SIR – I read in the Worcester News on October 12 the letter saying the congestion on the level crossing under the railway viaduct in Croft Road can be a threat mainly to students that cross there, holding many vehicles up.
My experience was nearly to bury a student there, and what did I get in return? Two fingers.
I’m sure not all the students at this university are as thick as this educated idiot. But to help those that are, may I ask the Lib/Lab-/Con party that tries to run this city to put LIGHTS on this crossing.
And while they are at it, put lights on the other crossing in Hylton Road before one gets flattened there.
Please no letters asking how I knew it was a student.
JC BUTTERFIELD
Worcester

Outcome is same
whatever the intent
SIR – Two-thirds of hospitals in this country are offering substandard care, according to the Care Quality Commission, which also warns that cuts could lead to a further worsening of the NHS.
At a public meeting in Worcester on July 1, 2011, Robin Walker MP said: “I don’t want to see the NHS changed beyond recognition or cut. I don’t think the government would dare to cut the NHS and wouldn’t be in power again if it did.”
Many in the more moderate parts of the Conservative Party will not believe that there is a deliberate plan to privatise the NHS, but by underfunding, outsourcing and fragmenting the overall structure, the effect, deliberate or not, is the same – creeping privatisation. As Professor Noam Chomsky said: “That’s the standard technique of privatisation: defund, make sure things don’t work, people get angry, you hand it over to private capital.”  
NEIL LAURENSON
Worcester Green Party

There but for chance, 
it could be you and I
SIR – I wrote this on Sunday:
Reflection
“I love my child
I want my child
To have enough food not to be hungry
To have a safe place to sleep
To have warmth and shelter
To have an education
To be happy
To be loved and accepted
To grow up
To be kind”
We’re all human
We don’t choose where we’re born
This person’s child washed up on a foreign shore.
VICKY McCULLOCH
Worcester

The BBC cannot be
trusted on EU affairs
SIR – I read once again with interest a commentary by John Petley (Campaign for an Independent Britain).
Over a period of three years, the BBC obtained £3million in grants from the EU. 
Licence fee payers are not aware that the corporation has been disinclined to disclose the source of this money in its Annual Returns, which show no trace of it specifically. 
These funds are referred to as “other grant income”. A Freedom of Information response in 2014 showed that BBC staff applied for and accepted about £3million of EU funds between April 2011 and November 2013. most of which was spent on “unspecified research and development” projects with the remaining £1 million spent on programming. 
The Spectator reported in February 2014: “The BBC’s successful lobbying for this money had to be prised out of it by a FoI request lodged by The Spectator,  proving that there was never any danger of the state broadcaster’s bosses volunteering it willingly”.
Rob Wilson MP, in a letter to George Osborne said that he lacks confidence in the BBC receiving EU money since it risks feeding the perception that it is incapable of reporting accurately on European affairs. 
Mr Wilson also questioned why the BBC went ‘cap in hand’ for funds in the first place, given its visibly secure financial position. He says that the whole point of the licence fee is to protect the BBC’s political independence and impartiality by providing it with a source of income which is outside heads of government and politicians. A BBC spokesman said the money was useful for technology-based projects based on existing BBC R&D priorities but would elaborate no further on why it has also received EU grants for programme making from the European Regulation Development Fund.
The FoI disclosure is the latest example shining a light on the BBC’s relationship with EU.
I have needed to clarify before that John Petley is a distinguished commentator in his field. It seems a great pity that the state broadcaster cannot be fully trusted on important matters such as our relationship with the EU and the forthcoming referendum.
WENDY HANDS
Upton-upon-Severn

It is saucy of them to use the same name
SIR – How is it that, right here in Worcester, Lidl can sell a product called ‘Worcestershire Sauce,’ apparently made by a company called ‘Batts’ and not Lea & Perrins?
NEVILL SWANSON
Worcester

Editor's note: An online source on sauce says: 'By 1876, the High Court of Justice ruled that Lea and Perrin did not own the right to the name Worcestershire in regards to a sauce and that the others who were making a similar sauce with a similar name could continue to do so.'