Letters to the editor

A selection of your letters from this week’s Courier

Headline was misleading

I am writing with regard to the headline concerning Myton’s bid for Academy status (Courier last week) which has a number of inaccuracies implicit within it:

1. It is not the case that teaching unions both locally and nationally are against Academy freedoms for schools, indeed some teaching unions at Myton are totally in favour of Academy status.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

2. The headline does not reflect the article which attempted to provide a balanced view from unions nationally and from Myton.

3. It is unfortunate that the article ends in mid sentence.

In conclusion, Myton’s consultations on Academy status have been very thorough and in the main extremely positive. Unfortunately this is not reflected in last week’s headline. - Paul MacIntyre, headteacher, Myton School.

Parents need to join the fight

I have just read your report, ‘Teachers unite to block Myton School bid for academy status’ in this week’s Courier and am writing to contribute to the debate about this issue.

How can the county-wide education service fail to be harmed by its break-up into a chain of so-called ‘independent’ academies? These academies will be ‘independent’ of parental control, ‘independent’ of local control, but utterly ‘dependent’ on remote politicians and bureaucrats in Whitehall who know next to nothing of the needs of our children in Warwickshire.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Academies are opposed by the overwhelming majority of education unions and associations and by parents whenever balanced information is presented to them. Even the Liberal Democrats oppose this undemocratic policy.

The real reason that a number of our schools are considering adopting such a backward-looking policy is the fear that the swingeing cuts being imposed on services and schools across the county by the Coalition Government will make it impossible for them to deliver the education that I am sure they believe that our children deserve. There seems to be fear on the part of all these governing bodies that if they don’t ‘academize’ quickly, other schools will do so and they will be left ‘high and dry’. Hence, the rushed, anti-democratic and shambolic ‘consultations’.

Unfortunately, this approach weakens the fight for a decent education service for all our children - and if we leave secondary schools to go down this political cul-de-sac, what will happen to our primary schools without the economies of scale that the county’s education service provides?

There is an alternative - schools should join together and refuse to adopt such a divisive policy, county councillors should refuse to implement any cuts and the Coalition Government should restore to the county council the funds that have enabled them, over the years, to support our schools in delivering a first-rate education service for all our youngsters.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

None of this will happen, however, unless parents begin to demand that the Government treat our children with the generosity that they seem to treat the bankers.

I am delighted that the teachers at Myton oppose academy status at the school, but parents need to get behind them.

Myton (like so many other local schools) has become a superb school as part of the county’s family of schools. We all need to fight to keep it this way. - Simon O’Hara (a Myton parent), Myton Road.

Limited ‘benefits’ to academy status

Teachers at Myton School are to be congratulated for opposing this move.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Academy status removes schools from any local democratic accountability. The Government itself says that “becoming an academy should not bring about a financial advantage or disadvantage to a school”.

The school’s claims that as an academy it will be able to make better decisions concerning its resources are at best unconvincingly vague and at worst sinister. In many existing academies this “freedom” has resulted in conditions of service being worsened for new teachers: longer working hours, worse maternity benefits and so on.

Meanwhile the National Audit Office report in September 2010 showed that, on average, the number of senior staff in academies earning over £80,000 was 50 per cent higher than in secondary schools generally.

The most able young graduates, already debt-ridden and offered a paltry salary of £21,588, are thus deterred from working in such places, while headteachers and their deputies have a vested financial interest in persuading governing bodies to adopt a change which can only have a detrimental effect on the calibre of its teaching staff. This appears to be the limit of the “benefits” conferred by academy status. - Martin McMahon, Castle Road, Kenilworth.

Budget not good for our constituency

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In last week’s Courier Chris White MP said ‘’I believe this budget is good for our economy and good for people here in Warwick and Leamington’’. I want to address this comment with three of many impacts of the budget which will not be good for this constituency.

1. Winter fuel allowances are to be cut from this coming winter. The yearly tax-free payment to help people pay for their heating in the winter was worth £250 for the over 60s last week, and £400 for the over 80s. However, the payment will now be £200 and £300 for the two age groups in the winter of 2011-12. Given the large proportion of these age groups we have in this constituency and all while energy prices are continuing to rise, this is not good for Warwick and Leamington.

2. As with many of the Conservative policies they give with one hand and take with the other. They have given an increase in the tax free element of our pay, which sounds like good news, until you delve a little further and see it is a headline grabber which will lead to us to paying more tax in the longer term. The annual increase of tax allowances and thresholds from 2013 will increase in line with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) instead of the higher Retail Prices Index (RPI). CPI is currently 4.4 per cent and RPI is 5.5 per cent, hence at current figures we will lose 1.1 per cent each year in the increases of tax allowances and thresholds. This stealth tax is expected to raise £1bn for the government by 2015, in time for the next election, which seems like political engineering and not real support for hard pressed families.

