The hypocrisy of MPs over booze

SIR - Bradford West MP Marsha Singh says cheap booze and happy hours cause crime, violence and unruly behaviour.

How can he then justify the cheap alcohol available to MPs in the Houses of Parliament? There are six bars there, each of which sells discounted alcohol and subsidised food with no fixed opening hours, so "happy hour" lasts all day. Surely this is rank hypocrisy?

Perhaps he could explain to us pensioners and taxpayers just why MPs, who earn far in excess of the national average wage (plus tax-free expenses), should have bars and meals subsidised at the taxpayers' expense? Six bars for 600 MPs is one per 100 - they must be a boozy lot! Subsidised drink and food must constitute "payment in kind" - does the Inland Revenue know about this?

Along with this, there is a very large car park and, as all our MPs are against drink-driving, surely a policeman should test them all as they drive out.

They tell us all not to, so they shouldn't object, should they?

Dave Murgatroyd, Briarwood Drive, Wibsey.

Plenty of time

SIR - With regard to the proposed Yorkshire Assembly, it seems to me that there are already too many MPs.

Some have additional jobs and often employ their wives as paid assistants. They also seem to be able to write and publish books while supposedly looking after the interests of the electorate.

On top of this they enjoy long holidays, generous pension schemes and pay increases well above any one else in the country - and even a well-paid retirement home in the House of Lords.

By all means create regional assemblies but move out the MPs from Parliament to the regions they represent, instead of duplicating the gravy train.

I'm sure, with all the spare hours they have on their hands, they will have plenty of time to man these regions. With all the electronic wizardry of today, what are they doing in London anyway?

L Dobson, Stonecroft, Bradford.

More good news

SIR - This time last year the former Priestley Centre for the Arts was in the doldrums and many were likening its perilous state to the Eastbrook eyesore opposite.

Fortunately, and with hard work from a dedicated new board and invaluable volunteers, we have turned things round. We have a new name: The Priestley; a new image and programme (come and see us sometime) and a very optimistic outlook for the future. We know there is much still to do, but we're getting there. The news that Eastbrook Hall seems to be well on the way to refurbishment can only be good for us and Little Germany, too.

So, well done to senior programme developer Nigel Rice and his team - they really are the unsung heroes of Little Germany - and we look forward to more good news for Little Germany (and Bradford) in the future.

Tom Sandford (chairman),The Priestley, Chapel Street, Bradford.

New fascism era

SIR - In post-war Britain we have seen few threats to freedom of speech or democracy. The frustrated fascists who hung on to Mosley's old ideals and communists who would betray our country's secrets under the banner of far left anarchy carried little threat without the support of the mainstream.

However, we now witness the greatest threat to our democracy in the guise of the "thought police" who manipulate and terrify politicians, journalists, educationalists, law-enforcers, courts and employers.

The twisted purveyors of political correctness have found sanctuary with the ridiculously-influential far left and middle-class liberals. They have set out to silence the silent majority with veiled threats of litigation and they have gloriously won.

Now we have the considered broadcaster Robert Kilroy-Silk banished from the politically-biased BBC for daring to reflect the majority view about Arab states, while the arty Irishman Tom Paulin is forgiven for remarking that all US Jewish settlers in Israel should be shot.

I contend that we are now in a period of new fascism where the truth must not be uttered unless it suits the ideology of the "thought police".

D J Ledgard, Bolton Lane, Bradford.

The Arab truth

SIR - Do not the Arab states amputate limbs as punishment, are their women not repressed and is it not true that a good percentage of suicide bombers are from these states?

It doesn't take Mr Kilroy-Silk to create divisions between Muslims and the west; the footage of Arabs dancing and celebrating the 9/11 atrocity can do that.

As for the BBC, its idea of democracy and free speech includes blinkers and gags and I am personally disgusted at its treatment of a man prepared to speak the truth.

Andrew Love, Harden Road, Bingley.