Letters to the Editor - 13th May 2008

May 13 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

Compelling television

GIVEN that I have only half a brain (Liverpool solicitor Rex Makin’s definition of anyone who watches BBC’s The Apprentice, Daily Post, Friday, May 9), I doubt I could enjoy it more even if I had the other half as well. I think it is the most compelling television for a long time.

Sir Alan Sugar’s language can be raw, but not as obscene as much of the verbal content which is transmitted well before the “kiddy cut-off point” of 9pm.

He debunks pomposity and exposes poseurs, an attitude which I think would be applauded by most of us Scousers.

If there is anything to be condemned on current TV, it is surely Britain’s Got Talent, where people who are clearly bereft of any vestige of such a cerebral commodity are encouraged to make fools of themselves for the indulgence of the audience, rather like the Victorians were entertained by those with physical abnormalities such as The Elephant Man.

What does worry me about The Apprentice is the standard of the competitors who, we are told, have left well-paid jobs to compete for one chance of a six-figure salary working for Sir Alan.

Up to now, we have seen an incredible lack of any entrepreneurial skills or even basic common sense.

I sincerely hope they do not truly represent the future leaders of our nation.

Walter Huntley, via email

Education cutbacks

DO READERS know that the Government is carrying out a consultation that is likely to lead to further cutbacks in adult education – ie, day and evening classes?

The consultation paper, Informal Adult Learning, Shaping the Way Ahead from the universities and skills minister, John Denham, is widely suspected to be a fig leaf behind which the Government plans to carry out the cuts anyway.

I’m an adult learner who has had enormous personal benefits from adult education and want to encourage people to make personal responses to the consultation, or to join our campaign, run by volunteer learners, against what the Government is trying to do.

The consultation lumps all forms of adult learning without exams under the heading “informal adult learning” – even though most evening classes are as formal as being at school.

But to Mr Denham, such learning is a “1970s model” overtaken by the “self-directed learning” online and voluntary groups such as the National Trust.

I was off work sick for many years and going to evening classes was a huge part of my recovery.

There are thousands of other people with similar stories to tell. There’s still time, just, for everyone who cares about adult education to write to John Denham to raise the issue.

If we make enough fuss, we can defeat the Government and force it to find the relatively small sum to keep classes going. If, like me, you value adult education, please do consider writing a letter, by the closing date of June 12. The consultation paper is called Informal Adult Learning and you can see it at www.adultlearningconsultation.org.uk.

You can also visit the Save Adult Education campaign website www.saveadulteducation.co.uk

Nigel Pollitt, via email

On a different planet

EVEN after the recent electoral mauling in England and Wales, Gordon Brown continues to live on an entirely different planet to everyone else.

He doesn’t know what the tax burden is – even though he’s responsible for pushing it up to today's levels.

In Britain, hard working families are struggling with soaring living costs, a slowing economy, falling house prices and rising taxes.

Listening to his feeble excuses post-elections, it’s clear that, on Planet Gordon, taxes are lower than you think, poverty has been conquered and every problem is someone else’s fault.

The simple fact is that he is a control freak, who refuses to take any responsibility for his economic policies over the past decade.

As far as he is concerned, there is Gordon's way or there is the wrong way.

The local elections, coupled with the defeat of Ken Livingstone as Mayor of London, may have just signalled the beginning of the end of Gordon Brown's administration.

Cllr Martyn Barber, Conservative, Crosby

False statements

YOUR correspondent J Cotting (Letters, Daily Post, May 12) claims to be a member of the Labour Party who will not be voting Labour again while I lead the party here in Liverpool.

They then make some false statements.

He or she claims that Rosie Cooper joined the Labour Party the day before a local election sometime ago. Not true – she joined at least a month before.

They then criticise my decision to have expelled Nadia Stewart from the Labour Party.

They then asked did I refuse Cllr Beatrice Fraenkel permission to join Labour? On the contrary, I approached Cllr Fraenkel as someone who is honest, reliable and talented and has the integrity to be a Labour councillor and asked her to join Labour.

I suspect J Cotting should be called “J Conning” and I challenge them to write to the Post with their Labour Party membership number and let’s see if, indeed, you are a member.

Cllr Joe Anderson, Labour leader

Not representative

ERNEST HEWITT claims to represent the patients of West Wirral (Letters, May 9, New surgery plea) but he does not represent me and many others who agree with Wirral Borough Council’s decision to refuse planning permission for the new West Wirral GP practice on green belt land.

I think most people are in favour of the new surgery and the benefits it will bring, but please don’t take away any more of Arrowe Park, which was donated to the public, not the NHS. There are alternatives available.

The Pensby area is about to lose two primary schools through falling numbers.

If this so-called patients group is so unconcerned about green belt why not build the new centre on Heswall Dales or Poll Hill?

J Snow, Irby

Parking fine

MAY I commend Merseyrail for – as they quite rightly state – their flagship station at Liverpool South Parkway. It does also have a superbly large – 240 spaces – car park.

Which, if you are elderly or infirm, is usually totally full after 10.30 in the morning.

As an ad-hoc user, I arrived a week ago and parked in what I and many others have for the last two years or more thought was the over-spill car park in the central reservation outside on Woolton Road.

I have a back and legs disability and my sight is not what it was. My wife and I then got a train into Liverpool to give our blood at the NHS Blood Transfusion Centre, at Moorfields, as we do every four months or so.

On our return, I found a Penalty Charge Notice had been stuck to my windscreen. A £70 fine would leave me with £29 left of my pension, if I pay in 14 days it is only £35 – great!

Closer examination shows this is now a residents only car park, with minuscule leaflets stuck on a couple of lamp-posts, to inform the unwary of its change of use.

Will we be coming into Liverpool much in the future? No, I will drive to out-of-town places with fewer restrictions.

Park and Ride – it's a joke.

IC, Liverpool 26

Free speech victory

I WRITE to congratulate the House of Lords for protecting free speech. MPs were trying to put through a law that would criminalise gay hate.

One of the Lords proposed an amendment to underline that this law would not criminalise those who expressed disapproval of, or urged others to move away from, homosexual practice.

Many of our region’s MPs voted to reject this free speech amendment but, due to the resilience of the Lords, the Government had to back down in order to push the Bill through.

A victory for free speech and freedom of conscience.

Sharon Roberts, Liverpool 3

Rich pickings

REGARDING the city council’s promise to get serious with inveterate litter droppers, perhaps a good place to start might be at the junction of Lord Street and North John Street.

This area is used at break times and lunch times by the construction workers working on the new Grosvenor scheme.

Given the amount of litter left behind at the seating area which was recently installed at great expense, any council employee giving out fines is sure to find rich pickings.

Moreover the state of the area on a daily basis reflects very badly on Grosvenor even before their multi-million pound development opens for business.

Name and address supplied

Litter crackdown

THERE are, I understand, plans for a serious crackdown on litter in Liverpool city centre.

Well, it cannot come soon enough.

I don’t think I know of another UK city with such bad litter problems as ours has.

It is a standing joke with visitors about the amount of rubbish you see on our streets.

The city council should put out more bins and start fining people, and then maybe we would not have to be embarrassed when friends come to visit.

JM, Mossley Hill

Move away

I HAVE a question. Is KH Shepherd a close friend of the editor? The reason I ask this question is that I see they are now having a go at Liverpool politics in their second letter in a week.

The first letter was attacking my home town of Kirkby.

If KH Shepherd is so unhappy in our area, maybe he or she should move to Wales or Cheshire so they can still buy the Post to see their letters printed.

D White, Kirkby