Letters to the Editor

SIR - Seasoned bus travellers of Wharfedale, beware! Your horizons are shrinking minute by minute!

Soon you will be able to travel to the fringe of civilisation - (that's Ilkley, by the way, to the uninitiated!) - only when there's an R in the month, and even then, only when it's not raining!

Wake up Ilkley before it's too late! First is depriving you of your access to the hub of the universe, by which of course I mean Leeds, as Bradford has been a no-go area and a legend in its own lifetime since July, 2000.

The 733 (Leeds to Ilkley, half-hourly frequency) is going, never to darken our doors again in this lifetime.

How many, I suspect, will, like me, mourn its passing? Dare I venture to 'guesstimate' a not inconsiderable number!

All those, for instance, who suddenly realise they have missed the sparkling new W8, (hourly only frequency), and their urgent appointment at the doctors/dentists/bank managers/solicitors etc and now have three options to consider:

1. Wait another hour for the next.

2. Catch the next Otley-bound bus and face a draughty, comfortless wait in the bus station perhaps for another 25 minutes for the (X)784 (increased to half-hourly frequency), having just missed the connection.

3. A punitive hike to the railway station to catch the next train.

What is to become of the commuters - and does anyone care? They were last seen ranting and raving and in the care of the men in the white coats, though their ultimate destination remains unclear now that High Royds has become unavailable to us.

How about the youngsters who make the twice-daily pilgrimage from Ilkley, Ben Rhydding and Burley-in-Wharfedale to St Mary's School, and whose parents realised last time, too late, alas, that the 652 they had previously always used prior to July 2000, wasn't there any more?

How about it, parents? How about exerting a little parent-power and inundating First (Leeds) with protests?

It needs to be more than two of you, of course.

No guarantees, but at least you'll have done your best to keep the wheels of public transport turning in this God, and bus forsaken part of the world we know as Wharfedale.

Perhaps we should all move to Keighley, where I note Keighley and District Transport are establishing a half-hourly Ilkley bus service!

As for me, fear not! I'm trading in my broomstick for a newer model. This one actually flies! And failing that, I shall turn in my Metrocard and become a hermit.

Yours in helpless frustration, a wannabe bus passenger,

Miss E M HOLBROOK

The Gables,

48 Bradford Road,

Menston.

Prescott's folly

SIR, - John Prescott's latest proposal for a referendum on 'home rule' in Yorkshire may not be exciting news for most people, but it could be the start of a dangerous slippery slope towards an expensive new layer of needless bureaucracy.

We should only have a referendum on home rule if the Government guarantees that it will only introduce a mini-parliament for Yorkshire if more than 50 per cent of Yorkshire people as a whole are in favour of it. We should not grant the Deputy Prime Minister his wish to create a memorial to himself in the form of a huge new layer of government bureaucracy, which would waste billions of pounds and achieve so little.

Surely there are far more important issues for the Government to spend its time and our taxpayers' money on.

Timothy Kirkhope

MEP,

Head of the Conservative European

team in Yorkshire and the Humber

Collingham,

nr. Wetherby.

Navy callout

SIR, - You have very kindly printed letters from me in the past when I have put a call out for those men who served their National Service in the Royal Navy. Thanks to those letters being printed, we have quite a growing membership.

We have had a couple of small reunions in conjunction with the Federation of Naval Associations, but we are now of a sufficient number to hold or first in our own right. We are having a reunion in Coventry from October 31 to November 2 when many ex-Royal Navy National Servicemen and their wives and partners will meet up again.

For details of this reunion, and membership to the National Service (Royal Navy) Association, just send a couple of second-class stamps to Mike Crowe, National Service (RN) Association, PO36 8PG (that will reach me, honest, I have special deliveries!).

Why relive those times when we were dragged in screaming to do our stint for King/Queen and Country? Was it the camaraderie? The hardships? The fun times? And more besides?

No-one can describe the pleasure of meeting up with someone you 'lived with' day and night 40 to 50 years ago. Would we do it again?

We had no choice at the time, but since then many ex-Royal Navy National Servicemen have taken up, and still hold committee positions in HM Ships Association and Royal Naval Associations, both in this country and worldwide. Not something you do if you wish to forget a bad experience!

So it will be seen that nearly all ex-Royal Navy National Servicemen say they were glad they did their stint and will be proud to show their association blazer badges when the National Service Memorial is dedicated on June 29.

This has been designated National Service Day and the dedication will be at the National memorial Arboretum at Alrewas at 2pm by Commander David Childs RN. This is just of the A38, north of Litchfield.

This memorial and dedication is for all National Servicemen, Royal Air Force and Army as well.

Once again, thanks to your newspaper for helping to bring together those who served.

MICHAEL 'MIKE' CROWE

7 Heath Road,

Lake ,

Sandown,

Isle of Wight.

