Letters to the Editor - 15th July 2008

Jul 15 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

We truly are a Christian nation

WITHIN the space of a few days, I have heard many people on Radio 4 state that Britain is a “secular democracy”. This is not the case.

Britain is a Constitutional Monarchy, and officially and legally a Christian country. We have an established religion and an established church, the Church of England, by act of Parliament.

Every inch of English soil is part of a Church of England parish, with a Church of England church at its centre, and an ordained Minister living in the parish, whose task is to “care for the souls of the parish”, and who has the legal right of access to every home in the parish for pastoral duties. How secular is that?

Our Head of State, Queen Elizabeth II, was crowned Queen in the Coronation service, which is totally Christian in content and takes place within the context of the Anglican Service of Holy Communion. Look up the text of the Coronation service and you will see our laws are based on God’s laws; the Bible is one of the “instruments” of our constitution; and the Monarch is required to promise on oath to maintain the laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel, and to preserve the settlement of the Church of England. How secular is that?

Being a Christian nation, we believe very strongly in freedom; we therefore practise religious toleration, which allows people of other faiths to practise their religions here, provided their practices do not harm our people. That is the only sense in which we may call ourselves “multi-faith” or “multi-cultural”. But when these words are used, the fact that we are a Christian nation should always be stated; otherwise people will be either misled or confused.

It has recently been observed that “multi-cultural/multi-faith” actions lead to the ghetto-ising of minority religions – the very reverse of what was piously hoped-for by the secularists.

Mrs AD Bull, Middlesbrough

Moscardini’s the man

LIVERPOOL needs a man with Anthony Moscardini’s vision as never before. Peter Elson’s review (July 9) of his sketch book, and related comments, should be required reading for all Liverpudlians. Moscardini is correct to praise Rod Holmes for his tenacity in completing Liverpool One, and also the conviction of Grosvenor in funding this project. However, criticism is needed in that the World Heritage buffer zone has been intruded upon too much. Architects do what architects do, and cannot be criticised for following a brief, but the planners have made disastrous decisions, not just at Mann Island but elsewhere in the city.

I am ashamed to invite friends from out of town to our once splendid waterfront. It is being debased by structures of unimaginable ugliness. To quote Moscardini, “the links have been severed between what ordinary residents want for their city and the cocktail of change driven by the local authority, developers and planners”.

When the Tall Ships arrive, visitors will literally be walking the plank around a building site, and wondering how on earth our waterfront was allowed to be ruined. The tide is turning against this council, but too late to save our heritage.

David Swift, Litherland

Great guide in life

RE: THE letter “Depth of feeling” (Daily Post, July 10), I was encouraged to read the comments of JW, of Leasowe, who is “mightily impressed by readers’ depth of feeling” relating to God and Faith.

I pray that JW will one day be convinced of the existence of God. Knowing Him as a guide in daily life is a truly remarkable experience.

EM Owens, Liverpool 12

Innocent lives lost

AS AN opponent of capital punishment, I must take issue with R Davies (Daily Post, July 11).

I take it he doesn’t care about miscarriages of justice of the past which saw innocent people sent to the gallows along with the guilty. I will agree that, for some murderers, life should mean life, teenage killers should stay behind bars until 45-50 years of age, and reckless drivers who kill should face life, too.

But Mr Davies is labouring under a misunderstanding. The cost of keeping a murderer over 30 years is no different to keeping 60 prisoners each serving six months over the same period. Once a prisoner is released (or dies), his place is rapidly filled.

Lethal injection is not as smart as Mr Davies makes out, some people have proved fairly resistant. to the final jab. And, of course, once he's gone, there is someone else who is next in line, such is the "deterrent".

I would not mind this simple solution if the US was not such a drug and gun-ridden society, where teenage misfits regularly burst into schools and colleges and mow down their fellow students, or people have to live in gated communities with armed guards. Also, don’t forget the spate of tourist murders in Miami some years ago, in the death penalty state of Florida.

There is no doubt that Daniel Breaks is a thoroughly nasty bit of work. But the price of keeping him in life-long custody is a price worth paying to prevent another innocent person being executed.

R Mason, via email

Forgotten heroes

IT WAS refreshing to read David Charters’s feature on Saturday: “The men who risked their lives for another nation.” The men and women of the International Brigades have never been properly honoured.

They fought the rise of Fascism in 1936, and our respected national institutions condemned them. Those same institutions appeared to be more in sympathy with Franco’s Fascism in Spain. The organs of respectability also looked the other way at the rise of Hitler; remember Winston Churchill, he was also pilloried for speaking out about the dangers of Fascism.

If we are to have heroes, those men will always be mine, because their “Second World War” lasted from 1936 to 1945.

The International Brigade should be in the forefront at the Cenotaph every year, along with the heroic merchant seamen who fought without weapons and very little protection to keep this country alive, during both great wars.

Mike Kelly, via email

Waste of money

HOW ridiculous that someone should pay £541,250 for a drum skin that was used on the Sergeant Pepper’s album.

I find this total waste of money absurd – just think of what it could have bought, the lives it could have saved if it had been sent to the Third World.

Even the original £150,000 that Christie’s estimated it would sell for was frankly a ludicrous sum.

Why on earth would anybody really want to own something like that – they must have far more money than sense?

Don’t get me wrong, I am a Beatles fan and I would probably pay £150,000 if I had it to see them play, if that were possible, but this is just a stupid waste of money.

What are they going to do with it? Put it on the wall?

GH, via email

It’s small change

THERE has been a lot said over the last few days about the new vehicle excise duty and how more drivers will be worse off. The politicians waffle on about the most polluting vehicles being taxed at a higher rate. If you are in a position to pay £50,000 for a car, then £400 road tax is not a serious issue. The system that is proposed is a tax on ownership and not use. In effect, it is a fine for owning a larger engined car, irrespective of the mileage driven per year.

A fairer system would be to abolish VED altogether and put the extra tax on fuel. The more miles you drive, the more you pay. The problem of VED evasion would be solved overnight.

Incidentally, a large goods vehicle (HGV) that weighs 15 tons unladen, is 50 feet long, 8 feet wide, has six axles and uses diesel fuel at the rate of nine miles per gallon only has a VED of £165, providing that it is used as a training vehicle and never carries any cargo. That's correct, £165! That cannot be right.

M Burton, Formby

Not picture perfect

I CANNOT believe that an American newspaper is to reportedly pay out some $10m for the pictures of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s newborn twins. I am sorry but this must be one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. How on earth can a paper possibly make back that sort of money?

Moreover, what is going on in the world that a paper is so desperate to have these pictures that they can lay their hands on this sort of cash?

The one redeeming feature in this sorry affair is that the multi-millionaire parents will be giving all of the cash to charity. It really is insane, though, particularly when most newborn babies look pretty much the same.

L Swallow, Walton

Single at what cost?

THE Royal Liverpool Hospital is to be commended for its plans to give every patient their own room. The fact that these rooms will also cut down the risk of cross-infection with things like MRSA means their creation can only be a good thing. However, as these private rooms will mean a reduction in the overall number of beds, I hope this will not lead to patients being sent home before they are actually well enough.

Joe Mann, Mossley Hill

Very big thanks

CAN I just say congratulations to all the youngsters who turned out over the weekend for the Big Dance event. This was one Culture event which was truly inclusive for everyone, and a great time was had by all. Well done to the organisers for all their hard work.

A Moore, Southport