Letters to the Editor - 20th March 2008

Mar 20 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

Handle with care please

WITH reference to Stephen Twigg’s letter on March 18 regarding Leighton Dene, officers are clear that the re-provision of the services currently provided at these facilities needs to be carefully and sensitively handled, and given the extent of changes in adult social care in recent years imposed by the Labour Government, this is not new territory.

Short-term respite care services provided by Liverpool City Council will continue at alternative sites. The two establishments provide intense rehabilitation for a few weeks for some people leaving hospital. They are not “homes”.

Alternative arrangements will be in place before we start to implement the restructure. This will be a combination of in-house and private sector residential homes, along with opportunities using released funds to assist people’s rehabilitation in their own home.

Enabling people to leave hospital safely and promptly once medically fit remains a key priority for the Council and PCT. Over the last few years the numbers of people waiting for social care support to leave hospital has gone down massively, a trend of which the Council is proud. New arrangements as outlined above will have no adverse impact on this achievement and our continuing commitment to people who require such a service.

The day facilities and respite resource for older people with mental health problems currently provided at Leighton Dene will continue. Current plans are to relocate the day facilities to Norris Green and the respite resource to Sedgemoor Residential Home. Regarding the day facilities, the necessary changes can be made without disruption to the group already attending Norris Green. Regarding the respite resource, Sedgemoor has eleven vacancies and can offer the service, again with minimum disruption.

This is a coherent way forward, which will not adversely affect people who require short-term respite facilities, Stephen Twigg and the Labour party will be aware that other councils up and down the country have re-structured in a similar way.

Councillor Warren Bradley, Leader of Liverpool City Council

Not so prudent

IN OCTOBER 2006, I wrote: “I believe that Gordon Brown is in more of a hurry to pass on his position to some other unfortunate soul before the country’s economy, which has been so precariously propped up through years of heavy borrowing, public and private, goes pop, than he is to take over the mess created by Tony Blair.”

My observation went mostly unnoticed at the time but now, as we watch the economy crashing down around our ears, the public has finally realised that for a decade, Gordon Brown has been about as prudent and honest as a time-share salesman.

Fortunately, people these days are no longer easy to fool by politicians.

Mr Brown will always be remembered not only for the economic tricks he played on the people of the country when he was Chancellor, but also the ham-fistedness he often shows in his role as Prime Minister.

As the global economic gloom continues to gather and regardless of what the latest polls had shown, I would be very surprised if David Cameron, or leaders of any other party would genuinely want to take up the job of running the country at this moment.

Perhaps even Mr Brown himself might be considering swapping life in the treacherous Westminster village for that of the tranquil lochs and glens soon.

Rennie Ku, Liverpool 8

Fight to survive

IT IS certainly very welcome news that Liverpool John Lennon Airport is poised to make a profit but the airport perhaps faces its most challenging period in the future.

With the takeover of GB Airways, Easyjet are establishing a base at Manchester Airport. Ryanair have also announced plans to launch more flights from Manchester this year.

Liverpool’s success has been very much due to the expansion of Easyjet and Ryanair at LJL and inevitably, a proportion of customers must originate in the Manchester area.

By providing services direct from Manchester our business is damaged. A few years ago Flybe launched a network of services from Liverpool. They have now consolidated their operations at Manchester. Similarly, how many Liverpool departures are advertised for holidays in travel agents?

The importance of the airport to our tourist trade cannot be underestimated yet Manchester sees Merseyside as part of its catchment area. Our policymakers need to make a united and concerted effort to fight to protect LJL’s market share.

CW Parker, L3

Give faith a chance

PR JONES (Letters, March 14) states that taking an oath should not exceed promising to be a decent law-abiding human being, and that God/religion should not be involved. As PR Jones is an atheist I wonder what objective definition, basis or standard he refers to for determining decency and values, and who would ultimately decide?

As a Christian, I believe that God is the ultimate authority and has revealed to us the morals and laws by which we should strive to live by for our common good and well being. These morals, laws and ethics have underpinned and prospered our nation for centuries.

Atheism provides no such basis for society. When God is denied then the authority becomes man. History shows that regimes based on such philosophies have never had lasting prosperity. In contrast, history shows that nations built on God's laws, ethics and morals have enjoyed justice, freedom and prosperity.

A recent study showed that faith groups in Wales contribute £100m net in economic benefits. Projecting for the UK this would give about £2bn net. This is further evidence of the value of faith to our society. Let's be more tolerant of faith?

Sharon Roberts, L3

Woolly minded

YESTERDAY, on a TV news programme, I heard someone suggesting that there should be a ban on any film portraying actors smoking. I didn't hear him asking for a ban on films showing actors using drugs, actors shooting people, actors drinking alcohol and actors driving cars and having accidents.

He also ignores the nationwide statistics on these facts in real life. His concern, he says, is for the public. Well, who are the main victims of drug use, guns and car accidents? That same public. There must be a special training school for this kind of person as there are similar incidents of such woolly thinking from all over the country, and most of all, it's prevalence among MPs and members

A J Quinn, L1

Thanks, everyone

MAY I, through your newspaper, thank the many people who came to help us welcome Michael Owen to the Hospital, last Monday (March 10).

Each and every one present had given time, effort and money to see the successful completion of the Adolescents’ Unit, at the Countess of Chester Hospital. Our Comfort Zone Manager, Heather Smith and her stalwart band of employees and volunteers deserve a special thank you. Not only do they provide a valuable, caring service, but all the profits from the shop and cafe help to fund the Chester Childbirth Appeal’s projects.

We were delighted to welcome Michael Owen, whom we had invited to officially open the Adolescent Unit, in the presence of the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, and we are grateful he could spare us time from his packed schedule. Michael performed the ceremony with style, and the children were thrilled as he chatted to so many of them on the wards, signing his autograph, with the help of the newspaper photographer’s notebooks.

Pat Daniels MBE, Chester Childbirth Appeal Fundraiser

Services appeal

I AM the UK representative for the Council Historian of Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The Historian is currently researching the late 1945-1956 era, which is when British servicemen were stationed in the area – either as members of the Occupation Force or, later, during the Korean War.

Did any readers serve, as a member of the British Forces, in the Kure area between late 1945 to 1956? If so, are you willing to help the Official Historian of Kure City with his research into those times? Please phone (mornings or evenings) Wilf Aldridge, Norwich 01603 433259 for further details.

W Aldridge, Norwich

Traffic calming

OFTEN at five o’clock, the five minutes drive to the tunnel entrance can take an air-polluting and irritating thirty minutes. Add this to the time in queues in Wirral and the result is total frustration.

I have at last discovered the solution.

When I see the queues on Sefton Street and the Strand are jammed I turn the car around and head for one of the cathedrals. The parking is easy, either in front of the Anglican or under the Metropolitan and both with security attendants.

Here you may sit in tranquillity and, hopefully, a pollution-free environment, listen to the finest of choral and organ music at the evening services for half an hour. You will be out just after six o’clock and arrive home by half past with a perfectly cool, calm and collected disposition.

John Bathurst Crane, via email

Severe concerns

THE go-ahead for the rebuilding of the Royal Liverpool Hospital has been greeted with universal acclaim.

I have severe concerns. Firstly, is the £400m cost (on past experience a budgeted cost that will be exceeded substantially and excludes the interest costs of money borrowed to finance it) the best way of using these funds to improve the health of Liverpool? Further, there is not just the financial cost of demolishing the old building, the oldest part of which is only 30 years old and upon which there has been significant recent expenditure, there is also the environmental cost of the waste of all the resources tied up in the old building which will be wasted.

Mark Bill, via email