Readers' letters - July 8

Lessons from Hungary in '53
Following Englands departure from the Euro Championships, a reader says the players should learn from a 1953 Hungarian teamFollowing Englands departure from the Euro Championships, a reader says the players should learn from a 1953 Hungarian team
Following Englands departure from the Euro Championships, a reader says the players should learn from a 1953 Hungarian team

While reading through an old football programme of the England versus Hungary match in 1953, I was amazed to read the who’s who of the Hungarian team.

This was an amateur team in the true sense of the word.

The team were given a few days off work to prepare for the game against England at the “home of football”, Wembley Stadium.

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In case you don’t remember the game, Hungary won 6-3 and the team were lauded as one of the finest teams ever, lead by the indomitable Ferenc Puskas.

The foreword to the programme mentioned that the Hungarian team seemed to possess an abundance of stamina, no doubt due to the fact that they went in for cross country running in a big way.

They also practised gymnastics.

As for the team members, they all held jobs down.

Two were railwaymen, two were civil servants, they had an accountant, a machine tool maker, a university student, several clerks and a Member of Parliament. Amongst their interests, there were opera-goers, film buffs and two were talented musicians.

Oh, they also played football exceedingly well.

Compare that team to our current national ‘team’ who seem to spend more time at the barbers and giving press conferences than they do perfecting their skills.

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They are vastly overpaid and yet are still touted as celebrities.

‘Why?’ I ask myself.

The Sky Premier League marketing machine has a lot to answer for.

It’s little wonder that a proper team like Leicester won the Premier title and the Welsh team went far further in the Euros than our bunch of lazy overpaid prima donnas.

They could certainly learn a lesson or two from the great Hungarian team of the 1950s.

Disgusted from Ashton

Money wasted on street signs

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No money for grass cutting or dustbin emptying. No money for libraries or old people’s homes.

No money for a myriad necessary things yet plenty of money for street furniture.

On arriving home yesterday, the lamp-post outside our house, positioned halfway down the street, had been adorned with a double 20mph sign.

So what, you may think! Well!

My road, and many of the others nearby similarly adorned, are short cul-de-sacs, several with a rail line at the end of them.

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We would be lucky to get to 20mph getting in or out of the road at the best of times.

Add to that the fact the road that leads to the entrance of our road is full of potholes then I defy anyone to be able to attain the grand old speed of 20mph at the best of times.

How much is it costing for all these signs?

Why cannot just one suffice on the left hand side of the road (the side on which we drive) or on the left at each end of a road if it is a through road?

Why not one prominently placed sign saying all roads in this zone 20mph, hence saving tax payer’s money lessening 
the cost and clutter?

Who decides to spend so wastefully?

Do they look at where they are thinking of sighting them?

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We have a school close by so we are already blazoned with signs for speed and so on.

Why more?

There are some places where warning signs are necessary and needed without a doubt, but surely not side avenues, cul-de- sacs or dead ends!

Would the savings that could accrue not be put to better use by spending on re-surfacing roads and pavements?

The sign being outside my house is not NIMBY.

It brightens up the lamp-post.

It is just annoyance at the lack of thought as to what money gets spent on to the detriment of other far more deserving projects having to be being cut back.

C Cross, Broughton

Now free and unfettered

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On June 23, the people of this Great Nation threw off the yoke of the European Union and decided it was fully capable of running its own affairs.

Great Britain, the founder of modern democracy, once more has shown the world that the basic freedom of holding its rulers to task, via the ballot box, is still alive and kicking within the loins and sinews of its people.

The free people of this nation have never knelt to the threat of war, social disruption or plain economic blackmail by anybody, any nation or groups of nations, and never will. We have been, and will continue to prove to be, made of better stuff.

For politicians of any leaning, economists of any persuasion, or doubters of the resolve of the people of this nation to succeed, proves they have not got the backbone of a true Britain.

We are now a free and unfettered nation.

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We will show Europe and the rest of the world we are open for business, as always, we will not fail.

Anon via email

Time for us to face the truth

It’s clear that the issues around Jeremy’s leadership of the Labour Party run deeper than the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP).

Our disastrous performance in the referendum in our Labour heartland proved this.

It’s not possible to believe that at this point the Labour Party can retain its credibility at this desperately important time, and keep our current embattled leader. We need to be an effective opposition, to provide clear leadership across a wide range of issues – issues our natural voters believe in, but the Labour leadership has failed to engage with people about.

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It’s time for us all (Labour members) to examine our own thoughts on this matter, and face a truth that I fear has been obvious for some time.

John Reynolds, chairman,

Morecambe and Lunesdale Labour Party

What a waste of a 5p carrier bag

I found a brand new England football shirt in a plastic carrier bag thrown into a waste bin.

What a waste of money, those bags are five pence each!

Ray Homar via email