Letters to the Editor

SIR - I recently heard someone say that the young ones of today are fed up with middle-aged people forever saying "it's disgusting" every other sentence.

Well, not wanting to be left out, I am middle-aged and I am "absolutely disgusted" with Bradford Council withdrawing its funding, via Bradford College, for Fashion Services for the Disabled in Shipley.

This organisation, which has been running for over 20 years, is the only means of specialist clothing for a large number of disabled people, my daughter included.

With a large part of Bradford city centre being redeveloped and with the new disabilities act coming into force last October, I am sure Bradford Council would like to make a good impression on other towns and cities.

Having access to most buildings is one thing, but having no clothes to go in them is another.

My daughter is 16, she is 4ft 6in tall and weighs 2st 13lb. You tell me where I can buy her clothes?

S Illand, Plumpton Mead, Wrose.

Sad in-fighting

Sir - What a sad world we live in. More than 150,000 people have died because of the tsunami. Many thousands more could die through disease because of it.

The British public have dug deep into their pockets and donated more than £100million towards the appeal.

Yet the government's two leading politicians, namely Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, are apparently more interested in concentrating their energies on which one of them is going to be Prime Minister.

How sad is that?

Liz Balding, Ellar Carr Road, Cullingworth.

Trolleybus time!

Sir - Trams between Forster Square and the Interchange? Unlikely since the government has turned its back on light railways as an answer to the nation's transport needs.

Guided buses? A decidedly second-class option in the view of the Germans who developed them.

A canal from Shipley to Forster Square? A nice idea but hardly a practical solution to the city's transport needs.

In the meantime, a large percentage of FirstBus vehicles are seemingly unfit for the road.

When can we have our trolleybuses back? They served the city well for more than 60 years and often their profits helped keep the city's rates down.

Although they disappeared from the city's streets in 1972, they nearly re-appeared in the Eighties, but the bid failed because of central government's attack on local government's provision of public transport.

Since then fairly regular predictions of a renaissance have surfaced but so far to no avail.

Now they would really put Bradford back on the transport map! How about it Councillor King?

Kevin Morris, Princes Street, Wibsey

Plea to dog owners

SIR - While visiting my girlfriend's mother's grave at Thornton Cemetery I stepped out of my car straight into a pile of dog dirt.

On numerous occasions I have seen dogs running around the graves freely while their owners just stand and watch.

I appeal to all dog owners, not just at Thornton, but in all areas, please do not take dogs into a cemetery - after all, the land has been consecrated.

Graham Dawson, Masonic Street, Halifax.

Too good to miss

Sir - With regard to the application for the new Asda in Keighley, will there be a similar survey for the ordinary shoppers who are likely to use the store if it is built?

It appears the existing stores are worried about the impact it may have. However, I would suggest Keighley shoppers who now travel to Asda in Shipley or Colne would more likely stay in and around Keighley if there was a store here.

The amount of cash Asda are looking to invest does not come along every day and the Council should look at what is best for the town as a whole not just for businesses that are afraid of competition.

Also it cannot be ignored the Peter Black site ruins the initial impression of Keighley for anyone entering from Bradford Road, and even if this store is not built I would favour a serious redevelopment, to improve that end of the town and traffic flow.

The warehouse facilities could be relocated along the Aire Valley trunk road which would assist with transportation problems.

Colin Jones, River Street, Keighley.

Killing the chills

Sir - It is not only the elderly who suffer from the cold conditions in the winter months. Single parents, disabled and unemployed people have very little money to spare on extra fuel.

A lot of the residents in my area spend most of their days in local church centres just to keep warm and not use their heating at home, until night time when there's nowhere to go.

Parents also have to provide an extra meal for young children when the schools are closed too. They cannot trail young children and disabled members of their families around in the cold either and have to stay indoors using extra fuel too.

It would help if fuel companies actually told people how much it will cost to heat a house for so many hours per week or a day at different temperatures, eg 24 hours at 65c would cost you so much and then you could know if you can afford to have the heating on for 12 hours or so.

Catherine Alkins, Bilsdale Grange, Buttershaw, Bradford.

Court was right

SIR - The front page story (T&A, January 6) detailing why a man was jailed for four months (he will probably serve two) brought home most graphically that the law will deal most severely with those who attempt to pervert the course of justice.

This is just as it should be, people who lie to try and evade the consequences of their own actions deserve to be punished.

He was not jailed for a driving offence. It wasn't even him who had committed the speeding offence but his daughter. And yes, speeding is a relatively minor traffic offence.

He decided to try and beat the system by naming the driver as a person living in France, in the hope that the authorities would not bother checking any further - fortunately they did and he was 'rumbled' and now has to pay the price for his deceit.

The offence that he was found guilty of was far more serious than the one which he was trying (on behalf of his daughter) to evade.

Perverting the course of justice, like the offence of perjury, has to be dealt with seriously by the authorities for obvious reasons.

Brian Pickford, Summerbridge Crescent, Eccleshill.

Hunting solution

Sir - While fox-hunting with hounds is indeed a barbaric anachronism, the scale of opposition to its prohibition should have been anticipated but could easily have been neutralised.

Fox-hunters claim they merely want to carry on doing what they've always done, so I would let them, but only them.

By introducing a personal 'licence to hunt' and then ceasing to issue any more of these from, say, February 2005, all current hunters would be permitted to continue but, as they die out, the whole unpleasant hunting scene and its associated support trades would also die with them, probably rendered extinct within the next 25 years as the necessary critical mass of unspeakable fox-murderers diminished.

OK, it's a bit slower than Tony's 18-month target, but this simple approach would progressively remove a pointless act of brutality from our land, allowing the practice to expire gracefully in parallel with its parasitic industries.

Graham Hoyle, Kirkbourne Grove, Baildon

Have your say

Sir - I am currently undertaking a design study of Shipley town centre, which will involve creating a master plan, for my town planning degree at the University of Manchester.

I would be grateful if your readers could visit my website at http://www.geocities.com/regeneratingshipley to complete a quick questionnaire regarding the town centre's role and the public's opinion of it.

Tom Barrett, Ashfield Road, Longsight, Manchester.