Should be a town councillor!

Published on 18th January 2007 in Letters

Sir - In answer to the Star Letter last week ('Town needs arts centre'), Chris Williams should put his name forward to be a Goole Town councillor, as he seems to have all the attributes that are required - to waste other people's money.

He is 22 years old: at that age I do not imagine that he will have paid a great amount of tax to either the local or national Government. Whereas I, being 68 years old, have paid them a fortune - only too see it fritted away by councillors and Ministers, the majority of whom have failed to make any advancement in their chosen profession and then have decided that to spend other people's money on worthless projects such as the one under discussion might be one way of getting recognition that otherwise they would never attain.

The reason the cinemas closed, Mr Williams, is that they were privately owned and there was not sufficient demand to make them viable. Why, you might ask. Ever heard of TV? It is cheaper to rent a film from a video store than to take a family to a cinema, even if it is next door to where you live. It is called economics, and that is what rules the real world, not the make-believe world you seem to live in.

Two million pounds is the amount of money mentioned to build this arts centre. How on earth can you justify spending that amount of money on such a project?

I do understand about funding for the Arts Council, as I have been paying towards it all his working life. I also understand, which you don't seem to, that they have to use the money wisely so that the majority of people can take advantage of it, not the minority.

Just one last thing: the grants you mention that come from the government. The government hasn't got any money - it is provided by us, the taxpayers.

M. Burrows

Goole