Letters to the Editor - August 31st

Aug 31 2007 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

Festival site development

PETER SLATER’S recent comments concerning our activities at Priory Wood (Letters, 27/08/07) are misleading.

Had he contacted us directly, he would have known that the works to which he referred were carried out by Glendale – Liverpool City Council’s maintenance partner – following complaints from local residents.

Overhanging branches were causing a nuisance to the boundary of their properties, and as a response three self-seeded trees were removed.

All works carried out were within the council’s definition of routine maintenance and did not require prior planning notification.

It is worth noting that Glendale has access to the council’s database which sets out information on every protected tree in the city and the scope of works allowable.

These procedures were strictly adhered to.

Langtree McLean is committed to the sustainable development of the former International Garden Festival Site, creating a residential community and urban park for the 21st century.

This includes the preservation and enhancement of Priory Wood as a public facility.

We are always happy to address any concerns or issues with regard to the development of the site directly and welcome any feedback.

John Downes, director, Langtree McLean

Teaching methods

THERE is a very big difference between someone who is dyslexic and someone who has simply been badly educated.

A dyslexic’s brain is wired in a way which promotes unilateral thinking, artistic talents and resolving problems in unusually imaginative ways.

Unfortunately, it also makes “getting it down on paper” far more difficult.

There are well validated tests for theŠ factors which show if someone is dyslexic or not.

What we are seeing, after a slight improvement due to the literacy hour, is great numbers of children who are not at all dyslexic but whose years in primary school have not been spent in mastering reading, writing and basic arithmetic thoroughly.

Thousands go on to secondary school with none of the necessary equipment, let alone English language, for the history, geography and above all maths and science they will be required to study.

Their deficiencies are too often ignored, low standards are expected and achieved, and they leave having barely improved the knowledge gained at primary school.

We have got to go back to the methods, standards and expectations of the 1950s and early 1960s which served us in good stead until Baroness Plowden came along with her catastrophic “child-oriented” learning ideas.

I know what I am saying, as I am a private dyslexia tutor.

Evelyn Campbell Smith,Greasby

Debt help

I AM the founder of the Bankruptcy Association set up 23 years ago to provide independent advice for people in debt and facing bankruptcy.

We have helped thousands of people deal with their financial problems and have successfully campaigned for the improved treatment of bankrupt people in many ways.

I am therefore appalled by the current proliferation of debt management companies and so-called “free debt advice” services that are in fact bundling people into voluntary agreements that provide high fees for the companies that promote them. Individual voluntary arrangements – known as IVAs – often fail and become extended and painful bankruptcies.

Due to the vast expansion of the easy availability of credit in the UK, hundreds of thousands of people have debt repayments due that they cannot make each year. In addition, thousands of businesses fail each year.

Our Association can help these people deal with their problems in a straightforward, sensible manner.

With the information and advice provided by our organisation, it is easy for people with debts to do away with the need for these commercial companies and to handle matters sensibly themselves.

Details of our publications can be seen at our website at www.thba.org.uk or we can be contacted on 01524 782713.

John McQueen, The Bankruptcy Association

Shocking transport

I’M SURE that, if Gordon Brown does call an autumn election, one of the main battling grounds for all the parties will be global warming.

Now when it comes to climate change I do what I can to help. I try my best to recycle, I walk when other people might drive, but what’s really got my goat this week is the chaos that is Merseyrail and its trains.

How, may I ask, is the Government going to convince people to use more public transport when the current state of our trains and buses is so absolutely shocking?

If I want to get the bus over to town, I have to factor in the possibility of the first two not turning up, and now if I want to get the train (which is usually the more reliable of the two), I have to factor in the possibility that the wheels might fall off somewhere near Birkenhead North.

I want a healthier Earth as much as the next person, but for the sake of my own mental health I think I’ll continue to use my car.

Anne Grey, Wirral

Misused words

AFTER perusing your summary (Trust the Post, August 23) which included a part apropos Marxism, Semitism, etc, I feel some clarification is needed.

In my experience, Semitism, anti-Semitism, etc, are misused words. A Semite relates to descendants of Shem (Son of Noah). Such descendants included Ethiopians, Aramites, Assyrians and Hebrews.

Languages identified each people. Unlike at the time of the Kingdom of Judah, the words Jew and Judaism often relate to the religion of Judaism.

Bolshevism (1902-1903) is better known as Maximalism, and the contrary Menshevism as Minimalism. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, both Germans, died before Bolshevism began.

Of finality, Hebrew is renowned as the present-time language of Israel.

But I often ponder Yiddish to be a more apt vernacular for Israelites.

SG McLardy, Formby

Murder plea

ON BEHALF of ourselves and the overwhelming majority of decent law-abiding residents of Norris Green ward, we offer our deepest sympathy to Mr and Mrs Jones and their family on their tragic loss.

The shooting-down of an innocent child in the street should send alarm bells ringing in every corner of our communities.

The evil perpetrators must be brought to justice quickly to prevent any further loss of innocent lives.

That is why we, as the local Norris Green councillors, are backing totally the call from the police for anyone with any information to come forward, anonymously if necessary, through Crimestoppers.

Cllrs Frank Cooke, Alan Walker, and Vi Bebb, Norris Green ward Labour councillors

Return to discipline

POOR Rhys Jones was about to start school at Fazakerley High School.

I started there in September, 1970. Anyone else who went there in the 1950s, ’60s or ’70s will remember two names very well – Mr Jones and the formidable Miss Alcock.

They didn’t need guns or knives to maintain rule in that school, it was a three-foot cane and a strong right arm.

Nobody ever challenged them and lived to tell the tale. Nowadays, they would have made short work of any “hoodie”.

Perhaps it’s time for political correctness to be put back in its box and for us to have a return to good old fashioned discipline.

Bill Wallis, Wallasey

Time to repent

I WRITE to express my complete agreement with Philip Coppell's letter in the Daily Post (August 29).

The forces of liberalism have increasingly had their way in our politics, education, media, justice and churches in the last 50 years. and we're living with the dire consequences today.

We need to ditch political correctness, restore Biblical authority and repent.

Sharon Roberts, L3

Congestion capital

I AGREE 100% with the letter from Stephen Bryan (“Road Chaos”, Daily Post, August 23).

The traffic situation in Liverpool, especially on The Strand, is pathetic.

Why bother going to Blackpool – there are more lights on The Strand?

It is obvious that the congestion is getting worse, and it is not the number of cars it is the lights that are the problem, they are not in sync, and there are more of them.

It can take me longer to get from Brunswick Quay to the tunnel, than it does to get from the tunnel to Chester.

How is it, we are being told about climate change and CO²emissions and cutting down, etc; yet now there are more traffic lights (using more electric) and causing more traffic jams; resulting in more emissions from cars in a built up area. I suggest 2008 be known as Capital of Congestion.

C Hughes, via e-mail

Eastern schools

I CAN assure E Gaskell (Daily Post, August 30) that all the grammar schools in Wirral are not on the west side – Wirral Grammar School for Girls and Wirral Grammar School for Boys are both well over to the east.

Judging by the recent examination successes of both schools, they benefit greatly from their history and are not affected by their geography.

Brian Edmondson,Chair of Governors, Wirral Grammar School for Boys