WINDSOR has been very much in focus regarding begging by so-called homeless people.

This is not just a problem in Windsor. Various popular towns in Cornwall suffer from seasonal rough sleepers begging, they are simply going wherever the best pickings can be got for doing nothing.

For many of these people it is a way of life.

York for instance has, to my knowledge, two homeless hostels paid for by the taxpayer, so why are people on the streets?

I travel along Fetter Lane in York on a daily basis and one character has been sleeping in a recess over the road from some nice city centre apartments for months.

For this person it is obviously a lifestyle of choice.

He lies in his bag until midday, sometimes longer, until nature takes its course and ablutions must be carried out.

I say a lifestyle of choice because as was recently reported in this paper, a kind-hearted soul started a fundraiser for this person, collecting thousands of pounds, and he is still there.

The bus shelter opposite the railway station has people sleeping in there during the day. Rough sleepers are all over York because of its all-year-round tourism.

It is time to sort the problem out.

Bob Waite, Holgate, York

Health, homes and jobs are all at risk

LIKE Pontius Pilate washing his hands to show he had no responsibility for the fate of Christ, so the Government has set up a few civil servants and their secretaries and called them the Oil and Gas Authority.

This new agency has the founding aim of drilling for oil and gas wherever possible.

So Greg Clark, the Energy Secretary, absolves himself of all responsibility for the fracking in Ryedale by handing over the final decision to this quango.

Some time ago I spoke to the “Yorkshire Oil & Gas Team”, a body within the Environment Agency.

I saw blueprints for flaring of gas, which directly contradicts the Government claim that no flaring would be allowed to take place.

Flaring is highly polluting.

On another note Jim Ratcliffe, CEO of INEOS, who plan to frack in York city, has obtained an injunction criminalising protest against his company’s proposed activities.

The Government is also deliberately withholding funds from the tidal energy industry, which has tremendous potential, and is putting 1,000 high tech engineering jobs at risk.

I would ask the people of York and Ryedale to research fracking and write to their MP.

Everything is at risk - health, housing and jobs.

Chris Clayton, Hempland Drive, York