How I became the queen of competitions
THESE days we are able to Google for knowledge and get instant answers (Mail). But were the old ways, which would seem very odd to today’s youngsters, so bad?
I remember, with affection, the Seventies, Eighties and early Nineties when various companies promoted consumer competitions.
After purchasing a product, you retained the item’s label and till receipt to send with your competition entry form.
I often spent hours in Plymouth reference library researching the answer to the first part of the competition. But the joy of coming home knowing that I had the answer correct was worth it.
Next came the tie-breaker — I kept a notebook beside the bed in case inspiration struck during the night to compose the slogan that might catch the judges’ eyes.
Although all this was timeconsuming, it was a great way to keep my brain active.
The reward came when a long white envelope popped through my letterbox (especially if it was sent first- class), informing me ‘with pleasure’ of the prize I’d won. No, the pleasure was all mine.
Usually it was a runner-up prize, but I was just as thrilled to know that my name had been on the winners’ list.
The real excitement came when I received news that I’d won a major prize — a holiday, a weekend away, including a weekend at the Savoy Hotel in London — and several other prizes, including a diamond ring and furniture.
Our last big win was a seven-day trip to Las Vegas, including £1,500 spending money and a flight over the Grand Canyon.
I am now less mobile and couldn’t do the travelling — and besides, sadly, retailers rarely run this sort of competition any more. But I have very happy memories of my ‘comping’ hobby and almost 100 ‘Congratulations’ letters. And all were won without Google’s help. Mrs BARBARA BAKER ,
Plymouth, Devon.
Britons behaving badly
BRITAIN has become a filthy, unsocial place to live, and my partner, and I now believe that most of Europe’s morons live in North-West England.
Sadly, politicians and officials in both central and local government seem to be indifferent to the problems. We know from travelling extensively in Europe that drunken British yobs cause considerable damage and disruption in Prague, Bratislava, Krakow and, no doubt, other delightful cities. It’s no wonder the British have an appalling reputation throughout Europe.
On a recent flight from Manchester to Prague we had to suffer almost two hours of continuous shouting, with safety instructions and flightdeck messages being drowned out, from between 20 and 25 extremely rowdy yobs, no doubt travelling in pursuit of cheap alcohol.
The all-female cabin crew didn’t dare say anything for fear of reprisals, verbal or physical. The condition in which the yobs left the aircraft’s floor and seats was appalling, with empty beer cans, plastic beakers and bits of food scattered everywhere.
A few weeks ago, we flew from Tenerife to Manchester with three or four large, rowdy families. The four-hour flight was agony, with people shouting and children screaming, being handed from adult to adult or climbing over seats.
Carpets were stained, and babies were frequently having their nappies changed on the seats. Airlines presumably tolerate antisocial conduct for commercial reasons.
At home it’s no better. The verges of the motorways around Manchester are awash with litter, inches deep in places. Yet local councils appear to be indifferent, and the Highways Agency does little, if anything, to keep verges free of rubbish.
Where littering is a serious problem, the Department for Transport should put up cameras to record the litter louts, who would soon stop if they were fined, say, £250 per item thrown from their cars.
JOHN G. KELCEY, Czech Republic.
Listen to deaf people
I CANNOT understand why it has been decided that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues are suitable to be taught to very young children who have no conception — nor should have — of sexual differences and lifestyles.
Is it not up to parents to decide when to talk about such subjects? Suppose these lessons go against the family’s religious convictions; are their wishes to be disregarded?
Many minority groups would benefit from public education about the difficulties they will face throughout their lives: should the school syllabus be enlarged to include them all? Of course not — it would be unaffordable. So why single out LGBT as a special case?
One such group is profoundly deaf children: the deaf and hard of hearing form quite a substantial percentage of the population, yet we are not taught how to communicate with them.
Deafness is often ridiculed, and its sufferers are treated with impatience. Is it really that funny to ask sarcastically, ‘ Are you deaf?’ with the inevitable ‘funny’ rejoinder: ‘What’? Profound deafness is no joke, but those affected are just one minority, and there are many more.
I could not begin to describe the discrimination my profoundly deaf son has faced throughout his life, the result of my contracting rubella in early pregnancy. He was even assaulted on a London street by four people, with life- changing repercussions.
People should either be educated about the problems facing all minorities — or none. Mrs EILEEN OLIVER, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.
Benefits culture
WHAT a wonderful letter, full of home truths, about Labour’s tax policies from Michael Jeffery of Cornwall.
It makes you proud that this country produced self- made, self- supporting people like him, but alas, those days have gone. People are not encouraged to act or think for themselves.
Now we have an underclass of parasites, like the man with 40 children, who will vote Labour to perpetuate their way of living.
M. FIELD, Burpham, Surrey.
Oil, oil, everywhere...
REPORTS are flooding in about a major oil find close to Crawley in West Sussex. With potentially many billions of barrels, this could dwarf the North Sea. Will we now hear: ‘It’s England’s oil’? ALEXANDER McKAY,
Edinburgh. IT HAS been announced that oil has been found in the Weald Basin in Sussex.
No doubt the usual folk will shout that exploiting it would be an environmental disaster. Over the past 40 years, oil has been extracted from Wytch Farm on the edge of Poole Harbour in Dorset. What effect has this development had? During the 2012 London Olympics, the sailing events were held in the area. Did anyone see any oil? Across the harbour is a development called Sandbanks, where houses sell for millions of pounds, so has Wytch Farm damaged the area?
Name supplied, Neilston, Glasgow.
Working for less
I READ with interest your article on older workers being given smaller wage increases than younger ones (Mail). In my case, it was even worse.
I had to take a pay cut of almost 50 per cent from a company I had been with for ten years, in the guise of a ‘business requirement’ for a less senior role. I then carried on doing exactly the same job I’d been doing for a decade.
Why didn’t I leave? Well, I’m 57 and have a disability, so I’d have no chance of getting another job. It seems companies know this and are prepared to use it to their advantage against older workers.
This particular company is a member of ‘Investors in People’ and has lots of HR policies against such actions.
Does it really care about its people? Yes, if they are on the executive team, where money for ‘golden handshakes’ and directors’ bonuses is no object.
Legalised discrimination against older employees is rife in Britain today, and large corporations are among the worst offenders.
Name supplied, West Sussex.