In crisis

George has earned his rest, there's no two ways about that, and one can only hope that his new life in Majorca works out well. George offered so much more to these communities than just meat, often helping out the older folk and running errands - to all intents and purposes he was part of the community.

It's not just sad that George is leaving, it's the fact that he has been unable to find anyone to take over the business he has run in one form or another since 1966.

He speaks of a crisis in the meat industry, that meat consumption is down following BSE and now foot and mouth, and that there is no new blood coming into the profession.

His comments are similar to the one's expressed by Porky Brown in Guiseley, who closed his shop after more than 100 years a couple of months ago. He claimed supermarkets had had an impact on the traditional butchers.

Instead of visiting Harry Ramsden's or Leeds-Bradford Airport, or posing for vote-grabbing photo calls, perhaps politicians serious about being elected on June 7 ought to be speaking to butchers like Porky Brown and George Johnson. They would find out about their problems and could work towards finding ways to save local butchers as we know them from disappearing out of existence.

As the saying goes: 'times they are a changing', but not necessarily for the better.

PARENTS in both Guiseley and Horsforth have collected around 2,000 names on petitions backing their respective campaigns. In Guiseley, they want a pedestrian crossing on dangerous Bradford Road, and in Horsforth they are demanding the right to send their children to their local school.

After months of campaigning, here comes the acid test - if democracy really does work, the powers-that-be must now sit up and listen to these communities.

Failure to listen to the people is a criticism often aimed at local authorities. Let us hope that this is not another occasion.