It breaks your heart

It’s heartbreaking every day in town when you are going about your daily routine to see more and more sitting in shop doorways – it breaks your heart.

Even people in prison get bed and board yet these homeless people are forgotten about.

Jayne Grayson

by email

Rental officer needed

Neville Martin’s letter to The Star regarding Buy-to-let in the Sheffield property market made me remember how most married members of HMForces at my base in Cyprus in the 1960s lived in Limassol in rented accommodation.

Last week I visited the address in Walkley where I was brought up until I joined the army in 1966.

All five houses in the yard are now rentals, all curtains permanently drawn, and the place looks a dump.

The big difference was that the private rental market in Cyprus was overseen by RAF personnel who made sure that the property was up to standard and the rent was fair and any problems were sorted out during the tenancy.

If a local government inspector was used here in Sheffield things would have to improve.

Periodic inspections etc are what is needed, with the cost to be borne by the owner.

John Swift

by email

Fair share of nasties

What is happening to the Labour Party? Or should it now be rebranded as the Momentum Marxist Party?

Does it have any future or more to the point does the Labour Party have a democratic future as envisaged by its great pioneers?

Momentum, ‘Jezza’s’ thought police has secured control over the party’s governing national executive.

The de-selection of moderate candidates in favour of the hard left is under way.

And, perhaps as a sign of things to come, Ann Black, chairman of the party’s disputes panel, which decides whether to investigate alleged extremism or racism, has been replaced by a hard leftie with a record of suspension from the party.

This is what a once great democratic institution with a genuine desire to advance working people in a free society has been reduced to.

Mainstream Labour MPs are now very nervous about their future but keep taking the ‘eight pieces of silver’.

Today’s situation is nothing like the Militant crisis of the 1970s-80s which, and it galls me to say this, Neil Kinnock crushed by ridiculing the running of Liverpool by Derek Hatton.

There doesn’t seem to be anyone with the guts to take on these Marxists.

All we have are terrified sitting Labour MPs, generally cowed into silence hoping that something may turn up.

I suppose they hope that come the next election ‘Jezza’ will again prove to be seriously unelectable and things get back to normal.

This is highly improbable at the moment, simply because our education system is in the control of the left and more so in universities.

In spite of their profound economic ignorance, they have successfully indoctrinated a generation of young people at £3 per throw.

I can’t see much changing with Momentum having a grip on social media.

I have not heard of any Labour MPs with any guts who publicly advocate taking on Momentum.

They seem to have retreated into self-protection rather than work for the good of the Labour Party, our nation and our people.

They have no pride whatsoever or is it they just agree 100 per cent with ‘Jezza’ and his Marxist Momentum party.

It’s not just the Tories that are the ‘nasty party’ now but unbelievably the once great Labour Party has now got more than its fair share of ‘nasties’.

Terry Palmer

South Lea Avenue, Hoyland, Barnsley, S74

A sad state of affairs

What on earth has happened in our society and how have things gone so badly wrong?

Violent crime is now an everyday occurrence in most cities, especially London where there were four fatalities due to knife crime over the New Year period and a total of 80 stabbed to death in 2017.

In Sheffield there have been the recent stabbings in Carver Street, estates plagued by gun-related incidents, thugs on quad bikes terrorising Gleadless Valley residents and according to statistics our parks are no longer safe places due to the increase of assaults and rapes.

In The Star, (January 24), it was reported that newsagent Sajjad Ahmed Chaudhry has had the terrifying ordeal of being robbed five times and held at gun-point but has bravely vowed to carry on serving his community in Sharrow.

We are constantly told that Sheffield is a safe place and no worse than any other city.

However, that is of little consolation for those who are the victims of violent crime. It is a strange kind of justice system when we see people who are concerned about their environment arrested for merely trying to prevent the felling of healthy trees by means of peaceful protest, while many thugs and dangerous criminals, (even if caught), often escape adequate punishment by receiving paltry fines or suspended sentences.

The courts are far too lenient with those who have committed violent crimes and one has to ask whether we will have to see anarchy on our streets before there is any serious attempt to restore law and order to our communities.

The present situation is unacceptable whereby a large proportion of the general public feel threatened and unsafe while trying to go about their normal day to day business.

It is a sad state of affairs that we no longer have confidence in our police force and feel the law is on the side of the criminals instead of the victims.

Susan Richardson

Westminster Crescent, Lodge Moor, Sheffield, S10

UKIP and Tories

Now UKIP is a deceased party and only set up by Thatcherites and former leader Farage to keep Tories in power and take some old Labour voters, they should pack up and go and rejoin the Tories.

UKIP and Tories both hate British workers.

S Ellis

S65