Letters to the Editor - 19th June 2008

Jun 19 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

MPs’ expenses held to account

I AM fed up of reading about MPs and MEPs who feather their own nests by claiming vast sums of taxpayers’ money disguised as expenses.

I’ve lost count of the number I’ve read about who have paid off mortgages and had us pay for lucrative little flats in the centre of London to be flogged off for hundreds of thousands, or for paying family or fictitious members of staff via expenses.

No wonder half of David Cameron’s batch of MEPs refused to reveal how they spent their expenses – but how is that allowed to happen?

I’d expect a disciplinary hearing and dismissal if I refused to account for company money spent. It is absolutely disgusting, but we can’t expect Parliament to seriously act to stamp it out because too many of its members are up to the same fiddle.

If they were serious about stamping out sleaze, it would be in the rules that London expenses are paid on rent for a modest flat in the capital – and not back to themselves or their own family as landlords. When they sell off a house or flat paid for or partially paid for by second home expenses, whatever that proportion was should go back to the taxpayer.

A Charlton, via email

Tunnel vision

THAT’S the way to do it. What a brilliant event the Under and Over the Mersey was. What a resounding success it was with everyone involved deserving of the highest praise.

It was truly a people’s day out, with mass family participation made most enjoyable by entertainment from the bands and the choirs to the skilled performers in the tunnel and on the decks of the efficient ferries which returned the participants proudly clutching their medals.

I will fondly remember the sight of the Bootle Concertina Band jollying along the groups at the tail-end as they emerged into the sunlight at Birkenhead.

Thank you to everybody involved in creating and making safe such a complex and memorable event, which was free of any celebrities or paranoid officialdom. Well done, also, to Merseytravel and the Pennine Events co-ordinators, and the hundreds of patient volunteers – but most of all well done to the 10,000 -plus proud Liverpudlian families who all gave up canned entertainment for the day.

Eddie Roberts, Crosby

Praise for the Irish

THE Irish people have spoken and they have made clear that they do not want a Treaty that takes so many powers from the countries of Europe and gives it to distant institutions in Brussels. Despite all the threats that have been made, they have had the courage to make their own decision. They deserve Europe’s admiration and congratulations.

Alone in Europe, they have had the chance to make their views known. If democracy in the EU is to mean anything, their decision must be respected. The Republic of Ireland’s voters must carry no less weight than the Dutch and French.

The British Government must respect the Irish people’s verdict. The renamed EU Constitution should now be finished. But, as we know from last time, even after two “no” votes, the original Constitution was brought back under another name. And there are now no excuses left for denying the British people their say. So, unless it is agreed that this Treaty is dead and buried, it is essential that the British people have their say. There is no justification for the Irish people being allowed their say while the British are denied theirs.

Cllr Martyn Barber,Conservative, Crosby

Honour and courage

AS AN old civilian, I was very moved to see that a small posy and plaque had been left in St John’s Gardens at the back of St George’s Hall, remembering the young Paras from 2 Parachute Regiment, who were recently killed in Afghanistan.

It was placed by the permanent Parachute Regiment plaque. The message with the posy said, “Killed in action in Afghanistan, June, 2008. May God bless them”.

This was Liverpool showing its appreciation of brave men. It doesn’t matter that they didn’t come from here. They are Paras and that makes them part of a larger family.

The politicians can argue in safety, until they are blue or red in the face, about the merits of this war. But it is young men who fight and die. We, the civilians, are lucky to have them.

Arthur Ellis, Bootle

Father’s torment

WE CANNOT know the torment that went through the mind of Brian Philcox, the father found dead in his Land Rover with his children, Amy, seven, and Owen, three.

But he must have been desperate. We can only hope now that there is some forgiveness somewhere for a man whose actions killed his own children.

I cannot honestly say that I find it easy to forgive, but then it is not for me. They seemed such nice young children with everything before them.

So often we think in life, “if only we could turn the clock back”. Surely this is such a case. If only it had been possible to turn the clock back, wouldn’t it have been possible to find another solution?

This little family needs our prayers.

Patricia Edwards, Hoylake

Apology needed

I FIND Liverpool City Council’s behaviour towards Labour leader Joe Anderson deplorable (Daily Post, June 17). It is not good enough for a council spokesperson to declare “we omitted” to ask his permission to trawl through his mobile phone calls.

He is a man of integrity, and if he and his party need the people of Liverpool to be aware of any skulduggery going on within this council, he has a duty to inform them. Just because he is so vocal in his criticism of this provenly inept administration, does it give them the right to trawl through his phone calls without his permission.

Does this council not realise how democracy works? You elect people to represent you and look after your interests, and there is no better example of this than Joe Anderson.

It is not him that is currently being investigated by Standards Board for England like some other local politicians I could mention. A public apology and an internal investigation from the leader of the council is the least he should expect.

FK, Knotty Ash

Celebrity excess

CONGRATULATIONS to Cllr Rose Bailey for stating what so many of us have been thinking about Coleen McLoughlin and Wayne Rooney’s wedding extravaganza (Daily Post Letters, June 16). Even if you are a billionaire (not that I am suggesting that either of these two are that rich) surely it is completely ridiculous to spend in excess of £4m on a wedding. I know that a magazine paid the couple, and that they have asked people to donate to charity, instead of giving them presents, but the worst thing in all this is that there will be some other Z-lister who will come along and feel like they have to outdo these two.

Every time you think you have seen the absolute worst of celebrity excess, someone manages to come along and top it.

Hannah West, Southport

Good in theory

SO COUNCILS are being urged to try and help struggling homeowners by offering them cheaper mortgages.

Sounds good in theory, I think. If I understand this right, the local councils would be able to make loans available below the market rate to help people who may be at risk of repossession.

I also read in the Daily Post that Liverpool Council is looking at the suggestion.

Well, I know that times are tough for a lot of families on Merseyside, but given Liverpool City Council’s recent record on the financial front, I think I would rather take my chances with the banks than have anyone at our town hall have their fingers in my finances.

T Moore, Allerton

Open for business

JUST who do the doctors in Liverpool think they are saying that they refuse to open their surgeries in the evenings when doctors elsewhere have agreed that longer opening hours are vital in this modern age.

If they have agreed to a deal, then surely they should be compelled to act on it. The chairman of the GPs committee speaks of doctors being “railroaded and bullied” into the deal, but surely as we pay the wages of doctors we should have a say in the services they offer.

The NHS should be available to all, and on our terms. I am fed up of finding myself having to take time off work for doctors’ appointments because the only time they have available is in the middle of the day. Why should my job be seen as any less important than theirs?

M Swann, Liverpool city centre

Nature in the red

I HARDLY saw any red squirrels when I went to the reserve in Formby this weekend. A couple of years ago when I went, they were scampering around in every direction, I must have counted at least 20. I only saw two this week and they seemed scraggy little creatures.

Equally depressing was the amount of litter left on the beach by pleasure seekers attracted by the good weather. I suppose, amongst the “am I bovvered” generation, it is too uncool to make an effort with anything that might benefit society at large rather than just oneself.

What a shame!

Luisa Romano, Mossley Hill

White elephants

I READ that there will be an auction for Superlambananas when they are taken down. As a piece of summer fun, they’re enjoyable. Some of the designs are ingenious and they brighten up the city centre no end.

But, not wanting to be a killjoy, would anyone really want one standing outside their homes or business five years from now? Less Superlambanana and more white elephant, I’d say.

Keith Watson, West Derby