Animal cruelty

With around 4,538 cruelty cases, (including 424 equines), reported to the RSPCA in 2017 it defies the popularly held belief that we are a nation of animal lovers and much harsher punishments are needed for those who inflict cruelty on animals.

The present penalties handed out in the courts quite obviously provide no deterrent and are totally inadequate.

Susan Richardson

Westminster Crescent, Lodge Moor, Sheffield, S10

Pets have feelings

Horse fly-tipping, a new one on me.

Says it all really, horses just abandoned.

If you cannot afford to look after a horse or any pet why would you just discard it on the streets and let anything happen to it?

Tell the relevant people, let them help you, a pet has feelings it doesn’t deserve to be just thrown out like the rubbish.

Jayne Grayson

Sheffield, S35

Only if we need them

Vlad’s pal Marxist and pacifist Jeremy Corbyn continues haranguing the government regarding the Windrush immigrants. May says they will be paid compensation for their ordeal and have no longer anything to fear, a problem which was also a past Labour government implementation.

Not good enough says Corbyn, he still wants open- door migration allowing any migrants, into the UK.

Will someone tell him we do not want his open- door policy. Blair and the EU forced that on us and look at the state of the country now.

And before you start bleating how good migration has been in the UK get off your derrieres and have a walk down Page Hall, Firth Park etc., go further afield visit many London Boroughs, if you dare, and many of our other once great cities and then tell us migration was good for us.

If we need migrants we’ll ask for them.

Terry Palmer

South Lea Avenue, Hoyland, Barnsley, S74

Boost Jack’s chances

Your excellent feature on table tennis player Jack Hunter-Spivey, (April 24), proved that Sheffield’s reputation for sports stars is alive and well.

Jack has done brilliantly despite having a limited budget and we have been sponsoring him to help with his travel costs, etc

It would be great if other Sheffield companies could chip in to boost Jack’s chances of international glory

Chris Beasley

Senior operations manager, CODE Nightclub, Eyre Street, Sheffield

The spread of germs

I hate to think what germs are on ATM machines, taps, door handles, lift buttons and supermarket baskets etc etc etc.

The list is endless.

They should be cleaned regularly with antibacterial wipes or sprays and the public should be notified that they are.

DA Wragg

Sheffield, S35

Did you vote for it?

Yellow lines were painted around my local school and a few weeks later they resurfaced the road, thus removing the lines, and a few more weeks on they repainted the lines.

What bad planning and a waste of money.

No one monitors or enforces the situation.

People are arriving at the school at 8am and are still there after 9am, and some for an hour in the afternoon, happily parked on the lines, completely assured that in Sheffield breaking the law on parking is acceptable.

Some sit there with their engines running, polluting the air around the school.

This appears to be the situation at some other schools in the city too.

However, try parking illegally in the city centre and see what happens!

Part of the school, near its Harley Brook Road entrance, has been turned into some sort of place for meetings and there can be as many as 20 vehicles parked there.

Needless to say, they have churned up the grass verges. Another fine mess to look at.

Some of our council tax goes to the police, but they don’t deal with the illegal parking.

However, they can turn out in force to arrest a woman with a plastic trumpet who is protesting about tree felling.

I wouldn’t mind so much if we got a reduction in our council tax for the damned nuisance of the illegal parking, and the mess on the streets.

How many of you, throughout the city, voted to spend money on yellow lines that were not going to be enforced?

Amazingly, the council can afford to kit out all 32 of its parking staff with cameras.

Good idea, if you can afford it, but the council are supposedly skint.

It’s your money. Did you vote for it?

I complained to Coun Lodge about a tree after the surrounding pavement was repaired twice and was told that it was healthy and wouldn’t be removed.

He said it would be trimmed back before the end of November 2017.

A tree a mere 20 yards from the one I was talking about has been trimmed twice in six months, but they ignored the one I complained about.

Six months on it’s still not been touched and Coun Lodge hasn’t responded to my subsequent letter.

Meanwhile, hundreds of trees are being cut down because, you’ve got it, they are damaging the pavements.

So is it about pavements or something else?

How much of your money has been spent on felling trees?

Did you vote for it?

S Collins

Sheffield, S5