Royals should come and live among us

LACK of enthusiasm in Yorkshire over the forthcoming Royal Wedding is regrettable but perhaps not surprising.

In the days when the House of York ruled (1461-85) there was real devolution – the Prince of Wales at Ludlow and the Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III) at Middleham – the latter in effect Viceroy of the North.

There is no shortage of members of the present Royal family – why does not one of them take up permanent residence among us instead of paying whistle-stop visits?

Sharing warm Yorkshire hospitality would make it easier for people in these parts to feel that the Royals were really one of us.

I write this humbly as a lifelong monarchist.

From: RC Curry, Adel Grange Close, Leeds.

WHAT chance is there for some unity in the country when your correspondent Mike Bell (Yorkshire Post, March 5) expresses such views regarding Yorkshire and the South in the context of the Royal Wedding? He did not seem to be joking.

This, of course, has its counter from the man on television the other evening being interviewed about nimbyism regarding the high-speed rail line to these parts.

His blunt remark, “Well that is the North, this is the South” summed up the equally intolerant attitude of so many nearer the metropolis.

What with the divisions in our governance through various Assemblies and Parliaments, it is scarcely astonishing that we are no longer known as Britain, Great or otherwise, yet the misnomer of the United Kingdom is equally inappropriate. May be you could start a competition to reinvigorate our national identity with a name which will lift us from the present dismal situation?

Action call on faith schools

From: George McManus, Labour National Policy Forum, Yorkshire & The Humber, Norwood, Beverley.

RECENT events involving Celtic and Rangers have highlighted the sectarian divisions which still exist in the west of Scotland.

A number of commentators focused on the issue of the segregation which is still in place in the state educational system. I have first-hand experience at the age of five, of being separated from friends and sent to the local Catholic school while they went to the local Protestant (non denominational) school. We were effectively being radicalised.

As a member of the Labour Party’s National Policy Forum, I have made a number of unsuccessful pleas to my party leadership in the last 10 years, to distance itself from Tony Blair’s aim of widening access to faith schools in other parts of the country.

I hope that Ed Miliband will be more receptive. It is clear to me that radicalising young people in Christian communities can lead to sectarianism as it can lead to terrorism in others. State-funded faith schools are not the cause of the problem but they are a contributory factor.

Listen to what doctors say

From: Paul Taylor, North Moor Road, West End, Harrogate.

I RETIRED from medical general practice in north Leeds four years ago. I retired early at 60. Medicine was a wonderful job which I loved, but I had become frustrated by increasing political interference and what I view as the insidious privatisation of the NHS over the years by governments.

I think putting the financial running of the NHS into the hands of GP consortia is just about the biggest mistake that could be made. I became a doctor to do medicine not to become a manager.

By all means have GPs as advisers, but to have them making financial decisions they are not trained for will divert them from what they are good at and erode their standing as their patients’ advocate.

The Government must listen to what the BMA and most doctors say.

Title will rebound

From: Gerald Hodgson, Spennithorne, Leyburn.

THE business community is widely perceived as using sharp practices. My own experience is that the overwhelming majority of businesses are run honestly and that there is far more sharp practice among consumers.

How perverse, therefore, for the Yorkshire business community to reinforce the negative image of business by labelling itself The Yorkshire Mafia (Yorkshire Post, March 3).

The Mafia is the world’s most vicious criminal gang. Surely the business community is shooting itself in the foot with this name, however tongue in cheek it is intended?

Concern over litter problem

From: SC Harrison, Ashfield, Wetherby.

Regularly, I walk down Great George Street and cross the footbridge over the inner ring road to Clarendon Road, Leeds.

For several weeks, the council dustbin at the Clarendon Road end has not been emptied by Leeds City Council. For days, it lay on its side, spewing its contents.

I was told by the council’s Environmental Services, that as the footpath is a “highway”, it should be treated as being under the Highways Department, even if it is rubbish.

I have tried to phone the Highways Department and have been unable to get through.

People who frequent this route include patients attending Leeds General Infirmary, Clarendon Wing, students at Swarthmore and Park Lane Colleges, as well as Hyde Terrace etc.

To say I am non-plussed would be an under-statement.