AFTER reading the letter from the Reverend Richard Bradshaw of Hutton Rudby (HAS, May 12), I felt compelled to reply. He finished: “Ask God what sort of country he’d like us to become.”

Like many, I am a decent, hardworking, honest human being who takes responsibility for my children and my family. My husband and I work 72 hours and 43 hours per week respectively. We cover our mortgage and pay all our bills and taxes. We have never had a holiday abroad and struggled to get our son through university – a wonderful young man, who is now wishing he’d never gone, as he can’t find work.

The wealthy are oblivious to this financial struggle and yes, they should contribute a bit more in taxes – but the majority have worked hard to get up there!

And I know, for fact, there are people on “entitlements”, as the vicar calls them, who are far from genuine and are getting £300 to £500 a week!

What motivation is there to be at school, to find a job, when you can get more than the minimum wage for doing nothing?

It’s all very well the vicar going on about food banks.

They are a blessing, if it is all genuine people using them – but it isn’t.

My mum and dad, only 50 years ago, had nothing, no carpets, no washer, no car.

My dad walked miles to find work, stuck the soles of his shoes with glue. We got one present for Christmas and the year I got a doll, I thought I would burst with happiness!

We never realised how poor we were. We just assumed everyone else was the same.

But the most important thing is we were loved, we were read stories, encouraged and felt wanted and safe.

How many people classed as "living in poverty" today don’t have electricals, a mobile phone, a flat screen TV, a washing machine, computers, etc? Very few.

Greed and dishonesty is the biggest blight in this country.

How can you be on benefits and afford two weeks in Spain, spend £2,000 on your children at Christmas and then not even get them to school?

The struggling working people stuck in the middle are paying for this in their taxes.

It is not black and white, but while the welfare state continues to pour our money on so many people who just take advantage and doesn’t seek out the genuine people who are really struggling, we will be on our way to hell in a handcart.

And all the praying in the world won’t help us, because if there is no respect, there is no responsibility and we are back to every individual for themselves.

If everyone really wants humanity to thrive, honesty and peace in the world, tell them to go home, to look at their family and do everything they can, without stealing, lying or lifting a weapon, to provide and take responsibility for them.

It’ll never happen, but if you believe there’s a God, then that’s what we should be praying for.

Catherine Sedgwick, Middlesbrough

AFTER reading the Reverend Richard Bradshaw’s synopsis of the current differing levels of status in society, it appears wealth and profit have now become dirty words.

So has the defence of our country, which is paramount.

We have weapons we hope will never be used but which are essential to our long term security. The years 1939 to 1945 are a stark reminder of such requirements.

The utopian land craved for does not exist nor will it ever. People may be equal in the eyes of the Lord but in reality we are all individuals, making our own way in life. Some are privileged, but there are an increasing number who are born into what can be described as average or under-privileged families and through hard work and sheer determination achieve success.

I can accept that not all people fall into this category, but that is how it is. We are all different, with varying aspirations which cannot be achieved by lying in bed or sitting in a public house all day. Those who have second homes have either earned them or have inherited them and duly pay the costs of caring for them.

The growing number of food banks is also mentioned. Ask yourself why they are becoming ever more popular. The simple answer is the food is free to all who go to them and not necessarily for those who may be in the greatest need.

Whenever I see television programmes of people living on benefits, sitting with iPhones in hand, often furnished with huge satellite televisions, computers and tablets amid clouds of cigarette smoke, planning their next foreign holiday, they are the people who abuse the system and don’t care who know it, deeming it their ‘right’.

There will always be those who abuse the system and claim benefits while working and those who claim benefits with every intention of never working and those who do work but go sick when it suits them, making it difficult for those genuinely in need to receive the help they deserve.

As for hard times, we used to call them rainy days which we planned and prepared for leading to old age. The sad true fact is that all who work hard and prepare for when such times come have to pay for care whereas the bone idle get it for free. The champagne socialists always appear to overlook this. To those who disagree with these points of view, take time to look in the mirror: you may well see someone with green eyes.

Trevor Mason, Swainby