WITH Kirklees Council selling off plots/properties worth £25 million is it time to also sell some of the £35 million of art works listed as ‘Heritage Assets’ in its accounts online?

The most valuable but surely least likeable of the 700 Kirklees oil paintings is the Figure Study II by Francis Bacon, worth the £20million according to Kirklees accounts (page 50).

A gift from 50+ years ago – this single painting if sold could fund 20 Libraries in Kirklees for two years.

The Kirklees Art Collection has 3,000 items worth in total £23 million – of which 85% are in storage .

The Kirklees Museums Collection comprises 750,000 items – of which 95% are in storage, according to the accounts.

Surely it’s time for a special edition in Kirklees of the TV programme ‘Flog It’ ?

Kenn Winter

Lindley

21st century roads?

WHO ever said Slaithwaite was overdue a decent supermarket and that it was, “Time to catch up with the 21st century”.

I would like to ask where does he or she expect the necessary 21st century road infra structure for this supermarket to come from?

Jim Park

Huddersfield

Safe and sound

WHILE I was in Holmfirth on Tuesday afternoon (June 11) I visited the Longley Farm ice cream parlour which is excellent.

I am a regular visitor to the area and lived in the Holme Valley for 25 years.

Not too long after leaving their premises I realised I had lost £25. I retraced my footsteps but unfortunately the parlour had closed.

I did not hold out much hope of recovering this amount of money, but the next day I rang the premises and much to my surprise the money had been found by one of the employees and been kept in the safe for me.

I am impressed by the honesty of this action and I would like to thank the lady concerned ( which I will do personally), however if you can find a small space in your paper I would appreciate this kind act being made public.

Acts like this do renew your faith in the human race!

Alan Thompson

East Cottingwith

Right to privacy?

THE National Security Agency heat map published in a national newspaper revealed that no fewer than three billion pieces of data were collected by America from individuals, institutions and businesses across the continent of Europe in the course of March 2013 alone.

Every European state was subject to surveillance, with the continent’s biggest economy, Germany, subjected to the most scrutiny.

Is the British government going to stand up for our right to privacy?

That appears unlikely considering that most UK politicians seem to have no problem with GCHQ spying upon British citizens never mind the American security services.

Dylan Murphy

Huddersfield

Time for a review

I READ with interest John Appleyard’s letter in Monday’s Examiner June 10, ‘Check on MPs.’

I actually missed the article by Barry Gibson regarding the possible introduction of a system allowing a set percentage of voters to force a one-off vote about an MP as we were away.

I am fed up with MPs and councillors who get elected then decide to become an independent or change allegiance to another party, for some reason or other.

This should not be allowed as they were elected to represent the people through the mandate of a political party. The MP or councillor should have to resign and fight a by-election.

There should be a way of holding our elected members of Parliament and our councillors to account.

If we are not happy with their performance there should be a way of forcing a by-election and holding the MP or councillor to account.

In my view, far too many MPs and councillors coast along as they are only in politics for the money and prestige.

Gone are the days, sadly, when people went into politics at council level to help their communities or into national politics to make a difference or to fight for a specific cause.

These days MPs are in politics as a career and all they want to do is get on, by toeing the party line.

Sadly the days of MPs who stand their ground and fight for what is right are gone.

When it comes to a vote in the House of Commons, rather than vote a Yes or No on a particular bill they will abstain. So they don’t rock the boat or their career.

A vote should be a Yes or a No, they are there to make decisions, not dither!

When it comes to election time our MPs no longer seem to go around knocking on doors as it used to be, well I haven’t had one knock on mine.

MPs or party candidates campaigning used to hold meetings for the local people in local halls for questions and answers.

We seldom see that dedication anymore!

So I say it’s time for a very big review of our election system, and politics as a whole, be it local and national, in this country.

Keith Bagot

Honley

Turn to us for help

THE latest government figures on poverty make for worrying reading.

The figures show that in 2011/12, average incomes have decreased by 3% compared to 2010/11, with almost a million more people falling in to poverty over this time.

We are particularly concerned that there has been a significant rise in the number of children living in absolute poverty, especially as the Institute of Fiscal Studies predicts that it is likely to continue rising over the next five years.

It is unacceptable that increasing numbers of families have to go without basic life essentials.

New research by the End Child Poverty Campaign has shown that the public believe tackling child poverty should be a priority with action needing to be taken urgently.

Sadly, as the full impact of the recent welfare cuts start to be felt and with household costs continuing to rise, the picture looks set to get worse.

In these economic times, it is more important than ever that people in financial need can access support through welfare benefits, charitable grants and other financial help.

We would urge them to check their eligibility on our website: www.turn2us.org.uk to find out what help is available.”

Alison Taylor

Director of Turn2us