YP Letters: Migration issues divide opinions

THERE can be no doubt the abundant lack of common sense running through the Home Office is astonishing (The Yorkshire Post, April 30). The way immigration policy has been handled over decades by these civil service employees is nothing short of a disgrace.

The Brexit vote demanded more be done to regulate all immigration, illegal or not. To date almost nothing has changed. Where is the policy? Where is the action? Civil servants hiding behind ministers no doubt.

From: Susan Dennis, Ripon.

DIANE Abbott obviously needs reminding of an interview she did with Nick Ferrari prior to the last election.

She was discussing the cost of police recruitment. Her proposed policy was to recruit an additional 10,000 police officers, and she estimated that this would cost £300,000. When challenged over this figure, she increased her estimate to £80m! Is this not “misleading the people”? Do we really want this woman an as our next Home Secretary?

From: Arthur Quarmby, Mill Moor Road, Meltham.

WE are told repeatedly about all the benefits which immigrants confer on this country.

I note the escalation of crime, and especially knife, gun and drug-related crime. It would be interesting to know what percentage of such crimes are committed by immigrants – but of course the investigation of such figures will never, ever be permitted.

From: James Bovington, Church Grove, Horsforth, Leeds.

WOMEN abused on the Tube for speaking Spanish. A woman abused on an Inter-City train by four thuggish men for speaking to her 11-year-old son in French. Of course these racist scum, who are to a man or woman enthusiastic Brexiteers, are fluently polyglot, n’est-ce pas?

Don’t blame me. I am proud to have voted Remain. With Windrush, anti-Semitic Labour and Brexit uniting the lot (The Yorkshire Post, April 30), I am ashamed of the squalid quagmire our country is becoming.

From: Peter Hyde, Driffield.

I HAVE to admit as a Tory voter of many, many, years standing, I am completely at a loss to understand the Government’s current thinking.

Crime, especially violent crime, is on the rise and yet the police have been starved of funding and crime goes undetected and unrecorded.

We are desperately short of NHS doctors and nurses and now trainee doctors from India are being refused visas to remain here to work in our overstretched NHS. Yet we still send money to China in so-called foreign aid. Will someone tell me why, or have I to vote for Jeremy Corbyn? Could he be worse?

Hanging on for call action

From: ME Wright, Harrogate.

I WISH I could share Tom Richmond’s seeming confidence in the outcome of the latest Parliamentary promises on nuisance phone calls (The Yorkshire Post, April 28). In one form or another, haven’t we been promised action for years? At least Macavity Grayling isn’t in charge of this, so perhaps there’s a glimmer of hope.

For several years my daytime callers have been greeted with an answerphone message, asking them to identify themselves and if there’s no response, to leave a message. If I recognise the caller, I answer. What I assume to be nuisance callers, simply hang up.

Slow pleasure of poetry

From: Moira Flynn, Garforth.

I ENJOYED Ian McMillan’s column about the different kind of pleasure reading poetry gives because it requires slowing down and savouring the words.

It reminded me of an installation at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park which I enjoyed over several visits. It was a greenhouse of terracotta pots growing poems on plant labels, one per pot, all topped off nicely with gravel! Each one was arranged around the name of a plant running vertically through the poem, I think the form was called a mesostic?

Time to get tough on litter

From: Mrs Margaret Foster, Garforth.

PHIL Penfold’s article on litter really struck a chord with me (The Yorkshire Post, April 28). On a recent journey to the Peak District, we stopped at a picturesque viewpoint on Mortimer Road (still in Yorkshire), to be greeted by mainly plastic detritus, including someone’s lunchbox half-full of decaying food.

It’s about time that littering, once again, becomes socially unacceptable. Attitudes need to change, I was taught, and in turn taught my children, not to litter; in modern parlance, it’s a “no-brainer”.

Not so cross about puzzle

From: Malcolm Smith, Scarcroft.

I NOTE that the quick crossword now appears on the top right of the page, which makes it easy to tear out and copy. If my previous email was a contributor, many thanks for taking note, it is much appreciated and reduces the cross words in the Smith household!

From: Henry Cobden, Ilkley.

MAY I offer my sincere thanks for acting on my request to move the quick crossword to a different position on the puzzle page. It is now far more convenient and falls into place much more easily.

From: Barry Foster, High Stakesby, Whitby.

THANK you for moving the crossword. Really appreciated.