Letters to the Editor

Sir - I have been a Bradford City supporter since the late Forties. I came out to Australia in 1970 and I've followed them through the newspapers and on the internet since then.

Though it pains me to see them in the mess they are in today I am still a big fan and because of my feelings for the club, I say "accept the offer put forward by Chris Caisley" but accept it as (hopefully) a permanent solution. Forget about maintaining an interest in Valley Parade (you can't afford it).

Go to Odsal and accept it as the permanent home of Bradford City FC. It's a better place to get to and from and in the not-too-distant future it will have all the modern conveniences required of a football ground.

It will do Bradford City no good whatsoever if they go there yearning for the day when they return to Valley Parade.

Ken Lorne, Lurnea, New South, Wales, Australia

Change for worse

SIR - Regarding rising crime in the Bradford area. Over the last 20-30 years, what has happened to people?

The lack of a response from the police is crazy. Politicians, whoever they are or whatever party they belong to, all say they'll deal with rising crime. Will they?

Kids have rights! Well of course they do. They have the right not to be abused.

But the ordinary and the elderly have rights too.

Since values and morals have changed, the elderly are attacked in their own homes.

Ordinary people are often subjected to car offences and robbed. How things have changed.

Elizabeth Wood, Highfield Road, Idle.

Power to the parish

SIR - I welcome the new push to raise the 1,200 signatures required for a parish council for Queensbury (T&A, February 23).

It is worth noting that when this number is reached it does not automatically mean the formation of a parish council.

It means Bradford Council will ballot every elector within the proposed parish council area to ask whether they want a parish council. If a majority say yes then this will progress.

I actually started the campaign in 2000 with a leaflet being delivered to every household in Queensbury and Clayton Heights, and I have so far collected 500 signatures from people supporting the forming of a Parish Council.

Strange then, that knowing this, I wasn't informed or contacted by the church leaders, Councillor Michael Walls or Stuart Hanson. After all, I started this campaign and I am still a councillor for Queensbury.

However, I will attend the meeting tomorrow and offer my support and help. I have always seen the campaign for a parish council as a way to bring benefits to Queensbury ward, and not purely as an electioneering tool.

I will gladly provide the signatures I have collected and hopefully we can reach the target which enables every voter to have their say.

Councillor Andrew Smith (Queensbury Ward), Chapel Street, Queensbury.

Reason for bomb

SIR - Michael Best says that I have put the Humanist Society of West Yorkshire into serious disrepute (T&A Letters, February 17). I will let our members decide on that, not him!

I did not say science could solve everything. He rubbished science and so I defended it. All decisions should be based on reason; the scientific method is the most systematic form of rational investigation. We do not always have the time or means to use the scientific method and so we must make the best rational judgement we can.

I am not sure why I have to defend the decisions of western democracies - "liberal" does not always mean rational. Remember, the nuclear bomb decision was made after more than four years of war started by the unprovoked aggression of a ruthless and determined enemy. It is not surprising that the decision was not as dispassionate and impartial as we might feel after 60 years.

Whatever geopolitical factors vis-a-vis the USSR may have affected the decision, without doubt an invasion of Japan would have caused far more deaths, military and civilian.

Robert Tee, Hon Sec Humanist Society of West Yorkshire, Foxholes Crescent, Calverley.

Explain, please

SIR - Karen Anderson's explanation (T&A, February 16) of some children's attitude to an alleged shortfall in the school bus service - lateness, overcrowding, poor routing - seemingly justifies vandalising the vehicle and is really amazing in its support of misbehaviour.

We all at times suffer from a public transport system that fails to live up to its promises. Should we all smash the bus to bits to assuage our frustration and to make a point?

On the evening of February 16 my wife and I caught the 7.30pm Wrose to Bradford bus (624). As it passed Wrose Health Centre a brick came through the adjacent window, thrown by the sad people who hang about this location.

The bus was on time and its correct route, so how do we explain this unnecessary event?

R J Lacey, Wrose Road, Bradford 2.

Reason for failure

SIR - I refer to all the recent publicity about the creditor who wants to make the Church of England pay for the failure of a project which he entered into on a commercial basis.

The main question is - Why did the project fail? Having visited Life Force on a number of occasions, I would say that it failed for one main reason. When it opened it was only partly finished, therefore it did not get a good 'must visit' reputation, which is passed on to friends and family by happy visitors.

The missing section for the first three to four months was to be the main attraction, the interactive Video City. I understand this important part of the Life Force exhibitions was provided late by the creditor who is now complaining because the project failed.

I hope this problem can be settled in the near future so that the Cathedral can get on with providing its services to the community.

Ron Crabtree, Hope Lane, Baildon.

Parking solution

SIR - I cannot be alone in thinking car parking for the outpatient clinics at Airedale General Hospital is an absolute nightmare.

Inside the hospital one is met with courtesy and excellent medical care but outside is chaos.

Simply put, there is just not enough parking and I wonder if it occurs to the hospital mandarins that every time they close a smaller unit, ie, Bingley, Ilkley, Skipton, etc, more and more people come to the hospital, many by car.

At £1.30 for two to four hours, the Hospital Trust must make a fortune, so what about spending a bit of it getting rid of all that grass on the lower side of the site?

All the parking outside the Outpatients and A&E entrances could be for disabled and ambulances. Many people are chauffeured by a friend or relative or if they have to drive and are not disabled they are capable of walking the short distance from the parking area.

Further, I don't think people are unwilling to pay a reasonable charge, they just want somewhere to park!

J Stephenson, Ashfield Crescent, Bingley.

Thanks for help

Sir - May I thank the gentleman in Stocks Lane park with his grand-daughter and two dogs (February 14) who stopped to help my daughter who had fallen from the climbing bars.

She suffered a fractured ankle and has been in hospital for a few days but is back home now.

Thank you for stopping to give assistance and calling the ambulance.

Helen Clipson, Stoneleigh, Queensbury