Readers' letters from Monday 30 Apr 2007

Now here's my forecast

I too don’t have any faith in the ‘global warming’ theory and believe that the weather moves in cycles, but I watch the plants, which are rarely wrong.During the past four years, I have been accurately predicting long-term forecasts in this way and I believe that, after a short cool period, we will have a very hot summer. Winter, however, will come early and, although not severe, it will bring the return of normal weather conditions for next year. See if I’m right!

Allotment holder, Stockport

Democracy farce

I agree, but we are not serfs of the royal family. They lost their ruling powers centuries ago when Oliver Cromwell deposed Charles I. Today, we are serfs and cannon fodder for our real masters like Tony Blair and his political cronies.It wasn’t meant to be like this. Parliament, elected by the people, was meant to be our ruling body. Politicians were meant to be our servants.We voters are to blame. We stupidly give power over us to charlatans and fraudsters who are often like market stallholders persuading us to buy their ‘bargains’ which often turn out to be inferior goods.Many politicians are more interested in their perks and lucrative salaries and cast-iron pensions than in good govern-ment for our country.Are they better than kings and queens of the past? At least those sovereigns had a sense of patriotism to our country, unlike the many politicians who want to stampede us into an unaccoun-table European Union that offers them even more rich pickings.We are to blame because most of us can’t be bothered to take an interest in what is going on or are diverted by rubbish about the royal family. You have to pass a driving test to use a car, a law degree to be a solicitor and a medical qualification to be a doctor, yet anybody can take part in the most important activity of all, to elect a government. You don’t need to know anything to vote. This makes democracy a farce. Is there any hope of escaping from our serfdom? Only if we rouse ourselves to kick out the political chancers of our country and the EU , whose only interest is to control us.

Old moaner, Macclesfield

Too friendly

In its coverage of the will-he-won’t-he fight in Iraq saga the use of the name is jarring. Surely the publicly-funded BBC should refer to him by a neutral moniker which would acknowledge the feelings of the masses of people funding them who are indifferent to the monarchy or, further still, view it as a ludicrous anachronism? Prince Henry of Wales is a daft title, but at least it suggests some element of neutrality.

Martin Daulby, New Mills

There’s a catch

I would suggest that something like 99 per cent of the Greater Manchester population would agree with this condition. And I guess that the same people assumed it meant that virtually all the extensions to Metrolink should be completed before road charging begins as well as improvements to rail and bus services. Dealings between the Department for Transport and the PTA are always closely guarded secrets but judging from the actions of the three Greater Manchester Authorities who want more details, it is not unreasonable to assume that the department has indicated that it disagrees with the pre-condition and is expecting road charging to start before all the Metrolink extensions are even started.The civil servants at the department and ministers have shown opposition to light rail such as Metrolink and favour the guided busway idea.At present light rail is a postcode lottery. The only light rail scheme (apart from the present upgrade of Metrolink phase 1) now proceeding is in Edinburgh where, of course Alastair Darling has his constituency. Schemes in Leeds, Merseyside and Hampshire have all been rejected despite meeting the government’s criteria.  I would hazard a guess that the Metrolink phase 3 would also have been dumped but for the promise extracted by the Manchester Evening News from the Prime Minister – a promise which I think is now regretted by the department. There is a body of opinion that believes the department will take a very hard line over road charging in Greater Manchester as a way of wriggling out of the commitment to completing phases 3a and 3b of Metrolink.They will then seek to blame local politicians and the PTA.

Richard S. Greenwood, Rochdale

We understand the rules but not why they're imposed

Having travelled frequently by air over the past six months, I don’t think passengers are confused about that but more about why such regulations are neccessary in the first place. When travelling home from different European airports, I have faced no such restrictions on carrying liquids and I have never been asked to remove my shoes and/or been body-frisked (having walked through the metal detector successfully). But when arriving at Stansted for a connecting flight to Manchester, I had the humiliating experience of being stopped by a man in uniform (but no ID on him) within 30m of the plane I had left and in front of the other passengers asked where I had travelled to (the Berlin Air flight from Dusseldorf should have been a clue) and the length and purpose of my trip. Because I was clearly not co-operating in the way he wanted, I was ‘loosely followed’ into the connecting flight area, asked to remove my shoes and frisked. This for walking straight off one plane and on to another! The government is using ‘heightened security measures’ to force us into submission and acceptance of basic reductions in our civil liberties. Britain had far more (and real) security fears three decades ago with the IRA than we face now, but the government has manipulated the current situation in the Middle East (that it helped to create) to instill in us all a belief that a serious threat exists around every corner and that such safety measures are for our benefit.

P.G., Moston