Politics

Why doesn't david Cameron list is fron bench team. They are all clever men who have done a lot of research into their various roles. They all seem very sensible with their feet on the ground.

George Osborne, the shadow Chancellor: Very clever - done a lot of research and spoken to a great many people who know about the economy - believes that low taxation is the way to properity. He ebelieves the way out of this recession is
business. I think he will stop putting so much tax on petrol because it will give business a boost. He may put up VAT but what would be so wrong with that especially as food is exempt and I think children's clothes. So it would only be on luxuries. Of couse I know luxuries are no longer luxuries in many people's eyes (I am old).

Mr Gove, the shadow Minister for Education: He is exceedingly clever but very much in touch with ordinary people. He will let heads take decisions on discipline etc. He wants to give everyone the type of education that you get in the private sector. Of course that does not mean everyone has the same capacity for education but it means everyone will have the opportunity to attain their potential. He will cut down on the forms that schools have to fill in.

William Hague, Shadow Foriegn Secretary: Another clever man who has written a well researched book on William Pitt, the Younger, therefore has studied politics. I think he would be well respected abroad.

Mr Duncan Smith; He has done a tremendous amount of research on the troubled parts of our country - the so called sink estates etc. I really think he cares and will get things moving in the right direction.

It worries me that Nick Clegg and Vince Cable could have too much say in a hung Parliament. The Liberal Democrates have always been in favour of United Europe and the the Euro or single currency for all the countries of the EU. None of the countries in Europe share the same values or language as one another. How can we be united in our aims. It would be far better to stick to agreements on trade and leave each country to their own beliefs and customs.

Proportional representation has many pitfalls - and is it fairer? Towns would have a disproportional amount of votes compared with the rural populations. As it is rural interests are often overlooked.

Prejudice

What a strange thing prejudice is. Why do we create it? Is it because we are frightened of people with different ideas to ours and who are different from us?

Religion seems to create an enormous amount of prejudice. My son has been diagonsed with cancer and was quite pleased when religious people told him they would pray for him. He would say "any help is welcome!" although he is not necessaryily a believer. He just recognised that they wanted to show they cared and it was their way of showing that.

Race is another creator of prejudice. I know that when the West Indians came over after the war we needed them but there was prejudice - the notices in the windows of rooms to let was "No coloureds". Why was that? Probably because at that time they looked very strange to us "whites" and were friendlier and noisier than "us".

However when I was young (I am 75)I wanted a brown doll! Why because I thought they were pretty! I also loved a golly wog! Now we are not "allowed" to "love" these things!

To describe a brown colour I liked I said "nigger" brown. My grandchildren were horrified!!! Needless to say I would never repeat that! I was not thinking of people when I said it but the grandchildren took it that I was prejudiced!

Climate Change

I think it is time that we stopped all these very expensive Climate Change conferences! It would safe on "carbon footprints" too.

There are a great many people who do not believe we are responsible for Global warming - that it is natural process. We have been through the Ice Age and a Tropical climate before.

What we should be concentrating on is taking care of our World. Looking after our seas - keeping our World as clean as possible. Recycle so that we do not have to use landfill. Use renewable energy even if it does not seem economical (wind turbines) We do not want nuclear power, although it seems there might not be other options, because we would have to bury the waste, thus contaminating our earth.

Fossil fuels will run out eventually. Think how lucky we are that it is possible to create energy from natural sources. Water power is amazing - the seas - the rivers. Hydro power is the way to go!

Let's take care of our World and prepare for climate change - it might be inevitable - a natural progression that we cannot do anything about!

Education

I do not think people who have had a good education and are privileged should feel guilty. They have been given the ability to get things done. If they use it to make sure that they endeavour to improve the educational standards for the rest of us it is a good thing. They know what a good education is.

This will be an uphill task and will not be achieved over night but they will and can try.

As an example of how over protected children are:

On a day out near the sea I heard a girl say " They should put up railings". She did not think to herself that she should be careful. We are not showing children how to take care of themselves. Railings would have been inappropiate because it was built so that at high tide boats could use it.

Global Warming

I really cannot understand "Global Warming". There is a question mark about it because the climate is ever changing going through cycles - an ice age and a tropical age etc. We might not be responsible!

However I am not against being "Green". We should recycle our rubbish - we do not want to pollute our country with landfill. We do not want nuclear waste buried. We do not want to pollute the seas.

For energy we should be using sustainable energy, not because of global warming, but fossil fuels will eventually run out and they do pollute the air - remember smoke

Instead of banging on about "global warming" which is questionable just make sure we all take care of our environment.

BA Strikes

British Airways have made an enormous loss. Something has to be done to save the airline. Answer join with Spain's Iberia creating more routes etc. What does the trade union Unite do? - threaten Strike Action against redundancies. Does Unite think we should pay the wages of staff that are no longer required? Their job should be to make sure we do not have more redundancies than Iberia.

We are no longer a rich country therefore we have to make savings as would any family who have had redundancies.

Why does Unite think their members should be cushioned against redundancies when so many families are facing the same fate?

What we need is an efficient and willing workforce and then maybe we will become a wealthy country again.

Jackie P