TV film plea

SIR, - I would like to hear from older readers, aged 70 plus, who found true love outside their marriage, for a Channel Four history documentary.

During the first half of the century many married hastily and soon discovered they had nothing in common with their partners. To escape from the loneliness of an unhappy marriage, some were drawn into secret affairs, and a few lucky ones found the love of their life.

However, this was an era of narrow sexual attitudes when it was difficult or impossible to get a divorce. As a result the lovers had to suffer much heartache and humiliation before they could be together.

If you found love outside marriage in your younger days, please write to me at the address below.

STEVE HUMPHRIES

Testimony Films,

12 Great george Street,

Bristol,

BS1 5RS.

Governor's fears

SIR, - You report that planners gave the High Royds proposals enthusiastic support (Planners praise for High Royds proposals, April 3). Well they had better think again.

How can any of us have faith in the planning process if the chairman of the panel gives such unreserved support for proposals that have not yet been submitted and without knowing the views of local people?

As chairman of governors at Tranmere Park Primary School I am extremely concerned about the proposal for a new school on the High Royds site, as is the governing body. It puts in jeopardy at least one of our existing primary schools.

As a resident of Guiseley I have major concerns at the impact of the development on the local infrastructure and particularly the roads. We have yet to see any traffic assessment from the developers.

The number of dwellings needs to be reduced and I believe that to be a reflection of the local community views but I am not prepared to prejudge. I want to see the proposals and consult with the local community about their views which is what the planning Department are supposed to do. In its current form I reject the proposed development. It might be tastefully done but it is unacceptable to me and I will work with others who feel the same to campaign for changes.

MIKE KING

1a Renton Avenue,

Guiseley.

European goal

SIR, - Your correspondent, Wyn Chalker, in talking of the regions (UK chopped up), has raised one of the most profound issues facing our country today. There are two aspects relating to this subject I would like to add:

1 It is no coincidence that Great Britain is being broken up into regions. This is yet another step along the way to the ultimate goal of the European Union where nation states are subsumed into a federal European super state.

The regions, the Euro and subsidiarity are facilitating concepts designed to achieve this goal by a stealth practice of 'grandmother's steps'. Westminster will ultimately cease to have any relevance.

2. In driving us along this route, Blair has destroyed the concept of Britishness I was once so proud to identify with. Instead, The Scots, Welsh and Irish are allowed, indeed encouraged, to celebrate their national identities (these concepts fit within the Euro-defined regional boundaries).

The English are urged instead merely to celebrate some ill-defined concept of 'multi-culturalism'. A politically correct national media assist this concept, blocking and deriding any concept of English identity (outside of the narrow confines of sport).

The founding fathers of the European movement had lofty aims in seeking to avoid ever again the terrible wars that have ravaged our continent in the past. However, in pursuing their agenda in the most disingenuous and covert fashion, Blair and his Euro-centric cohorts are feeding the ground for the National Front and other far right groups who are quite happy to fill the nationalistic vacuum.

Resist the concept of a regional assembly. This is merely a side issue. We must lift our eyes from the misleading and myopic platitudes of our politicians and look to the future.

The profoundly important and central issue is 'do we wish to have merely a regional identity in a European superstate where the English nation, culture and fiscal and economic independence have gone for ever?'.

A J Armstrong

Moorside Lodge,

Panorama Drive,

Ilkley.

Uranium effect

SIR, - The effectiveness of depleted uranium in anti-tank ammunition is due to its density; anything of equal density could be as effective.

The risk in using it is that it will contain a small amount of fissile uranium 235. It has been used in atomic power generating reactors and discarded after its U235 content has fallen below the level needed to sustain the reaction. In effect it is rubbish and therefore dirt cheap.

If left in a reactor long enough it could be converted to plutonium that would be spectacularly effective due to even greater density. The mind boggles.

Happily there is a widely available alternative with similar density, no radio-activity and chemically inert. We appear to have sold ours but the US has enough for all foreseeable wars, just lying idle in Fort Knox.

The reason why density is so important is that the impact force produced, when the shell strikes, depends on the almost instantaneous destruction of momentum, which is product of mass and velocity. The mass depends on density.

The last thing Iraq or any country needs is more contamination. Already too many people are dying from cancers and respiratory diseases.

William Boocock

17 Wheatley Lane,

Ilkley.

Troops backed but not the war

SIR, - As a British Muslim I thought I had to write and say that I support and respect our British troops out in Iraq and pray that they return home to their families safe and sound.

I feel it is my duty to support those who willingly choose to defend the liberty that I and my fellow British citizens value. They should be recognised as a heroes and should expect our full support.

However, what I do not feel is that such support is in any way weakened by denouncing the reasoning and legitimacy of the Anglo-American attack on Iraq. The two issues are to my mind mutually exclusive since whereas our politicians do have a choice as to carrying on with this war, our troops do not.

Yousef Walker

8 St. Christopher's Drive,

Addingham.