Letters to the Editor - 09th June 2008

Jun 9 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

New threat to Post Offices

MORE than 4m people across the UK, including many thousands here in Liverpool, choose to receive their state pensions and benefits at the Post Office using the Post Office card account (POCA).

However, this service is now under threat. The Government is currently considering bids to run a new POCA from 2010, and we have serious concerns that it may decide to award the contract to another bidder.

I believe that the Post Office is the best place to continue to provide this service. We offer local, convenient access for customers who trust the staff and the Post Office brand. It also means customers won't have to fill out more forms, be forced to open bank accounts or travel long distances to inconvenient and unfamiliar locations.

Without the POCA, I fear my Post Office, and more than 3,000 others across the country, will be forced to close. This will further reduce the number of local post offices, leading to more difficulties for local residents and local businesses.

That is why I have written to my MP (Peter Kilfoyle), asking him to write to the Prime Minister to urge that the Government awards the contract to the Post Office. If it fails to do so, the consequences for local post offices will be devastating.

Richard Brown-Evans, sub-postmaster, Utting Avenue

Misleading

I’M WRITING in response to your article “Soaring policing costs to be axed” (Wednesday, May 26).

This article is disappointing and misleading. It refers to the police precept – that’s the money people pay towards the police in their council tax – in entirely negative terms.

As a police authority, it is our responsibility to ask members of the public what they want from their police service. Year-on-year, people on Merseyside tell us they want to see more police officers on the beat.

In response to this, Merseyside Police Authority has invested in 410 new police officers since 2004. The majority of this latest investment, costing £2.6m, was funded by savings. It is true, however, that to balance the budget for 2008/09 the police authority increased the police precept by 5% – that’s 8p a week for a Band A property.

Merseyside Police Authority does not squander money. Both the authority and force undergo some of the most stringent external audit and inspection processes of any local authority. And we score highly in these audits and inspections.

Members of the public can protest about how money is spent, at any of the public meetings and events held by ourselves and Merseyside Police, or through the survey Merseyside Police Authority sends to every household.

Merseyside Police Authority makes every effort to be open and accountable. Details of our budget proposals were this year covered extensively by local media and our own website a week before the budget was agreed. We didn’t receive a single negative comment.

Bill Weightman, Chairman, Merseyside Police Authority

Little benefit

LIVERPOOL may deserve and will undoubtedly receive the bulk of any benefits from the new Liverpool City Region.

Southport, however, gets no mention in any of the 14 key projects, 11 of them being exclusively for Liverpool.

Liverpool advertises itself as having a whole range of "challenges", including a low economic position, poor national image, severe deprivation, low quality housing, poor health and a lower life expectancy and then expects towns such as Southport to pay towards the much-needed improvements.

If Southport were, more understandably, within the neighbouring Central Lancashire City Region, we could hope to receive our fair share of benefits – but in the Liverpool City Region we are destined to receive virtually nothing.

Just imagine how much the people of Liverpool would complain if their city were in a "Manchester City Region", they were destined to receive no grants and the city became known as "South-West Manchester".

John Lee, Southport

Inclusive plan

WHILE we are delighted to support the initiative by Operation Black Vote to encourage more young people from ethnic communities, we must emphasise this is nothing new, for years we have had young media and politics students work with us and other Liberal Party councillors.

However, what is new is that Liverpool City Council officers have embraced a role in this scheme.

It is our view that, as Liverpool City Council offers a mentoring scheme to members of the black and other ethnic communities, it must, as a matter of principle, extend this opportunity to all young people.

It would be totally counter-productive if members of one community are seen to be given preferential treatment over the majority.

We have no doubt that black young people involved in politics should be judged on their individual merit and will want to succeed on that basis.

Regardless whether the council agrees to our proposal to extend mentoring schemes to all young people, regardless of their race, sex, sexuality or religion.

Cllrs Steve Radford and Chris Lenton, Liberal Party Group

Knife legislation

GORDON BROWN is right to propose lowering the age at which a person can be prosecuted for carrying a knife. The law as it stands, saying that you have to be 18 to be prosecuted, is ridiculous in this day and age, where school- aged individuals seem to murder someone else almost every day.

People who dismiss the proposal as a gimmick have political reasons to do so, mainly jumping on the bandwagon to clobber Gordon Brown.

But such legislation is only a small part in the battle against teenage violence. The thugs who killed Garry Newlove were under 18, and in some ways it’s even more disturbing that they didn’t need a knife. Their actions weren’t a “moment” of madness – they had the savagery to carry out a sustained and bloody attack that took purpose and force.

Kathryn Farnell, Seaforth

Laughable

BOB WAREING'S claim that his deselection by the West Derby Labour party was, in fact, the result of trade union ballot-rigging is as laughable as it’s unlikely. Bob Wareing was deselected by members of his own constituency after they were unimpressed with his performance as their MP.

Even if the "union ballot rigging" alleged by Wareing was true (he has not produced one shred of evidence) then he still had the opportunity to be rescued by his constituency Labour party.

He came a distant third in the process, and perhaps tellingly did not win the nomination of one single branch in the constituency. I was in agreement with a lot of Bob's political beliefs and, like him, was vehemently opposed to the Iraq war. However, it is not acceptable for an MP to be defined by this alone.

Melissa Barns, West Derby

Keep Goodison

THE more I read in the Daily Post about plans for a new Everton stadium in Kirkby, or a shared one with Liverpool, the more convinced I become that the only sensible course for Everton is to stay where we are in dear old Goodison Park.

One of the great strengths of Everton is its close association with the local community. Very few clubs anywhere in the world enjoy such affection and goodwill.

Goodison is old-fashioned, but it is also magnificent. Just imagine how people will see it in the future, when everyone is weary of the soulless concrete bowls which so many clubs now occupy.

Could Goodison not be modernised? Then it would be the envy of the Premiership.

Arthur Taylor, Greasby

Only in Liverpool

BEFORE I start this letter, I will point out that I am not a football fan – in fact, I could not care less about the “beautiful game”. But I do care about my hometown of Liverpool – a lot. And all this endless bluster about new football stadiums, old football stadiums and shared football stadiums, without any action ever coming is making us look foolish as a city.

Why does this always seem to happen in Liverpool? Whenever there is the prospect of us having anything good, we have to make the path to achieving it as difficult as possible. Other cities just get on and do while we argue and debate and get nowhere.

JK, Anfield

Praise is due

MARY McALEESE, the Irish President, is right to praise the Parry family (Daily Post, June 6, Page Two). This family have suffered unspeakable tragedy and yet have remained so strong and steadfast, and have managed to bring some good out of something so bad.

It is hard to believe, the way things are now with Northern Ireland, that the IRA bombing of Warrington happened just 15 years ago. We have seen real change there and it could not have happened without people like the Parrys.

Mrs E Moore, Great Sankey

Good news

I HAVE very much enjoyed the series of articles on Liverpool and its connections with Shanghai. With China opening up and set to be the place for business this century, it is very heartening to learn that Liverpool is taking a proactive role in securing a future for itself with this potential superpower.

P Somerfield, via email

Freak show

I CANNOT believe that the TV producers have agreed that we should continue the television franchise that is Big Brother. This so-called reality show descended into a mere circus of freaks many years ago, and should have long been consigned to the television dustbin.

It adds nothing to our popular culture, and only serves to engender in our young people the belief that, to become rich and famous, they should act dumb and debase themselves in public.

L Timms, West Derby