A real difference

It is with great sadness that I have to write to say that the women clergy, and others, who have conducted such a campaign of negativity and humiliation that Bishop Philip North felt obliged to withdraw, should feel thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

They refused to acknowledge the agreed stance of the Church of England that we will work together despite our differences and in putting their own ends first they have deprived the Church and city of a bishop who, by all accounts, had a strong heart for mission and a deep understanding of the needs of the less advantaged.

Someone who could have made a real difference.

A regular Anglican worshipper

by email

A toast to Atkinsons

I really enjoyed your Retro article on Atkinsons.

I purchased my wedding dress from there and they were so helpful and pleasant.

When our choice of venue for the reception let us down just a few weeks before the wedding, Atkinsons stepped in and offered us their venue.

We had a wonderful wedding breakfast followed by music and dancing at the reception.

We will be forever grateful to them.

On April 8 we will be celebrating our golden wedding anniversary and will drink a toast to Atkinsons.

Christine Langham

Saturdays are not the same

What has happened to the Saturday prize-winning crossword? It has been replaced by the same crossword theme as during the week with no reason as to why.

My friends and I used to enjoy the competitiveness of it between ourselves as to who could finish first or who could win.

The prize of the crossword dictionary had been ongoing for some considerable time but we still enjoyed doing the crossword.

Saturdays are no longer the same.

Pamela Slater

by email

Footnote: We have had some trouble administering the competition crossword but, we are endeavouring to find a solution.

Deal or no deal

When I read a Eurosceptic letter from Matthew Hobson, I know I’m in for some interesting research.

His fear that after March 31 we might no longer be able to leave the EU is another myth.

Article 50 is crystal clear: two years after it is invoked we leave the EU and its treaties automatically.

The two-year deadline can only be extended by a unanimous vote, including the UK (see article 50(3)). Qualified Majority Voting only applies to the deal to be struck between the UK and the future EU (see articles 50(4) and 238(3)(b)). If the other 27 members can’t agree amongst themselves on the deal they want to have with the UK, they don’t get a deal at all, and we leave the EU anyway. QMV is in place now, but until March 31 one of the 27 can ask to use the old, more complex rules (see the Protocol on Transitional Provisions, Article 3). That’s the only change, and it makes no difference to us: two years, and for better or worse, deal or no deal, we’re gone.

J Robin Hughes

Towngate Road, Worrall, Sheffield, S35

Passenger report

Your front-page report last week that the number of people on buses has gone down by more than half in the last 30 years needs to take account of the success of Supertram.

Do you have any passenger numbers for them?

Graham Estop

Sharrow Lane, S11

Adding insult to injury

Ex-Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair and lying warmonger has sparked a furious backlash by attending a memorial service for servicemen killed in Iraq and Afghanistan – a touch of regret maybe ?

But many considered Blair’s attendance at the event an insult to the families of servicemen and women who died in the conflicts, fought under his leadership and his say-so.

One commentator on a Channel 4 TV programme took to Twitter, to say Blair’s attendance was “like Hitler turning up at a Holocaust memorial”.

Tony Blair should be hiding his head in shame, instead he adds insult to injury.”

That is, I am afraid, exactly what Blair is about.

Around 2,500 guests including veterans and their families, charity workers and civil servants were also at the service, which has been overshadowed by strong criticism from some military widows who were not invited or informed about the event. Disgusting really !

Terry Palmer

South Lea Ave, Barnsley, S74

New war memorial

I have just seen the new memorial being unveiled for the war veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The announcer said here’s Prince Harry, himself a veteran of war.

Yes, he did go to war but did he really see frontline action?

I can imagine there was no way he was going anywhere near the thick of it.

Anyone who is in the military deserves our praise and thanks but Harry, I wouldn’t say he’s a seasoned officer.

Jayne Grayson

by email

Protect your passwords

I have become involved in several of Sheffield Street Tree groups and as such I come into contact with the emails and twitter feeds of numerous councillors, most of whom seem happy to just trot out the “party line” disseminating numerous half truths and some absolutely outlandish statistical gibberish regardless of the actual facts or alternative routes to mutually acceptable compromises.

I can accept this, I expect nothing more from my adversaries. They are after all nothing more than red rosette-wearing donkeys with very little aptitude for the job at hand unless buttering bread and asking if one would like salad cream on that is a vital skill when running a city the size of Sheffield.

I consider it all part of the “game” and take it for what it is, it isn’t their fault, one should not mock the afflicted.

However...

I am English, I believe in fair play and fighting by the rules of chivalry and honour.

Therefore I feel obliged to inform several members of Sheffield City Council , Councillors Jack Scott and Brian Lodge in particular that it is my opinion their Twitter and email account passwords have been compromised by a barely literate cyber troll intent on causing as much damage as humanly possible to their reputations.

Some of the Twitterish (Twitter gibberish) coming from these accounts is truly cringeworthy and I urge them and their colleagues to immediately change their passwords.

As the old saying goes, it is better to keep silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.

Sheffield