READERS' LETTERS: Come on Doncaster, show some civic pride

Only Labour could take the country back to the 1920s

In response to Councillor Joe Blackham’s article (page 5, Doncaster Free Press, Feb 25), there is a pandemic on, parents are not able to work and are either being furloughed or losing their jobs.

For him to make a drama out of a crisis and to not even mention how hard hit parents have been by this horrendous state of affairs whilst having to deal with the last Labour government’s minimum wage that has trapped millions of our young families on low wages after tax.

Set up by Labour it was correctly named and when it was announced you'd have thought they had given our young work forces a blank cheque instead of the ability to work hard and be rewarded, there was no incentive for school leavers to even apply for jobs as the slave labour wages were an insult.

Only Labour could take the country back to the 1920s.

There are those who will never work as they don't have to, they have children, they get free housing and benefits to feed and clothe the children, free child care even though they don't work, the only free service that they dont access is free contraception.

Turn to page 16 and Pat Thompson is shouting about the drastic cuts made by Cameron and Osborne.

When the Labour government left office they left a note saying there's nothing left. After 13 years of Labour rule they ran true to form and left the country in a financial nightmare.

Gordon Brown had even sold off the gold reserves, and all Pat Thompson can moan about is the cuts made by the Tories.

They were forced by the previous government’s financial stupidity but Labour controlled DMBC could still find the money to pay a Chief Executive almost double the wage of the Prime Minister, while getting rid of street cleaners and all other workers who were a necessity and blaming the cuts on the Tories.

We now have Labour councillors doing the jobs unpaid, that the Labour council took from paid men and women, where is the unions why aren't the councillors being stopped from doing someones job the council made redundant from.

They are disgusting, bringing the country to bankruptcy then punishing all those import ant workers who keep the streets clean and help keep the public healthy.

No protesting at the council offices just Labour councillors litter picking, doing a man or womans job who was made redundant. Go figure.

Anne Rutherford,

Dunscroft.

It is good to see that we now have, in Printing Office Street, a tribute to our once great mining industry.

Another industry for which Doncaster is justifiably famous is of course railways.

I was saddened to read that Joe Duddington, the driver of the Mallard steam locomotive when it broke the World steam record in 1938, was buried in an unmarked grave in Hyde Park Cemetery.

So I was really pleased to read that a headstone is to be erected.

As far as I am aware, there is nothing to celebrate our once great railway industry.

So come on Doncaster, show some civic pride. Astatue of Sir Nigel Gresley, flanked by driver Joe Duddington and fireman Tommy Bray, where else but the newly refurbished railway station concourse, the first thing that a visitor to the town would see.

John Lindsay,

Kirk Sandall.

In these confusing and worrying times, local journalism is more vital than ever. Thanks to everyone who helps us ask the questions that matter by taking out a subscription or buying a paper. We stand together. Liam Hoden, editor.