Letters to the Editor

Sir - Permit me to say a huge thank you to all at Bradford City Football Club for making Saturday July 24 a day to remember.

Natalie and David Brooksbank were married at the Polish RC Church by Father Krychiwskij whose homily was based on the Wedding Feast of Cana. It was about exuberance and joy. What followed was everything he spoke about and more.

Emma Weaver and the staff at Bradford City were awesome. They delivered the most magical experience anyone could dream of for their wedding day. They all deserve a personal mention but the list would be too long - the food, the service with a smile (which is so lacking in many places these days), the security staff, for whom nothing was too much trouble.

A special mention must also go to Peter Beagrie and Wayne Jacobs who popped into the reception and posed for pictures.

It seems a pity Bradford City headlines appear to be negative and that they do little for the communities in Bradford. If Saturday was anything to go by they do deserve praise and positive headlines when they do things so spectacularly well.

H S Danielczuk, Carrbottom Road, Bradford.

Price of pollution

Sir - I was pleased Coun Robert Reynolds (T&A, July 20) was successful in the recent elections in Calderdale - he was a hard-working and thoughtful councillor in Bradford and not always constrained by his party line.

We would all have liked the chance to reduce traffic congestion through road tax policies but that is a national decision and local councils were left with traffic calming, speed cameras, road humps and bus lanes and so on to reduce the problem in parts of the city.

In most cases these restrictions have been welcomed and are frequently requested through petitions and at Neighbourhood Forums.

I hope Robert will continue to nag the national parties to accept the 'polluter pays' principle so that we are individually responsible for the impact we have on the planet.

Keith Thomson, Heights Lane, Bradford.

Treason talk!

Sir - As a former member of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment, I find that even thinking of disbanding them is treason.

The regiment has many battle honours and is the only regiment to carry two sets of colours and both sets are full size (six feet wide by six feet deep).

This is unique and should not be lost. I hope people will rally behind our regiment.

23935243 Private Harry Flynn, Powell Avenue, Little Horton, Bradford.

Great day out

Sir - On behalf of 2nd Queensbury Brownies I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who made our trip to Cleethorpes on Sunday a massive success.

From Steve, the lifeboatman, to Sovereign Coaches, and not forgetting all our leaders - Dave Massen, Beki Westrip, Beth and Gill Kent. We couldn't have done this without you. Thank you!

The only problem is, the Brownies want to know when we are taking them again!

Samantha Taylor, Daisy Street, Great Horton, Bradford.

Drastic measures

Sir - Having read that new guidelines prohibit anyone who has received a blood transfusion since 1980 from giving blood (T&A July 24), I am flabbergasted and dismayed.

I have given blood off and on for the last 20 years. Now though I understand that I am 'struck off' from doing so as ten years ago I had a blood transfusion.

I think that to take such drastic measures will leave the Blood Donor service seriously short and deprive those who have enjoyed giving blood in the past feeling sorely aggrieved.

Mary Byrne, Clover Street, Little Horton.

Charge query

SIR - I recently read about how a man was repeatedly stabbed to death by someone who claims he had a mental health problem.

He only had a manslaughter charge brought against him and is being detained under the mental health act.

How on earth can someone who has taken somebody else's life be charged with anything less than murder?

The man who died has a four-year-old daughter. Which judge can tell a little girl why her daddy's not coming home?

Samantha Pearson, Moser Crescent, Swain House, Bradford.

Gutter language

SIR - Re the disgraceful attack on Tony Blair by Mike Priestley (North of Watford, July 24), to call him a smug, loathsome slimeball is the language of the gutter and has no place in a publication which claims to fairly represent news and current affairs in a non-political way.

I know Mr Priestley feels frustrated because once again 'Teflon Tony' seems to have got away with it despite the obvious (to him) fact that the Iraq war was not justified and that the Hutton and Butler reports support this conclusion.

I suggest that if he reads those reports he would realise the case for and against is much more finely balanced than the headlines would have him believe.

Mr Priestley should also bear in mind the recent final report of an investigation into the Clinton and Bush administrations' reaction to warnings about a possible Al Qaeda attack on the American homeland.

Both were severely criticised for failing to prepare for what became '9-11' because the dangers were either ignored or not fully appreciated.

Things were somewhat different here because we know that Tony Blair and all the other senior politicians who saw the intelligence about Saddam's weapons programmes have agreed the warnings were credible.

In the circumstances, our Prime Minister's judgement was that in the absence (at that time) of evidence to suggest that the assessments were wrong, he had no alternative but to take us to war.

Brian Holmans, Langley Road, Bingley.

Ask these Arabs...

SIR - So Mike Priestley doesn't like Teflon Tony - surprise, surprise!

I give him a recent quote from the leader of the Marsh Arabs in Southern Iraq after mass killings, expulsions and the draining and poisoning of the marshes: "Without Bush and Blair we would not now be free to live in the marshes. Our area is again being made habitable - we are better without Saddam and safer".

So much for Iraq being more dangerous now than it was.

Well done Teflon Tony, the Marsh Arabs think you are pretty good.

F Dickinson, Larkfield Road, Rawdon.

Lack of respect

SIR - The answer to Mr Khan's question (T&A, July 24) "Why do people let fireworks off outside November" is a severe lack of consideration and respect for the populace around them.

Traditionally fireworks are acceptable on November 5. It is not of our tradition to use fireworks at weddings and birthdays.

As to what makes it annoying at 1.30am, how about needing one's sleep for work or school or maybe terrified little old ladies, cats, dogs, cows, sheep, young babies? The list is almost endless as is the disregard for neighbours.

Andrew Love, Harden Road, Bingley.

Thanks for helping

SIR - While going to Barclays Bank in Railway Street in Idle yesterday a plastic bag filled with small coins burst scattering the coins in all directions.

While we were trying to collect them a lady kindly stopped her car, got out and helped us collect them.

Before we could thank her properly, she got back in her car and drove away.

Please say thank you on behalf and of ourselves and our granddaughter. That was our holiday spending money she helped us rescue.

Margaret and Peter Shackleton, Norman Lane, Bradford.