THERE are some gentle, deluded souls out there.

A chap from York ringing into the Jeremy Vine Show on Thursday, July 2, with regards to the Greek debt, suggested that if everyone in the eurozone contributes three euros it will manage to meet this month’s debt payment for them.

He did not have any solution as to how long this would or could go on for.

Ever since the left-wing government took over, it has been obvious they have no intentions of paying their way as long as someone keeps bailing them out.

A very familiar ring of socialism in action comes to mind from the last Labour jokers in York.

I would say to this gentle soul on the radio, I would think most people in Britain who are drawing a state pension would just be over the moon if they could start drawing it when in their 50s and add another £500 per month to what a Briton receives after 50 years non-stop working.

This is what has been going on in Greece for years.

It is time we left this gravy train for retired MPs and countries not paying their way, plus being ruled from Brussels, as soon as possible.

Throwing good money after bad used to be the saying.

Bob Waite, Holgate, York

 

DEFAULT! A different world allowed backpackers to go to Greece in droves.

1973 saw my tutor jubilant as my dissertation carried me through my degree. What better way to celebrate with near deficit finances, than to take a plane to the white metropolis of Athens?

Then head for the port of Piraeus, with canvas rucksack, sleeping bag, groundsheet, map, and the odd T-shirt, to choose which island and ferry, for a three week sojourn.

Crete was very welcome, and the buses all went to where the roads stopped.

Here was dusty walking on baked tracks and among pines, to where lights twinkled in heavy evenings.

I found myself in a small remote village. It was here I met a Greek student.

“There will be a party in my uncle’s village tonight,” I was told, and directed up the sheep drove track.

I arrived tired, at dusk, in the destined village. As the bouzoukis and lyres whined up to their performance pitch, families gathered and dancing started.

The relative network gossip started and I was soon introduced to a gorgeous young girl, who would study in London next year. She kindly ignored what she was probably set to escape from.

I hope those in high places remember that we all crawled out of caves and had aspirations, and not to tread too heavily on these people.

Philip Dance, York

 

ERNEST MARPLES was not the first MP to do a little financial juggling to support his meagre salary, but he should be remembered for his extraordinary flair in this capacity.

It makes latter day expenses enhancement look penny-pinching by comparison.

He also introduced the panda crossing, which neither drivers nor pedestrians could understand.

However, his most enduring parliamentary legacy is the nationwide disfigurement of populated areas by yellow lines.

They are everywhere, as intrusive and shameful as litter, but curiously accepted by the majority as a sad necessity.

I can recall only one letter to The Press regretting the spread of what has become a national blight.

The worse form of this chromatic excrescence is what was described to me once by an obdurate traffic warden (what I wonder, has become of this unloved profession?) as “double yellers”.

A single discontinuous line of varied length could convey the same information as presently indicated by broken, single and double yellow lines. Who would regret such a change?

William Dixon Smith, Welland Rise, Acomb, York

 

LABOUR representatives Cllr Dafydd Williams and ex-Cllr Tracey Simpson-Laing have criticised a decision to review the plan for houses in Newbury Avenue (The Press, July 1).

Their bitter personal attack is perhaps down to the fact that the new executive has done something that the Labour cabinet failed to do in four years: it has listened to residents.

Local people have raised significant concerns with me over the impact of the nearby 55 new homes (yet to be completed) on the former Our Lady’s School site coupled with the plans for a further development on the Newbury Avenue garage area.

There are already significant parking issues in the estate with the local bus service experiencing problems getting through. There are drainage issues in the area which residents fear will get worse. There is also an urgent need to deal with the poor condition of local roads and footpaths, which the previous administration simply ignored.

I believe that it is right to consult further with residents and see how their legitimate concerns can be addressed. It is a sensible approach and an early demonstration that the new council is committed to working with, and not against, local residents.

Cllr Andrew Waller, Liberal Democrat councillor for Westfield, Askham Lane, York