Letters to the editor

SIR - Your report ("River Sewage Plan", August 24) applies to the River Worth as well as the Aire. I would welcome an assurance from Yorkshire Water that they do keep rainwater and sewage separate in Keighley.

Where there are separate sewers, heavy rainfall does not affect the foul sewage, and the surplus rain goes into becks and rivers which benefit from flushing out.

But if the owners cut pipe costs by operating combined drains, the whole lot goes into the treatment plant, and when that is overwhelmed, the surplus mixture goes into becks or rivers.

Any hope we have of beautifying the Worth in the Keighley master-plan will be wiped out.

Michael Yaffey, Laurel Crescent, Keighley.

Let's follow suit

SIR - Considering the much-publicised "regeneration" of our city, an item seen on TV news recently comes to my mind.

A long-established greengrocer in Grantham was ordered to take down his small table of fresh fruit and vegetables from outside his shop window as this was causing an obstruction.

Could we not follow a similar rule on our roads and approaches to Bradford, thus ensuring a cleaner, neat and tidy impression to visitors as they approach the city centre?

Otherwise - what is the use of "regeneration"?

Marjorie L Robinson, Victoria Road, Eccleshill.

pension bullies

SIR - I'm prompted to write to you after reading of pensioners being bullied into having their pensions paid into a bank.

I had two letters saying I had to have my pension paid into a bank then a phone call making me feel like a naughty schoolchild, then a third letter informing me when my current book ends I will be sent a cheque every week.

I have a bank account but my Post Office on City Road have become friends and advisers to all their customers.

Why can't we have the option to bank or keep our books? Is Big Brother moving in?

Susan Bannon, Glynn Terrace, Thornton Road, Bradford.

No to closure

SIR - Re the proposal to close the Post Office Exchange branch in Bank Street, Bradford. I am not convinced that the proposed alternatives will make up for the loss of this valuable central facility.

It can only result in a serious reduction in the quality of the service in central Bradford.

As a regular user of both the Exchange and the Sunbridge Road branches, I am aware of the limited space at Sunbridge Road which could result in customers having to queue in the street if it has to take the present customers using the Exchange branch.

The fact that the Exchange branch is on the flat and accessible to the main-route bus shelters in central Bradford is of special importance to pensioners and mothers with pushchairs and small children, bearing in mind that the alternatives are located on steep streets.

I look upon the Exchange Post Office branch as Bradford's main post office. Has Bradford's civic status sunk so low that it cannot afford a main post office in its centre?

Clem Richardson, Poplar Grove, Bradford 7.

A fair old time!

SIR - I write to thank P Brown for refreshing my memory of the "Fair" coming to Drummond Road (Past Times, August 21).

He remembers the names of the attractions very well. I too spent happy times wandering round the "field" which was mostly of dirt and cinders and occasionally having a ride on Shamrock or the horse, swings or failing to knock over a coconut.

Mr Brown would no doubt have to decide whether he could spend his "tuppences" there or save for the Saturday "rush" at the nearby Marlborough Cinema, just built.

He and I must have rubbed shoulders at this time as the school was where I spent my time from being three years of age until I left at 14.

I remember the school changing to "Modern" and the integrating of lads from Lilycroft, Green Lane and Fairweather Green. No more marching in to military music, no women teachers, new school caps with a badge in yellow which we raised when we met teachers out of school bounds.

Discipline was increased. I guess this would be about 1927.

In closing, the features "North of Watford", "Who's Counting", "Past Times" etc are really first-class material and so well written.

Bill Edmondson, Royd Street, Wilsden.

Blair and his lies

SIR - May I ask Sid Brown (Letters, August 6), what has Tony Blair used his wisdom for since he became Prime Minister except to drag us into George W Bush's mud of self-created terrorism to rob and kill innocent people?

What has Tony Blair done except tell lies and support his friends and allies? They have been in Iraq for over a year now. Where are the WMDs?

Their objective is Muslim countries' resources and one way or the other they are going to get them.

Where are Tony Blair's two side-by-side states of Israel and Palestine? He and his ally Bush are too blind to see what Arial Sharon has been doing for ages.

With due respect, Mr Brown, there are two ways to earn money - by hard work or by killing people and I don't call the latter respectable. Do you?

Mubarik Iqbal, Oulton Terrace, Bradford.

l EDITOR'S NOTE: Sid Brown's letter was in fact an ironic defence of T&A columnist Mike Priestley against criticism from other letter writers. The irony seems to have been lost on Mrs Iqbal and some other readers.

Vital security

SIR - I found the smug triumphalism of the Reverend Chris Howson following the lifting of his threat of prosecution (T&A, August 17) both shocking and ignorant because he seems unaware that the days when war meant an exchange of nuclear weapons are long gone and that the main threat to our national security now comes from a worldwide but loosely-defined network of terrorists united only by their virulent anti-Americanism.

He must know that the original purpose of the likes of Menwith Hill and Fylingdales was to sweep the skies in search of bombs and rockets heading our way, but now in changed circumstances their vital responsibility is to intercept and decipher the electronic messages which flow between elements of a different but equally dangerous enemy.

For reasons which are totally beyond me, Mr Howson and his friends wish to disable the eyes and ears of our security services and whether intentionally or not leave our nation wholly unprotected.

I would ask him this: What words of comfort will you offer to the relatives of those killed in the next unforeseen '9-11' style attack? I would suggest St John 15 verse 13 but with a crucial amendment: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for MY friends".

Brian Holmans, Langley Road, Bingley.

Refurb is a must

SIR - I take exception to the letter (T&A, August 16) from Maud Marshall. Unlike Ove Arup, my "highly experienced knowledge" started with a humble but happy life. I began work at 14 as an apprentice to a local builder, pushing a handcart to the job. Now I have 62 years of practical experience on quality work and am still learning.

This also includes many years at the Building College where in the 1940s City and Guilds and National Certs were the best one could get, and I worked hard for them. During that time a lecturer gave us a thesis on the Odeon so I am well aware of its construction and this is why I cannot accept the "suggested economic life" leading the public to assume that the building will only last for 30 years.

I am further convinced that a re-furb would be the most economic way forward. My own ideas together with those of many other readers could be put together to give Bradford an excellent venture.

I wrote some time ago to Mr Kennedy of Bradford Council giving instructions to use the 1960 Act of Parliament powers to force the owners to get the gutters and roof cleaned up. All this has been ignored and would NOT give the man from the Ministry much confidence on his "listing" visit.

Should this campaign fail, then whoever gives the decision to demolish the Odeon building will have it on their conscience, plus bitter resentment from the majority of the Bradford public.

Norman E Littlewood, Huddersfield Road, Wyke.