Television debates just waste of time
Wold Croft, Sutton on Derwent, York. HOW very tiresome the discussion over the TV election debates has become.
My abiding memory of the last occasion these so-called debates took place was that they were of the ‘yah boo sucks’ kind of thing with the main theme, if that is what it can be called, being ‘I agree with Nick’. Well, we all know how that turned out!
Anyone who has a real interest in politics will regard them as entirely irrelevant when it comes to voting. No-one has any chance to develop any idea or argument because of the limited length of time given to each representative and at the end we are none of us any wiser about anything which we could not have found out by reading and listening to any good political commentator.
In my view, the TV companies would be better off putting on a good play. questions and answers preprepared and written down. My view of politicians took a severe downturn.
Is all this play-acting and ‘yah boo’ posturing really necessary in today’s climate? It is time we had fewer MPs, although with a much improved salary and no second jobs or directorships allowed. We might just have a Parliament fit for purpose.
South Lea Avenue, Hoyland, Barnsley. REGARDING the TV debates which David Cameron refuses to participate in, we all know his real reason for not accepting the challenge. He just cannot justify his record over the past five years. One word describes this schoolyard bully: ‘coward’. or around £5,000 for each UK household.
At this time of year we receive the annual accounts for building societies etc. It is insulting to loyal savers when you look at the net profits and massive payments to executive and nonexecutive directors on the one hand and the pathetic interest paid to savers on the other.
When you challenge them, as I have, they generally refer to the market and interest rates of other financial organisations, never mind their profits and massive assets.
Building societies talk about mutuality, “building futures together” as one puts it, but there is no explanation as to why a significant slice of their huge profits cannot be used to improve interest paid to loyal savers. Many pensioners need to augment meagre state pensions by drawing on savings; don’t they deserve more ‘mutual’ respect?