In a week in which the news from various quarters has been filled with gloom, anxiety and man's inhumanity to man, it is a pleasure for us to be able today to shine a little light into the darkness.

Last year they were confined to their Scottish Highland home by foot-and-mouth disease (one of last year's major bad-news stories yet already seeming so long ago), but this year the Christmas reindeer will be back in Bradford.

Their visit to the Kirkgate Centre on Sunday, November 17 is apparently by special permission of Government vets because the antlered animals are particularly prone to foot-and-mouth. But if they travel by disinfected lorries and don't come into contact with other farm animals, their visit here is officially approved.

That is a welcome decision as far as the city centre is concerned. The reindeer have been a major attraction for many years. Not only do they bring plenty of people into town to see them on the day they lead the parade, but they help to engender the "feelgood" factor which any city centre needs if people are to be encouraged to patronise the shops and spend their money in them.

Since the reindeer's last visit, the Kirkgate Centre has been refurbished with some style, and up on John Street the Oastler Centre has combined the old John Street and Rawson Markets under one roof.

Hopefully the visit by Rudolph & Co will tempt people who don't normally shop in the city centre to come and have a look at what it now has to offer.

And they will make lots of small children smile, too.