Letters July 30: Osborne blind to real life cost of cuts

IF surgeons can now give a patient a bionic eye to improve their vision, can someone suggest a similar procedure for our Chancellor to help him see more clearly the repercussions his spending cuts are going to have on the care of older and vulnerable people in the UK?

Mr Osborne is looking for £20bn of cuts, with only health, schools, defence and overseas aid protected.

It seems local authorities will again bear the brunt of those cuts and with social care not being ring-fenced, it is inevitable that a sector already cut back to the bone thanks to £3.5bn in cuts since 2010, will suffer heavily again.

Can’t the Chancellor see that cutting the care people have in their own home and in care homes will ultimately result in more costly admissions to NHS hospitals and bed-blocking?

Can he also not see that it is madness not to protect the care of older, frail adults as he swings his axe in Whitehall as it will cost the country much more in the long run and significantly dent his deficit reduction plans?

Have Scots got our rail cash?

From: Mrs A Brennan, Stoops Lane, Bessacarr, Doncaster.

I HAVE recently returned from my annual visit to my friend in Scotland. On the return journey from Dunblane to Edinburgh I had an interesting chat with the ticket collector about the electrification on the line. He also told me about similar work being carried out across the country.

This involves bridges being heightened and lifts installed for easier access.

Where that was not possible in Glasgow, the ground was having to be lowered. Obviously all at great cost. I am wondering who is funding the improvements?

If it is the Scottish Parliament or the Danes whom I believe have taken over Scot Rail, then fine.

Or could it be our Government who have sent money designated for Yorkshire up to Scotland?

Like many people, I feel that the plans for HS2 should be scrapped and the money 
spent on railways to benefit everyone.

I also agree with recent letters regarding Leeds Bradford Airport. It is hideous to spend a huge amount of money on another runway when the facility is already available in Doncaster.

Question time for the BBC

From: Les Arnott, Sheffield.

IAN Barnes (The Yorkshire Post, July 22) makes a fairly reasonable but rather selective defence of the BBC.

This is the same organisation so riddled with political correctness that even after its “employment quotas” were reached and then exceeded – it still expensively maintains a department dedicated to the alleged pursuit of equality.

This is the very organisation which either removes or downgrades negative stories about the EU. What of the huge salaries for nonentities whose job could be done by the average man on the street with barely a week’s training?

What of the plethora of leftist comedians whose opinions are so regularly courted for reasons not easily grasped by normal people – when many of these types have only become “celebrities” because they appear on the Beeb in the first instance?

What of the selection of politicians to talk on current topics on local radio? Why do some stations automatically run to the Greens (a very minor party in terms of votes cast in recent elections) to talk about the environment. Why not ask Ukip about its policies, for instance?

I would agree that some of the anti-BBC websites are “just looking for trouble” – but there is perhaps enough here to concern even Mr Barnes.

From: John Springer, Ingbirchworth, Sheffield.

I FIND it very worrying to see a public figure like Coun Tim Mickleburgh not understanding that ever since ITV started he has paid for the television programmes they make. Whether or not he owns a television set is irrelevant because every time he buys almost anything he pays for their advertisements. He will have to do so all his life. He cannot avoid doing so because many ‘firms’ are actually parts of conglomerates or backed by private equity and hedge funds.

From: Chris Giddings, Halifax.

COUN Tim Mickleburgh (The Yorkshire Post, July 24) mentions that he does not have a television and therefore does not hold a licence. I trust that he is not one of those viewers who watches TV via the internet, depriving the BBC of much needed income?

No such thing as free entry

From: Coun Tim Mickleburgh (Lab), Boulevard Avenue, Grimsby.

I DON’T see there is anything intrinsically wrong with charging for entry to museums or art galleries (The Yorkshire Post, July 24). After all, we expect to pay a fee when – for example – going to cricket or football matches.

What annoys me is that the state-run venues, primarily based in London, continue to have free admission for all. Thus the taxpayer subsidises foreign tourists to see attractions miles away from the rest of us in the North.

I think a sensible compromise would be a two-tiered admission system, with locals paying less.