Please make the political ping-pong stop!

An election is six or seven months away and already we are having to suffer the bloated egos of our self-serving politicians baring their chests on the letters page every week (sorry Ms Mulligan!) Maybe a better suggestion would be a good old-fashioned hustings in Otley Civic Centre – perhaps on the Saturday night of the beer festival! However, could we leave the political rabble-rousing until an election is announced as it is going to be dull enough.

Engaging with the electorate in a positive fashion would be preferable to the childish infighting that has spilled over into the Letters page recently. Maybe it is funny to see our elected politicians bickering in public, showing us their true colours through their petty squabbles and point-scoring attempts? Politicians, as a class, have been severely undermined with recent scandals which have been well documented. I, in no way suggest that any of Otley’s finest are “on the take”, “suspect”, or “in the pocket of...”. However, mindful of this, maybe our elected officials should be more concerned with how their spats are reflected in the eyes of the voting public, rather than their attempts at one-upmanship.

The recent spat about where our politicians live, are originally from and how it gives them the right more than another person to represent the area is a facile and parochial argument, which only goes to strengthen the view that the bog-standard apathetic voter has of their politicians.

During the forthcoming election I imagine the overwhelming feeling on the part of the electorate will be, “Why should I bother?” Your job is to engage the public in the political process, not alienate them from an already, in most people’s eyes, discredited system.

S Jones

Cross Green, Otley

MP should concentrate on matters of vital importance

Firstly may I firstly declare I am not a supporter of the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats or Labour and equally opposed to them all.

I am therefore neutral and not taking party political sides in an argument. I am merely commenting on the correspondence (Letters, November 12) between Councillor Clive Fox and Greg Mulholland MP.

When the country is in so much mess and there are so many things that need attention it is sad that two local politicians are engaged in a dogfight with each other over relatively trivial matters.

Coun Fox’s persistent attack on our MP shows the true measure of his horizons and ambitions. As to attacking Greg Mulholland on expenses; does he need reminding that the party to which he belongs were the worse offenders in the expenses scandal – duck house and moats, for example. It was a well-crafted letter but so full of horse manure I suggest he cleans out the stables.

And his criticism of Greg Mulholland for being independently minded should not be seen as a fault but a blessing. I would rather have an MP who uses his own brain instead of slavishly following party dogma as Coun Fox appears to do. In this fake democracy what an MP can do, especially an opposition MP, is severely restricted so Greg Mulholland’s independence is something to be admired.

With these thoughts in mind, the public should think very carefully before wasting a vote on the party Clive Fox represents.

Greg Mulholland should not waste his valuable time on sterile arguments with an inconsequential councillor but concentrate on matters of vital importance for the future of this country. He is a very good MP, one I trust, and can give him no higher praise.

Malcolm Naylor

Grange View, Otley

Food allowances claims are a question of morality

I had assumed that Greg Mulholland had been on a long holiday as he did not answer my previous question about his expenses in July. In fact, his latest letter (Letters, November 12) still did not answer the question. Why has he continued to pocket £400 a month in allowances for food, totalling over £11,000 while he has been an MP? Why are we paying his food bills? And now we learn that we are paying for his income tax return, too!

Just because Sir Thomas Legg has not raised the subject does not make it right. MPs “just don’t get it” is the common cry and is it any wonder when these abuses of food allowances are not considered to be wrong. This is not a party political question, it is a question of morality.

Jonathan Smith

Burras Lane, Otley

Can’t wait for an EU-run economy in Otley

At long last Otley wants to adopt a new currency in town and I couldn’t agree more. It’s called the Euro! That’s right folks, in exchange for your worthless UK sterling you will be able to instead take your new currency to your local shops and make a difference or in the case of your new Sainsbury’s, even “taste the difference”. Compare the San Miguel buy one get one free from when you last went to Benidorm in July and you’ll soon be quids in or rather quids out with your new big savings in cents, unless you go to Threshers which faces going bust due to lack of local pounds.

The new Euro currency will also enable our new Polish, Kosovan, Albanian and Latvian neighbours to settle in and compare the meerkat.com for the best deals on the high street including from the new poor man’s Woolworths.

The new currency will enable us to embrace the future and abandon the out-of-date past that is holding back this once-great town. Morris dancing around the maypole must go as every other timewarped tradition, ie, all of them.

Look around Otley town centre and what do you see? Boarded-up shops and pubs, traffic gridlock and a little old England mentality. Only three major supermarkets are propping up this town and the lost sheep flock through their doors like it’s a new religion because they feel hopeless and worthless with our pathetic old, but hot-off-the-press newly printed pounds compliments of the bankrupt Bank of Brown.

The local MP, Greg Mulholland, has a duty to take Otley forward into full EU integration and not backwards. Get the EU flag flying from the new-look Swedish Netto and the old Etonian Conservative Club so that when “call me Dave” takes over next year we will have a new EU-run Otley we can be proud of. I can’t wait!

Dan Cooney

Esholt

£5,000 raised from 126-mile challenge

As readers of the Wharfedale & Airedale Observer may know, earlier this year we completed the Carnegie 126-Mile Challenge’ by doing a marathon and a 100-mile walk. We want to take this opportunity to thank the many Wharfedale & Airedale Observer readers who kindly sponsored us. We have finally had the last donations in and, thanks to their help, we raised just over £5,000!

The money raised will be going to very good use. A third is going to the Wharfedale Hospital Special Medical Equipment Fund, which buys medical equipment for Wharfedale Hospital that the NHS can’t provide. A third is going to Kidz in Kampz, based in Holt Park, who care for orphans on the Burma/Thai border and the money raised is going to pay for a lifesaving operation for a three-year-old girl called Hai Buk Paw, who urgently needs an operation for a tumour which, if not dealt with, would kill her. The final third of the sum is going to Wheatfields Hospice in Headingley, this wonderful institution provides specialist care for people who need it.

So we are pleased that all those miles and the many blisters were worth it! Thanks to all who sponsored us and the Wharfedale & Airedale Observer for supporting our efforts. With your help we have made a difference to these wonderful causes and the great work they do.

Greg Mulholland

MP for Leeds North West

Councillor Ryk Downes

Otley & Yeadon

Martin Rivett

Leeds Metropolitan University

Not too late to begin your life-changing journey

I was adopted as a baby and couldn't have wanted for a better for more loving family. I could not have achieved what I have without them.

This week, as part of National Adoption Week, hundreds more have come forward to potentially offer families to children waiting for adoption.

The campaign is now over for another year, but it’s not too late. If you are interested in adoption then contact your local adoption agency or visit nationaladoptionweek.org.uk.

Make today the day you start your adoption journey and change lives forever.

Andrew Barton

TV’s favourite hairdresser on Ten Years Younger, c/o British Association for Adoption & Fostering, 6-10 Kirby Street London EC1N 8TS

Sue Barker thanks Tesco shoppers for donations

I’d like to say a huge personal thank you to the many people in Yorkshire who helped to make the recent Muscular Dystrophy Campaign collections at Tesco stores a huge success.

Almost 2,000 volunteers across the country gave their time on September 25 and 26 to help the charity collect an incredible £80,000 for our Tesco Charity of the Year Giving children equipment to be independent campaign. All the money raised will go to provide vital, specialist equipment for hundreds of children around the country whose lives have been devastated by muscle-wasting disease.

I have been president of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign for the past five years and am constantly grateful for the hard work that our many volunteers put in, and the generosity of the members of the public who support our cause.

On behalf of the 8,000 children across the UK affected by muscle-wasting disease, thank you.

Sue Barker, MBE

President of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign