How about some good news?

SIR - I read Luton on Sunday on a regular basis and I am dismayed, saddened and angered by your negative portrayal of our busy Luton & Dunstable Hospital.

It’s rare to hear in your newspaper about all the lives saved, grateful happy patients and dedicated hard-working staff going above and beyond the call of duty.

We are all aware of the stress that the NHS is under and like most large businesses errors can occur and mistakes are made – but they are rare events.

It seems every week your publication manages to find negative stories most of which in my opinion do little more than to make a bad situation worse. I wonder if your newspaper is trying to close down the hospital, Your constant criticism is demoralising to staff and patients alike and it is, in my opinion unjustified.

I know the philosophy that bad news sells but your paper is free. How about a few more positive stories about the good work carried out by the dedicated staff at the L&D?

Kevin Evans

By email

Crazy council expenditure

SIR - Luton Borough Council has well and truly overstepped the mark this time by spending £250,000 for music groups to perform at Popes Meadow prior to the arrival of the Olympic Torch passing through the town (Letters, January 15).

In view of its recent closures of council-run care homes and cuts in street-cleaning services, it is both a shallow, stupid and insensitive act to say the least.

I sincerely hope the ‘specialist lawyer’ hired by the families fighting the recently announced closure of the Laurels (a council-run care home for the elderly frail/dementia sufferers) cites this misappropriation and abuse of public funds to support her worthy case.

This act of folly by the council should surely be a wake-up call for the voting electorate of Luton, for what we are witnessing is called ‘divestment’.

Quite simply that is the stripping of community assets and an end to essential functions like council-run care homes for the elderly frail and street cleaning services.

Not surprisingly this may well be the tip of the iceberg as other essential community assets such as day care for the elderly/vulnerable are lined up for either closure or removal to totally unsuitable environments.

No doubt this process of ‘divestment’ will be accompanied by the equally dubious use of the so-called ‘public consultation’ which the families and carers involved in the council run care home closures could see was a ‘transparent farce’.

What is very evident is that the so called necessary savings of public monies are more than likely to be circumvented to pay for pleasurable events and local organisations that are not providing an essential public service.

I am literally scratching my head to understand why we, the voting public, are paying the salaries of elected local councillors, highly paid council officers, and external so called experts/consultants.

For the latter are setting a course to manage a council which will have very few council-provided services left to run; but sees fit to pay out large sums of money to assist the running of a pop concert? Incidentally I am a great music lover from jazz and the blues through to classical works.

If I choose to go to a live music performance I have to dip into my own purse.

Public money should be directed at essential public services.

Geraldine Mooney,

Tassell Field End Close, Stopsley

Questioning this cost

SIR - With reference to John Young’s letter last week I strongly agree.

Providing for this event comes at the cost of other local amenities.

Only this week the council announced that two care homes are to be closed.

And in November the council made a decision to increase allotment rents and abolish the 50 per cent concessions given to the over- 60s.

They could save money by not hiring 52-seater coaches to take five members of the planning committee to view a planning application which took 30 minutes while the driver sat in the coach and waited for them.

Doesn’t the council have its own minibuses which could have taken them?

Margaret Wright,

By email.

Music support is wrong

SIR - With reference to John Young's letter which featured under the heading ‘No role for council to provide musicians’ in last Sunday’s edition of Luton on Sunday, I wish to express, in the strongest possible terms, my total support and full agreement with his view.

I totally concur with Mr Young that Luton Borough Council should not be spending council taxpayers’ money in this manner – sponsoring music groups while cutting essential services such as street cleaning and care homes.

Allen Fisher,

Turnpike Drive, Luton

I’m beeping furious

SIR - Why do so many people misuse their car horns? Don’t they know that the only lawful purpose of them is ‘to give audible warning of approach’? That means they should not be used simply to announce ‘your lift has arrived’. Nor should they be used by drivers to say ‘Hi’ to their mates.

Don’t they realise that everyone else in the neighbourhood is disturbed by their exuberance? If not, then I suggest they are probably not intelligent enough to be in charge of a motor vehicle in the first place. Alternatively, if they are aware, they presumably don’t care about other people – in which case they could be considered sociopaths. So again, should they be driving at all? Finally, the worst of all are those who use their horns to show impatience or, worse still, their anger.

If people really can’t control their frustrations and bad temper when they’re behind the wheel then they shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the controls of such a lethal piece of machinery.

Manufacturers could help in two ways. First, using modern electronics it would be a simple matter to disable the horn when the road wheels stop turning.

But more significantly they could disarm the bad-tempered drivers.

Instead of fitting horns that blare loudly enough to wake the dead and only serve to startle and anger other road-users, why not replace them with ones that can only give out a polite ‘toot-toot’? This could even reduce ‘road rage’ incidents.

Ron Turvey,

Stanmore Crescent, Luton.

Claim OAPs’ benefits

SIR - Recent research by Prudential has revealed that pension incomes are expected to hit a five-year low for people retiring this year, meaning that one in five will have to survive on less than £10,000 a year.

The recession has seen a fall in pension funds and annuity rates, which, when combined with inflation rises mean that thousands will struggle to make ends meet.

However, this isn’t just a problem facing future pensioners.

Our own research reveals that today’s pensioners are already struggling; yet many are not aware of the financial support available to them.

Two-thirds of pensioners on low incomes, who could be eligible for Pension Credit do not believe they qualify; yet a quarter of them struggle with bills, a third with housing costs and one in ten are forced to skip meals. The latest Government figures show that the amount of Pension Credit unclaimed annually was between £1.6bn and £2.9bn.

We would like to remind your readers of how important it is that pensioners are aware of their potential welfare benefits entitlement.

Pensioners have to deal with a terribly complicated benefits system, which often deters them from claiming much-needed funds.

Yet, it is easy to access the free Turn2us benefits calculator and establish entitlement, how much is available and where to claim – www.turn2us.org.uk Those without internet access can call our freephone helpline on 0808 802 2000.

Alison Taylor Director of Turn2us