3. The tax free threshold for those aged 65-74 is £9,490 and that for 75+ is £9,640. If the government wanted to really help people by increasing the tax threshold, why did they not also increase the threshold for pensioners too? I personally challenge Chris White to have a technical debate about the implications of his government’s plans with me instead of feeding us all with irrelevant sound bites. Finally, if Chris White wants another headline grabber, then he should be aware that unemployment is at a 17 year high. - Gurpreet Dulay, St Fremund Way, Leamington.

Going back to 1930s would pay dividends

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Gillian Ingham hopes Bob Diamond of Barclays and other bank directors will donate some of their bonus to worthy causes (Postbag, March 25).

The Inland Revenue coffers is a worthy cause, because that’s where 50 per cent of banker’s bonuses goes It looks to me that the coalition and the previous lot in government are happy with this arrangement. The banks that were bailed out by the taxpayers (not Barclays) have had their bonuses lowered and now the Treasury will lose £5bn of tax revenue in the next five years.

Of course Barclays will also contribute their 50 per cent in tax, but it’s Barclays shareholders that lose out most – they have had their dividend reduced from 34 pence in 2008 to one penny in 2009, and two and a half pence in 2010. Where would the bank be without shareholders?

To curb bank bonuses, the bonus method that worked in the 1930s should be reintroduced.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Then, public companies paid staff bonuses at the same rate as the dividend that was declared for shareholders and no more. If companies did not declare a dividend, no bonuses were awarded to staff.

If all public companies reverted to this proven method, a lot of people would be a lot happier, it would curb the greedy bonus culture and it would be a lot fairer for shareholders. - George Sullivan, Pinehurst, Cubbington,

One person, one vote is fairest way

I was interested to note a letter in last week’s Courier relating to the AV referendum taking place in May. It is indeed an important event which has yet to gain much interest amongst the public.

However, I would disagree that the proposed AV system is fair or simple. How can it be fair when the person coming first does not win, but the person coming third does? (As with the Labour leadership election!). How is it fair if some people get their vote counted more than once by virtue of voting first for a minor party, such as the BNP?

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

More importantly following the recent Parliamentary scandals, if you don’t like an MP, or the Government the current system allows us to remove them by not voting for them. This simple check on power would be removed with the proposed complicated redistribution of multiple votes. Reforms may be needed, but not to the voting system.

The current system gives one person, one vote. It’s simple, it’s fair, it works. Vote No to AV on May 5. - Hayley Grainger, St Marks Road, Leamington.

Hotel can only be good for the town

Barbara Goulden’s article about Bobby’s in The Parade (Courier last week) was entertaining and also a timely reminder of the town’s changing fortunes. The news that Whitbread is hoping to reopen Regency Arcade as a hotel, along with a food store, is welcomed by the Leamington Society.

The lower end of The Parade is in the doldrums - even the discount and pound stores are closing.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

This started with the demolition of a third of the Regent Hotel and the loss of its car park. The conversion of much of Woodwards into flats marked a further decline and the departure of Lee Longlands from Regency Arcade was the final blow. The area has increasingly looked abandoned and derelict. The number of empty shops in the town indicates that retail stores are in permanent decline and recent proposals to build new hotels in the town centre indicates that we are now short of hotels.

The proposal therefore ticks many boxes and we support it. - Richard Ashworth, chairman, The Leamington Society.

Trickery at the pump?

You may have noticed Sainsburys diesel fuel price has been £135.9p per litre for some time undercutting the local competition. Very good.

On Tuesday March 22 the price rose to £136.9p per litre. On Wednesday March 23 the chancellor reduced the fuel duty tax by a 1p a litre.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

This morning (Thursday, March 24) the price displayed is £135.9 p per litre. Very sharp Mr Sainsbury. - Graham Taylor, via email.

Looking for info on Woodwards store

I was sad to read about the closing of the Woodwards store when I was researching the store’s initials (P.G or P.H. or G.W.???) to fill in the blanks in my UK work history in preparation for an autobiography.

I worked in the carpet dept as a 16 yr old from ‘63 to ’64 and remember my first work experience with nostalgia and fondness. I left Woodwards to join the Merchant Navy and from there moved to Brisbane Australia where I have had a very successful career as a computer programmer in my own business. If anyone can give me the info I am missing I would be grateful or if any of my old colleges would like to get in touch please email me at [email protected] - Ken Johnson via email.

Waiting in splendour

Regular travellers on the Chiltern line will be glad to see that renovations to the waiting rooms are now complete and splendid.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The rooms are redecorated; the floors are polished; benches and table repaired; screens and loudspeakers fitted and disabled access to the doors installed. Friends of Leamington Station have played their part in selecting and framing more than 25 posters, not only in the waiting rooms but also on the stair wells and even in the ladies’.

They selected railway posters advertising places that can be reached from Leamington with at most one change and mix modern work, such as the winner and runner up of the Leamington Studio Artists competition last year, with vintage GWR designs from the 1930s. Even if you do not use the trains it is worth going to the station, just to look. Money for this came from Leamington Town Council and the town should be grateful. - Marianne Pitts, Leam Terrace, Leamington.