OH DEAR, I seem to have upset Tom Scaife with my letter of January 3.

However, if Mr Scaife finds it “dumb” to believe it is morally correct to pay your way, to only buy what you can afford and only borrow if you can pay it back, then so be it.

We cannot as a country crash on from year to year, piling debt on debt. It seems we cannot even afford to pay the interest on our massive debts and must borrow more just to pay that.

The last lot in charge thought it funny to leave a note saying there was no more cash. These are the very people now smirking and braying on the opposition benches.

I find it hard to imagine why any sane person would wish to follow a Labour government into power, the multitude of messes they have created over the years.

So, borrow more my Leftist friends, make massive increases in the State payroll with four civil servants doing the work of one, cover the land with windmills; why not if no one has to pay?

Transfer more and more power to Brussels, but our grandchildren’s lives will be grim.

Mr Dumb, aka Charles Rushton, Pasture Close, Strensall, York


• WHAT is it that people like Tom Scaife don’t understand about our bankrupt finances (letters, January) and the responsibility which can be fairly attributed to the previous Labour Government?

Despite the “Tory cuts”, our national debt continues to increase and by the 2015 general election will be somewhere in the region of £1.4 trillion.

Some estimates of our overall national debt calculate that we will soon owe a sum nine times larger than the total value of our economy, which is unsustainable. Furthermore, a rise in global interest rates would propel us to a true economic catastrophe.

The fact is that the Cameron Government has not cut nearly enough or with sufficient speed. The idea that the cure is simply a matter of more Government spending beggars belief and totally ignores reality.

The truest word spoken or written by any politician for many a year can be attributed to the note left by the outgoing Labour Treasury Minister in 2010 – “There’s no money left”.

Martin Smith, Main Street, Elvington, York.


• WE HEAR so much nowadays of the need to stimulate the market order to help the economy grow.

This requires people to buy goods or services in the market place.

To do this, they need money in their pocket, which means a job to put it there.

The biggest spender – the Government – thus needs to expand its own procurement of goods and services, rather than cut back.

“Quantitative easing” – ie printing more money – seems to have only gone into the pockets of the bankers.

So why does our beloved Chancellor, George Osborne and his cronies, continue with austerity measures, which it seems to me are only causing further unemployment’ and therefore “shrinkage” of the market.

And of course, when people are unemployed, more money is paid out in benefits, and less money is received from taxes and NI, which further exacerbates the downward spiral of the economy.

But then, I’m only a member of Joe Public, who only sees things that are obvious.

I can, however, recommend a good author (who perhaps Mr Osborne should read). His name was John Maynard Keynes.

Lee Maloney, Millfield Avenue, York.


• TRANSPORT Minister Norman Baker tells us the price rises are needed to pay for future improvements (not shareholders’ dividends).

He tells us that our trains are more punctual than Germany’s (even after his department published damning punctuality statistics). He tells us that fares aren’t that expensive (of course he gets his paid on expenses).

Can he tell us how it is possible that one company (Grand Central) can offer a full-price, first-class ticket to London for £1 cheaper than another (East Coast) charges for cattle class?

Clive Tiney, Towthorpe Road, Haxby, York.