IN ITV’s Downton Abbey the landed gentry look down on the lower classes. They remind me of how the country used to be run in the early part of the century.

The every whim of the rich and privileged had to be carried out immediately. Their word was law and any dissent meant dismissal and future poverty for the offender.

Thank goodness things have changed.

I was reminded of this attitude when I heard members of our government dismissing out of hand the demand from a large section of the public for a chance to have their voices heard on the European Union.

The futures of us, our children and grandchildren are at stake, but our voices and opinions must not be heard.

This is from the same politicians who have gone to war several times in many other countries in support of foreign citizens, uttering the war cry ‘democracy must be heard.’

So what’s different in the home country? Our politicians surely cannot have different standards at home to those they demand of rulers abroad.

Then again, looking back on the expenses scandal, perhaps they have.

I think a lot of lives could have been saved if the hapless passengers of the Titanic could have left in the lifeboats before it hit the iceberg.

I think it would be far better to leave the EU now rather than sit back and watch the crews in charge of the countries concerned impotently twiddling their thumbs and umming and arring rather than waiting until our already damaged economies have bled dry to prop up others and the oncoming disaster grows ever worse.

Those responsible for this crash will have retired in comfort while our children will still be paying with their futures for the mistakes they have foisted upon us for a long time to come.

I am trying to get together a list of all the bankers, financiers and politicians who have lost their jobs, savings, pensions and homes due to the collapse of the economy so that I can compare it with a list of all the ordinary people who have suffered the same fate because, of course, we are all in this together.

John Langford

Lepton

‘Great’ Britain

IT appears to me that the majority of today’s politicians in the UK are hell bent on replacing our own unique alliance of small nations who have much in common with each other with the unrealistic alliance of the great and small nations who have very little in common with us or each other – the United Europe.

They seem to ignore the fact that the UK has been a safeguard for the people of the British Isles.

They seem to forget that our stability has rested on what we were and not on what we are becoming. The proof of history is there for all who care to look.

The UK is unique in the world, never bending to dictatorship or oppressive government.

We know the UK has not always been just to its own people or people of other lands. This is no excuse to deny the people of these islands the right to their own self-determination and customs and these are being destroyed by membership of the EU.

The present politicians and those of post-war Britain of all parties who have or have had members in Westminster, Scotland or the Welsh assembly have lost all control of the essence of our stability for one reason or another.

They are really fronts for individuals or organisations, instead of addressing their obligations to people instead of their obsession with economic growth.

LEN SANDFORD

Lepton

Let’s get building

EVERYBODY seems really cross about the Kirklees Local Development Framework. I don’t know what all the fuss is about.

The idea of determining how many homes will be needed in the area, and over what period (26,200 by 2028) is both foresighted and intelligent and is what every local authority should be doing.

We really must plan responsibility for the future and not let things develop in a haphazard way.

I’m glad to see that Kirklees is putting a lot of effort into making sure the supporting infrastructure is in place – wider roads, bigger sewers and water pipes, better power supplies, bigger schools, hospitals and dental surgeries, shopping malls and so on.

It’s easy to see why green fields are a better option for development. So many brownfield sites have unsuitable buildings on them or contamination of some sort and are much less profitable to develop.

And let’s face it, green fields are just full of cow clap and weeds. Nobody really wants that sort of thing and the sooner we get rid of unmanageable wildland the better off we’ll be.

It’s really annoying that so many nimby-type people complain about progress when progress of this sort is inevitable and should be embraced. We can’t live in a faux-rural past.

RUDI DE GROOT

Brockholes

Unions versus permits

ON August 5 this year the Examiner very kindly published a letter I sent headed Parking Permit Solution.

In it I proposed that the £275,000 plus paid by Kirklees Council to nine full-time trade union officials be stopped and this money be used to fund the administration of permit parking.

I was in the fortunate position of being able to watch on television the whole of the speech made by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, to the Conservative Party Conference this week.

Council taxpayers will be pleased to know that, and I quote: “I am calling time on taxpayer funded full time trade union officials.”

Now that this misuse of council taxpayers’ money has been rumbled and stopped, Clr Mehboob Khan and his Labour group can reverse their decisions to charge all the 8,675 permit holders in 160 parts of Kirklees £30 per permit.

I also re-issue my challenge to our three Lindley councillors to campaign for this money.

MC

LINDLEY

Dangerous junction

I WAS one of the people who put my name on Mrs Pearcy’s petition opposing changes to the junction of Clough Lane and Church Street in Paddock.

She is being asked to withdraw it. If the people who want her to withdraw it had been standing where I was last week they’d change their minds.

A mother was pushing her child in a pram around the corner. She nearly got hit by a car. This is not the first time I have seen this happen. Prams are wider than the yellow lines.

The council is worried about the cost of dealing with this. If the mother and her child had been killed this week then they would have reason to worry about the cost.

Get a life, before someone loses theirs.

MRS M THORNTON

Paddock

Cutting unemployment

UNEMPLOYMENT among young people is a social problem politicians seem to be sweeping under the carpet.

They must realise that the longer a young person is out of work the less likely and capable they will be to return to it.

A friend and I came up with a few ideas that politicians may look at:

1) Bring back apprenticeships for trades that require skill.

2) Lower the retirement age to 60 for all older workers are taking jobs that the young may need. If not lowered, make it part-time for people over 60 years old.

3) Bring back conscription for persistent offenders. Putting them in the forces would put them on the right tracks.

4) Employers now demand too many certificates for jobs, even NVQs for cleaning toilets. Let’s see an end to this and base it as on-site training and their own ability to do the job.

COLIN VAUSE

Marsh

Backing the band

ON Sunday, October 2, our son took my husband and me to a heavy metal rock concert at Holmfirth Picturedrome.

At the ages of 69 and 71 were we doing the right thing?

We saw three support groups who were very good and then Evile – the main group – who were fantastic!

We definitely did the right thing and were glad to offer our support to this local band. It was great to see so many people enjoying themselves.

Thank you Andy, and thank you Ben, Ol, Matt and Joel of Evile!

C L and C A Walker

Linthwaite

Traumatic war memory

MY parents lived near Wakefield and in the early post World War Two period a regular caller was the traveller for Carters agricultural merchants, of Huddersfield.

I knew him only as Keith. No-one remembers his surname. Gradually he told us of his horrific experiences as a prisoner of war on the Burma railway.

I have never forgotten the story of his suffering which resulted in his early death.

Now at nearly 70 I have been able to pay my respects to Keith and his compatriots and fellow prisoners.

On September 28 I visited the National Memorial at Alrewas.

In it there is a memorial to the Burma Railway in the form of a section of track and an exhibition too awful to describe.

I took a spray of poppies and a note to say he has not been forgotten.

I don’t know anything about Keith’s family but if they read this I can only hope it’s a comfort to them to know that he has not been forgotten.

R MOORHOUSE

Leicestershire