Letters to the Editor - 18th July 2008

Jul 18 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

Help reward unsung heroes

IT IS with great pleasure that I will be hosting the tenth annual Pride of Britain Awards in October. As you may know, it is an incredibly uplifting occasion where HRH Prince Charles and the Prime Minister join a star-studded audience to honour the nation’s unsung heroes.

For me, it is the only awards show on TV that really matters because the winners are real people who could not be more deserving.

I have been stunned, moved and inspired by what winners have done. Yet I know there are many more heroes and heroines whose achievements go unrecognised. And that's why I am appealing to your readers to tell us about them.

We are looking for the people who put the Great into Britain to honour at this year’s tenth anniversary gala in London. We want to hear about those who make the world a better place – from courageous children and adults, people who improve their neighbourhoods, tireless careworkers, campaigners and charity fundraisers, to members of the emergency services.

You can nominate by email: nominate@prideofbritain.com, online at www.prideofbritain.com or in writing to Pride of Britain Awards, PO Box 4014, London, E14 5BF.

Or you can fill in a form and post it in the Pride of Britain boxes at your local Co-operative food store or travel, bank or pharmacy branch. Nominations must be received by Friday, August 1.

Carol Vorderman

Prove me wrong

I READ your article regarding the lack of apprenticeships on offer. As the father of a 19-year-old lad who, for two years in succession, has tried in vain to land himself an apprenticeship as an electrician, I can confirm this to be true. My son fills all the criteria as regards GCSE results, etc, is keen, articulate and scrubs up well for interviews.

This news is despite all we read in the press and see on television about there being a shortage of skilled workers in this country. I believe that UK firms prefer to import these skills cheaply from Eastern Europe rather than put time and money into the youth of the UK. Unless any firms out there can prove me wrong and offer my lad a start?

SCD, Greasby

Escapism

MAY I say how much I liked the photograph on the cover of Style City this week. The era of flappers, Scott Fitzgerald and his Jazz Age was one of the most glamorous.

There was a mood of escapism between the two world wars, which is reflected in the styles – a sense of living now because you don’t know when it will end.

Often, when looking at period images, it is hard to remember that it was also an era of mass poverty. But people of all classes liked the cinema and fashions and the sense of escapism.

That is perhaps why Scott Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby is regarded as a masterpiece. It both encapsulated the glamour while mocking the ways of the idle rich, as the American Dream turned sour. But then, by definition, classic literature and classic fashion never die.

Sally Elliott, Allerton

Breathe easily

SOMEONE please tell me AT Vaughan is joking (Letters, July 16). Surely anyone with half a brain realises that gases accumulate more easily in enclosed spaces? When people smoked indoors, the smoke accumulated and people were always breathing it in, whereas outside it diffuses away much more quickly. Some 85% of cigarette smoke is actually invisible, so it was utterly futile trying to blow the smoke away from people indoors – or just ban smoking “at the bar”.

When I went into my local on the first day of the ban, I noticed the difference immediately – what a change it made to come home without my clothes stinking of smoke.

As for there not being any smoking areas, virtually all pubs and bars have had them since the ban was introduced.

Philip Ion, Greasby

Road safety

I CAN’T believe Swindon Council have decided to get rid of speed cameras on their roads.

Those who say the cameras are just a further tax on the motorist are wrong. They play a vital part in making the roads safer by ensuring drivers stick to the correct speeds.

Anyone with a licence has to know the Highway Code and therefore the correct speed limit on different types of road.

A speed limit is just that, a limit, a maximum speed you are allowed to travel in a car. It is not a target that has to be reached.

It really is very simple – if you don’t speed, you don’t get caught by a camera.

J Allen, Birkdale

Pale shadow

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with K Fitzsimmons (Daily Post, Letters, July 4) re. the new Liverpool One WH Smiths store.

It is indeed a pale shadow of the original in Church Street, and is more in keeping with a branch of a small town or village – not a European Capital of Culture. The stock is very limited and I now have to travel to either Birkenhead or Chester for my requirements. Let’s hope that the soon to be opened HMV store does not follow the same pattern.

Alan Rigg, Bromborough

Still a crime

AM I the only person to have noticed the insidious way in which burglary is increasingly described as a "lesser offence"?

In their desperation to solve the problem of our overcrowded prisons the Government and its advisors seem intent on downgrading offences and their appropriate sentences.

Burglary is a serious violation of a householder's home and privacy and has always been so regarded by the courts. This despicable attempt to change the public perception of such an intrusion must be firmly resisted.

The answer to over-crowded prisons is to be build more jails not to re-write our laws to prevent criminals being adequately punished.

Philip Griffiths, UKIP North West chairman

No freedom

MRS AD Bull (Letters, July 15) provides a concise and informative explanation of the legal status of the United Kingdom – and it sounds like some appalling medieval theocracy.

Inadvertently, Mrs Bull has set out a case for those of us who want to be rid of the anachronisms of the monarchy and the established church. As long as these things exist, we will continue to be subjects, rather than citizens; we will never have full religious equality; and inequity and the denial of human rights will be built into the relationship between the state and its people.

Mal Ferguson, Tuebrook

Not plane sailing

CAN someone please tell us which bright spark chose Monday, July 21, for the Parade of Ships to take place? If this has something to do with the tides, then fair enough, but otherwise it seems like a really bad idea.

Most people will be at work then, and getting home from work is going to be a nightmare because all the people who were able to watch the Parade of Sail will also be trying to get home.

The last time this event took place in Liverpool, Merseytravel had trains running after midnight trying to get everyone home. Can’t wait for Monday evening rush hour.

Mrs Mitchell, Birkenhead

Piqued

AS MUCH as I am looking forward to the Tall Ships events this weekend, I would really like to know how Merseytravel would like us to avoid peak time travelling (“Transport organisers rise to challenge of huge events . . . ” Daily Post, July 16).

I have no choice but to travel at peak time on Friday, as I have to go to work, and presumably all of the rest of the weekend will be a “peak time” as it is a “peak” event.

L Molloy, Speke

Unwanted

WHAT is going on in Liverpool? Every day the Daily Post seems to carry a news story about a new housing development getting the go-ahead, then a couple of columns later we read about job cuts at building companies or developers getting into financial difficulty.

Why do people keep going after these big schemes when it seems to be that no-one wants or can afford to live in them? I just don’t get it.

A Hamilton, Aigburth

Boxing clever

HATS off to Michael Owen for giving his backing to the campaign to get young people into the boxing ring, rather than on the streets carrying knives. Boxing instils discipline and respect and should be encouraged at all levels.

He was a first-rate amateur boxer in his earlier days, so he should know what he is talking about.

J Morris, Hoylake

First, good news

WELL I suppose it is good news that Gordon Brown has decided to scrap his planned 2p hike in petrol duty but I won’t be heading off celebrating just yet. It looks like we will be hit with it next year instead. Meantime, no doubt he will think up some other way to empty our pockets.

Joe Bowman, Runcorn

Lovely surprise

NOT being a big fan of “mall” style shopping, it was with some trepidation that I made my first visit to the new Grosvenor Liverpool One development.

To my surprise, I thought it was absolutely lovely with a very good choice of shops. This puts Liverpool on a far better level for shopping than previously. For the first time in years, I felt I was in a stylish Liverpool shopping area with some great new stores not previously in the city.

I particularly liked the way it was designed with the sandstone walls contrasting with the latest high-tech architecture, soaring glass and steel.

I was also impressed with the way that the architects had tried to relate it to the city, so there is a terrific unobstructed view down to the Albert Dock, which has been cut off from the main centre for far too long.

E Lennox (Mrs), St Helens