I AM a 22-year-old student who is terrified by the future prospects of our country in light of the recent result.

To everyone who is telling me to accept what has happened over the last few days because democracy has run its course and the people have spoken, no.

I am not going to accept that a campaign built on lie after lie managed to triumph. That one man can announce that one of his claims that he told to desperate people was “a mistake” hours after the vote.

I am not going to accept that our country, and possibly Europe, is falling apart (literally) in front of ours eyes because another man decided to make a career move.

I am not going to accept that we have now entered a time where people who have lived here for years don’t feel welcome. That divisions in society are becoming bigger instead of smaller because the nature of our politics has become so nasty that lines are being drawn rather than crossed.

I am not going to accept that Britain has entered a black hole of unknown with no clear plan of how to get out because the older generation have made a decision which will affect the younger generation for the rest of their lives.

I cannot and will not accept that this was a good thing or that it is going to be okay because quite simply I don’t think it will be.

You’ve got Britain back, from where I don’t know, but what are you going to do with it now? Nothing feels “great”.

It doesn’t feel good or okay. It feels desperate.

I am not a sore loser because this isn’t a game. This is real life and I am genuinely scared.

Alex Tate-Smith, Malton

Painful bitterness

THE bitterness among the young about the Brexit result is really painful to hear.

They seem to have missed the point that the repatriation of sovereign powers to the UK means that they get to vote every five years for the rest of their lives for the government and the policies they want and the majority view prevails.

If they are dissatisfied with how the current government performs they get an opportunity to vote them out next time. With the EU you can’t.

The young may support current EU policies now but during their lifetimes they may well change to policies they don’t like.

We, the older generation voted in a referendum in 1975 for the common market with an overwhelming majority in favour.

The political powers of the EU which we have now is not at all what we voted for, it was implemented over our heads and the same thing could happen to the next generation.

Most of us have children and grandchildren of our own and the suggestion made extensively in social media that we have voted for simply selfish reasons is deeply upsetting. We all care deeply about our families and we are trying to protect them.

Graham Davies, Malton

Dog mess scourge

I RETURNED to Helmsley late on Friday night after a short visit to London. The next morning, as I turned the corner of Pottergate into Bridge Street, I was confronted by a trail of (very fresh) canine faeces in the middle of the pavement – yet again.

Since I moved here two-and-a-half years ago I have fought a losing battle with this anti-social and potentially dangerous public nuisance.

The offending dog walkers take their animals out either very early in the morning or late at night and are impossible to “catch”.

The main area of action is most definitely what I now call the Terrible Triangle, ie, Pottergate, Bridge Street and Bondgate. I telephoned environmental health some time ago but the person I spoke to showed no interest in my suggestion of fixing cameras (albeit for a temporary trial period) in these areas.

These offending dog walkers are not only arrogant and lazy, they are a menace.

The only advice I can offer to people in this area is to “watch where you are treading, especially if you have young children with you and/or are pushing baby buggies”.

Helmsley is a lovely place to live in and I am very happy here. However, I am not alone in deploring the behaviour of this thankfully small minority of selfish dog walkers who think they can flout the basic rules of public hygiene.

S Widmark, Helmsley