Monday's Letters: Railway route story has not reached its end

However, the Government has yet to make decisions on which parts of the network north of Birmingham would be built first and will consider this over the coming months.

The evidence suggests that the route to Yorkshire has the strongest business case. We will continue to press the case for constructing the eastern arm of the high speed network to Yorkshire before, or at the same time, as the western arm to the North West.

Moreover, the economic cost and comparative disadvantage to Yorkshire may be considerable if the route goes to the North West first – especially following the substantial investment in the West Coast Main line compared to the much lower investment in the Midland Main Line or East Coast Line over recent decades.

We need investment in these existing lines to improve their speed and reliability in the shorter term as well as the high speed route in the longer term.

It all needs to form a coherent rail investment strategy designed to support economic growth in the North, and hence lead to a stronger outcome for the UK economy.

We will be providing evidence on these points to Government.

This announcement was excellent news, but is far from the end of the story. So keep up your Fast Track to Yorkshire campaign.

How children can step out without fear

From: Alice Barnard, chief executive, The Countryside Alliance Foundation.

LORD Young's recent review on health and safety and compensation culture could herald a major and long-overdue social change: an end to the damaging effects of health and safety laws.

From schools who decide to ban sports days to verges not being mowed in public areas because of the risk involved in running a lawnmower over its steep slopes, around the UK examples of failures to do the most simple (and sometimes, the most serious) tasks because of fear of litigation has meant society is now somewhat regulated in every aspect of day to day life.

The Countryside Alliance Foundation (TCAF) has conducted extensive research into the perception that health and safety is the main reason schools simply do not take young people into the outdoors to engage in practical learning about the outdoors.

TCAF's research found that, while more than 76 per cent of teachers claimed fear of litigation was their main reason for not taking children on school outings, the reality is local authorities paid out on average 293 in compensation per year over the last 10 years.

The review proposes a radical simplification of the number of forms that schools have to complete before taking pupils on trips, bringing in a single consent form for parents to sign. Such measures, hopefully, will enable our young people to engage with the countryside and re-build people's passion for our open spaces.

All credit to the Prince

From: PS Lockett, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

I WOULD just like to give credit where credit is due to the Prince of Wales. His opening speech on Sunday at the Commonwealth Games (Yorkshire Post, October 4) was so meaningful and I am sure everyone there must have been touched by his sincerity and enthusiasm for this sporting event.

How can anyone grumble at the cost of his bodyguard? The Prince of Wales is a real target; he is on the front line every day of his life. I'm sure those people who do grumble really have no idea how many people have bodyguards paid for by us.

The Prince of Wales works tirelessly for the youth of this country. He is very concerned about the environment, he has been telling us for over 30 years that we were doing untold damage to the environment. Only now do people listen, but who gets the credit, not the Prince of Wales –anyone but him.

He is very concerned with our heritage, protecting buildings and fighting developers, his life is one long battle but he never

gives up. He is a remarkable person and deserves some credit.

Cigarette menace

From: Diana Al-Saadi, Billing View, Leeds.

THE Government has just announced it may not implement a new law to

scrap cigarette vending machines and tobacco displays in shops.

Yet we know vending machines are an easy source of cigarettes for children and that they are encouraged to smoke through the slick marketing in tobacco displays.

With 40 per cent of adult smokers, or ex-smokers, starting smoking before they were 16, it's clear we need to do much more to stop our children taking up this deadly habit.

That's why I, along with thousands of others, am supporting the British Heart Foundation's campaign to ensure the Government implements this law to protect our children from the dangers of smoking.

High anxiety on road

From: Mrs Chris McDade, Station Court, Morton on Swale, North Yorkshire.

I REFER to the five-week closure of the A170 at Sutton Bank for "safety work in an attempt to stop accident chaos – now happening nearly every day" (Yorkshire Post, October 4).

Reference was made to a caravan tipping over on attempting to travel down the one in four gradient. Do the caravan drivers not read the large signs, at both the Helmsley and Thirsk approaches to Sutton Bank? These signs warn that caravans should not use the road.

I have had one occasion when I have had to detour three times in a week because of a caravan or lorry blocking the road. Indeed, on one occasion, a lorry jack-knifed in front of me and very nearly rolled into my vehicle. Knowing the associated hazards, I was travelling at a good distance behind the said vehicle.

