Letters to the Editor - August 30th

Aug 30 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

A proper legacy for the future

THE 800th birthday celebrations were, essentially, a great tribute to the people of the city.

Liverpool has a very special, almost unique, place in the nation’s history, and is presently moving forward to a brighter, more confident future.

At its heart is the belief that "Liverpool is the pool of life" and that, whatever our origins and circumstances, we can all contribute to the future success of the city in the 21st century.

We’re almost at the start of our European Capital of Culture year, so now is the time for us all to focus our collective talents to make sure it really matters, not just for next year but for many more years to come.

We can, then, be really proud that we are leaving a fitting legacy for the future citizens of Liverpool.

Cllr Laurence Sidorczuk, Chair, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, Liverpool City Council

A joy to see

IT WAS so nice to see young people and old joining together to celebrate our great city’s 800th birthday.

So much has been said recently of how big the generation gap has grown, but on Tuesday night I saw youths and OAPs standing in harmony, united by a common cause.

The rest of the country should see Tuesday’s celebrations as an example of how to bring the generations together, and perhaps, if there were more activities young people could enjoy with older people, some of the problems in society today would begin to go away.

Francis Price, Aigburth

Fantastic day

WELL done, what a brilliant day.

We had the fantastic parade in the morning, all the activities during the day and evening, and we ended with the most spectacular firework display.

Liverpool is a great city, and can be a great place to live.

MR, via e-mail

Time for action

I WAS at Goodison on Saturday to witness the tribute paid to Rhys and his family.

It was a very humane experience, I felt so much for the family, at the same time like so many I also felt ashamed and totally useless.

Ashamed for the fact that I, along with millions of others, voted in a party that has done nothing to quell these problems that we are witnessing on a daily basis.

I left the ground before kick-off because I felt sick. Why should the minority terrorise the majority? Asbos don’t work, they are laughable. This trash should be rounded up and paraded in front of the crowds at Goodison and Anfield and let them experience the hate and revulsion felt by all towards them.

Public humiliation is a very strong deterrent. Before all the liberal-minded idiots start banging on about human rights, they needn’t bother, we have heard it all before and nothing works.

Corporal punishment was outlawed years ago, for the right reasons. This is a totally different generation, who are fearless and couldn’t care less about anything handed out to them.

This is not a right-wing rant. I like millions am totally sickened by all of this. Let’s stop pussy- footing around and do something.

Name and address supplied

A fitting tribute

AS AN avid Evertonian, I would like to place on record my sincere thanks to Liverpool Football Club for the tremendous way in which they paid tribute to Rhys Jones at their Champions League game on Tuesday evening.

As someone who is old enough to remember when Blues and Reds could go to derby matches together, stand side by side at Anfield, Goodison and, very regularly in the ’80s, Wembley, without anything to fear other than your football team being beaten, I hope that this fantastic gesture can be the platform that returns us to that friendly atmosphere and environment that really did make our local rivalry unique.

Now that really would be a fitting tribute to that little 11-year- old lad who has been taken from his family so senselessly.

Frank McKenna, Chairman, Downtown Liverpool in Business

Fiasco

IT IS only a couple of weeks since the BBC were invited to film in Kirkby to show how successful the police have been and how popular they were with the general public.

Now we are told by the residents of Croxteth there has been open gang warfare and crime going on there for ages and, despite numerous complaints from the public, all requests for this to be dealt with have been ignored. It all looks too much like a publicity stunt.

Would the Merseyside Police Authority like to comment on this fiasco ?

BW Hale, Upton

Catalyst for change

SO, BOB WAREING blames Tony Blair’s soft policy against violent crime for the moral decay in the UK which led to the murder of 11- year-old Rhys Jones (Daily Post, August 28).

Actually, the softening began many years before Tony Blair became Prime Minister. The abolition of the death penalty was perhaps the start. But subsequent developments such as you are not allowed to smack naughty children and the fact that criminals can have prison sentences reduced, then come out to start all over again, hasn’t helped.

Then there’s the twist of law that allows a burglar to sue a householder for injuries inflicted by the householder, or allows a farmer to be imprisoned for defending himself and his property from an intruder who might otherwise have killed the property owner.

And let’s not forget the people, young and old, who have been killed while being robbed, just for the sake of a few pounds. Let us also remember people who have been beaten and kicked to death simply for remonstrating against the unruly behaviour of youths.

Murderers in the USA still face the death penalty if caught and convicted.

Maybe it’s time to bring it back in the UK?

It is to be hoped that the Rhys Jones tragedy might be the catalyst for a drastic change in the present laws which seem to favour criminals.

John K Rogers, Kendal, Cumbria

Harder line

REGARDING Mr Coppell’s letter "Weak politicians", I was astounded to read his views on capital punishment.

I cannot believe that he thinks hanging an "innocent man" is a solution. What is the difference in hanging an innocent man and a little boy losing his life in such a brutal way?

I find his comments on "weak church leaders" offensive. People make church. If more people looked to their church and lived by its principles, then maybe we would live in a more caring and respectful society.

I do agree that things have gone badly wrong with society, and that punishment should be harsher and should fit the crime.

M Rogers, via e-mail

Anarchy

IT IS surprising to see government ministers are still spewing out dubious statistics on violent crimes in the wake of the fatal shooting of young Rhys Jones.

Don’t they know in any country, a social and economic environment created by the government’s policies is what affects the numbers of people that become criminals?

Most of the perpetrators of recent gun and knife crimes were only innocent toddlers when Tony Blair’s New Labour began to unleash their social experiments on the country. Ten years on, we are reaping the whirlwind of those experiments and anarchy is coming to town.

This is not the time for any more touchy-feely politics and law-making.

Steps must be taken to untie the hands of those who administer discipline and justice the time- tested way, or this new generation of criminals will destroy the society that once made Britain the envy of the world.

Rennie Y Ku, L8

Education barrier

CAN someone please explain to me why it is that all the grammar schools in the Wirral are on the western side?

As a mother living in Leasowe, I feel I have as much right as anyone from West Kirby or Hoylake to send my son to a respectable school, but the cost of travel there and back every day is just too much.

I realise I have the option of sending him to Birkenhead School, but again the cost is a barrier. Wallasey has four state schools and no grammars, and to me that just doesn’t seem fair or practical.

E Gaskell, Leasowe

Promises

OUR new Premier last week stated that there was no need to hold a referendum on the new EU treaty (constitution by another name) as we live in a Parliamentary democracy where Parliament is sovereign and where we don’t have referenda.

He seems to have forgotten the many referenda we have already had, eg, on joining the EU – rather the then EEC – Scottish and Welsh devolution, the North East Regional Assembly and mayors for many places.

In a democracy, it should be the people that are sovereign.

Further, the three main, substantially funded, parties are all pro-EU limiting choice on this in Parliamentary elections.

Notwithstanding that the Tories (who won a majority of the 2005 English General Election vote), the Lib-Dems and many people in the Labour party are in favour of a referendum on the new EU treaty/constitution.

Finally, Labour in its 2005 manifesto promised such a referendum.

Mark Bill, UK Independence Party, Liverpool.