WITH reference to Coun Alexander’s letter of January 27 (Offensive word). What a self-serving piece.

Many of us come from a working-class background and have advanced ourselves, but we don’t make proclamations about it. Most parents, like mine, with little to come and go on were decent law-abiding people, who set good standards of behaviour.

While “chav” is not a term I like, and such people are not unique to one class, it is undeniable that there are people who do not behave in a decent manner and they do a disservice to themselves and others.

But please spare us the patronising guff expounded in Coun Alexander’s letter.

Derek Chapplow, Middlethorpe Grove, York.



• Labour councillor James Alexander evidently dislikes the word “chavs”.

Well, I also dislike the fact that he describes the scum of the earth as “lumpen proletariat”. If James were up on his English he would know that the proletariat were the lowest class of wage earners. As far as I am aware, the “chavs” of this country are the product of “feral dysfunctional families”, do not work, and have no intention of working, do not earn any money, and in doing so are kept in the lap of their perceived luxury by the Labour Government, ie the taxpayer.

So they cannot be described as working-class as he goes on to say, as I describe myself and anyone else who has to work to survive as working-class. The chavs are merely spongers on the state which need to be eradicated.

As far as I know the chav element are not forced on to the Jeremy Kyle show, which Coun Alexander implies.

They do so because they crave the only element of what they would think of as fame, which is probably the most they will experience in their sad lifetime. They even name their poor, unsuspecting little offspring after him, Kyle.

Bob Waite, Holgate, York.