Who picks up all the associated costs of recovering and policing these incidents? Of more importance, are the caravan drivers who ignore the signs prosecuted?

Obesity epidemic wastes the resources of NHS

From: Barrie Frost, Watson's Lane, Reighton, Filey.

THE physical condition of too many people is fast becoming such a serious problem that if it is not addressed now, it could, in a relatively short time overwhelm and destroy the National Health Service.

The amount of money which is now being spent on treating people who are seriously overweight which, in the majority of cases, is entirely and selfishly self-inflicted, can only result in reduced funding for those with genuine medical illnesses which hadn't been encouraged.

It seems an abomination that cancer drugs may be refused for being too expensive and that outrageous charges are made for hospital car parking to penalise the sick, yet we can spend vast sums of money in other, truly avoidable areas.

It is no longer a case of some people being a little overweight as in previous generations but now too many are extremely fat, obese, or medically and morbidly obese, and apart from a minority who suffer from an unrelated medical condition, the majority must be aware that they, and they alone, are responsible for their condition.

Yet excuse after excuse is made by them for their sorry state, to blame everyone else and apportion responsibility elsewhere, when the reason for their condition is quite simple – they eat or drink far too much, which must be a very polite way of describing the colossal amounts of food, mostly junk food, they force upon themselves.

How often have we heard "I have tried every diet going and none of them work"? I have to assume that if they believe this then their over indulgence in food has also addled their brains for, invariably, this is translated as: the diet was tried for one day and as no weight loss resulted the diet was no good and didn't work. Everyone benefits from exercise, even the normal exercise of everyday life, and even this is too often abandoned, but although very beneficial for health, exercise alone cannot negate the surplus calories absorbed by eating mountains of unneeded food as the amount of exercise required to "burn off" even a few hundred calories surprises most and is far beyond the capabilities of most people or the time they have available.

No, the only sure way to halt the obesity epidemic is to eat less, much, much less; to no longer binge on unwanted food, with the added bonus of saving a good deal of money.

Stop making excuses for the state of your body: stop blaming faulty genes; stop blaming it on family history; it is not a valid excuse to claim you are big-boned, but start taking responsibility for your condition, respect the body that God gave you and allow the NHS facilities to be used for people who have not sought their illnesses.

What we want from Cameron

From: David H Rhodes, Keble Park North, Bishopthorpe, York.

"THIS is your country. It's time to believe it. It's time to step up and own it" – a quotation by David Cameron (Yorkshire Post, October 7). Sounds good but are they in reality weasel words?

Many of us have already been speaking up for owning our country but politicians continue to sell us down the river. Three political parties promised us a referendum on the EU – nothing to date. Mr Cameron promised a repatriation of certain sovereignty issues given to Brussels – nothing to date.

One of the latest decisions from Europe is the insidious replacement of habeas corpus for corpus juris (in other words, Napoleonic law). Come on Mr Cameron, explain how we are to achieve your challenge and, to many others, our deepest wish.

That's the limit

From: Rena S Allen, Barnard Castle, County Durham.

WITH Britain's limited land and resources, should we not follow some other countries by setting limits on immigration and asylum seekers? We should limit free state schooling to three children from one family to all British residents, limit free council housing to a family of three children or fewer, limit state help to unmarried mothers to one child and under 16 years of age the mother and child should be financed by the family.

Since the 1960s, free contraception has been available in Britain.

Pricey pitches

From: Phil Hanson, Beechmount Close, Baildon, Shipley.

EAST Riding of Yorkshire Council has been awarded funding to the tune of 1.2m to provide an additional 10 gipsy pitches on Eppleworth Road, Cottingham. This sounds very expensive for pitches. How much will the gipsy community contribute?

As many of us brace ourselves for spending cuts or unemployment, the spending of such money on people who as I understand it make little or no contribution to the country's taxation seems ridiculous.

Great care

From: Mary Harrison South Crescent Avenue, Filey.

I HAVE great confidence in Scarborough Hospital, where I recently received excellent care in the Acute Assessment and Oak wards (Yorkshire Post, October 7). The thorough daily cleaning was a joy to watch.

I feel for the extremely hardworking, kind and cheerful nurses who have to read criticism; yes, they are short staffed, but deserve great praise for the fantastic care they give.