily Post thought when they saw a very young and inexperienced looking man called David Miliband on the TV news, walking down a street signing autographs, with broad-shouldered “heavies” on either side of him, as though he was some kind of rock star.
It seems this Miliband is planning a move to replace Gordon Brown as leader of the Labour Party. Although he is apparently our foreign secretary, this man seems to have come into prominence from nowhere.
Running the country isn’t an alternative to the TV “talent” shows. It’s a serious business, particularly if we are heading for a recession.
What we need is somebody of dignity and sound judgment. Actually, isn’t that exactly what we have already got in Mr Brown?
Why has everyone turned against him? I would sooner he was in charge than any of the rivals in his or the other two parties.
Sylvia Evans, Bebington, Wirral
Orchestra welcome
I WAS pleased to read that the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is returning to the Proms (Daily Post, August 1).
It is good news that an orchestra which had a reputation for being one of the world’s best is being appreciated once again.
A lot of this is down to the efforts of Vasily Petrenko, the conductor, but also worthy of praise are the musicians who stuck with the RLPO when the going got tough.
In this case, certainly, the tough (and talented) didn’t get going.
Mrs May, Heswall
