SIR - I am writing in response to the letter from M Kinsley (December 26) to say I think the comments were very unfair about the youth of today.

It is not right to have a negative attitude about all young people and to tar them all with the same brush.

My daughter returned home from college on the bus last week and was very upset by similar comments being made about the younger generation by an older couple sitting in front of her.

She wanted to speak out and defend herself but felt her opinion would not be appreciated, and thought it may be rude to butt in.

At 16 she wants nice things - clothes, car etc - and to get this she gives up her spare time teaching young children to ride, standing out in all weathers to earn the money to get these things. She knows that anything she wants in life has to be earned by being, polite, courteous, respectful and hard working.

Her time is spent helping people younger and older than herself, and I am confident as a parent that she can go to college and out after 6pm without being escorted, without getting complained about and without getting into trouble.

Mrs Sandford, Moorcroft Terrace, Bradford 4.

SIR - Quite rightly the European Union and its member states have taken steps to reduce the pollution effects arising from abandoned cars and dumped refrigerators.

As from later this year directives will come into force which will require, for example, fridges to have their CFC chemical content carefully removed prior to disposal and cars to have the engine oil and brake fluid drained.

For many years local authorities have had a responsibility to deal with bulky waste and abandoned cars. The effect of the new requirements is to make procedures significantly more expensive.

And so central government has allocated extra grant to councils such as Bradford commensurate with the extra expense the Council is certain to incur? You must be joking!

Thus at a time when the Council is straining every financial sinew to put more money into education and reduce the deficit in Social Services spending, we are forced to raid some other part of an inadequate corporate budget in order to meet these extra waste disposal costs.

While I am all in favour of tighter environmental controls and reducing pollution, I am a bit fed up with central government willing the end without willing the means.

Councillor John Cole, Oakroyd Terrace, Baildon

SIR - The Government and big business are pushing for us to accept the euro, but if you think about it seriously. you will find it is for their benefit only.

It will not do any ordinary citizens any good at all. When we changed to decimilisation we were conned and we lost money. The same thing will happen if we accept the euro. We will be conned again and will lose more of our money.

I am asking all Englishmen not only to demand a referendum on the euro, but on getting out of Europe all together. Norway did it and are better off.

Most of Europe doesn't like us anyway. They just want to see how much they can get out of us.

W Brown, Peterborough Place, Bradford 2.

SIR - Norman Lamont and anti-euro Tories want to keep "the pound" and control of "our" interest rates and "our" economy so that the people of the North-East, Cornwall and elsewhere can continue to enjoy high unemployment as "a price worth paying" to keep inflation down in the South-East. (High interest rates help in both cases).

Some Tories have a "little Englander" mentality which might (along with our unfair voting system) explain their wipe-out in Wales and Scotland. They already are absent from national politics in huge areas of the country and until they stop equating the South-East with "the country", long may their absence continue!

The euro must succeed, but only time will tell if it is a real success. This is not measured, as some Tories appear to think it should be, against the rate of inflation in the South-East!

John Hall, Pennithorne Avenue, Baildon.

SIR - The syllabus for the Wharfedale Music Festival 2002 is out and available from libraries and Woods, Manningham Lane. Alternatively, they are available from the Festival Secretary at the address below, or by phone on (01943) 872067. By popular request, it has been decided to reschedule the Classical Dance Championship later in the year, and this will now take place on Saturday, November 16, at the Clarke Foley Centre, Ilkley.

New this year, and forming a significant part of the festival's development as a jewel in the crown of local culture, is the introduction of classes aimed at the Asian community offering opportunities in South Asian dance, vocal and instrumental music, and Speech and Drama, with one particular class exclusive to LEA schools.

Teachers wishing for advice or practical help in the latter (on a voluntary basis) are urged to contact the festival secretary.

We were thrilled last year to welcome children from inner-city primary schools who took part in the Non-Christian Religious Reading (English translation) class.

We would be pleased to welcome even more this year.

Parents, teachers and competitors are reminded that entries close earlier this year, and should be received by the secretary by Saturday, February 16.

Miss E M Holbrook, Festival Secretary, 48 Bradford Road, Menston, LS29 6BX.

SIR - It appears that some sections of the community object to the long-overdue proposal by David Blunkett to make a command of the English language a requirement for those taking up residence in this country.

These objections arise because the proposal will lead directly to a reduction in the number of arranged marriages to partners who cannot speak English, make no attempt to learn it, and as a result isolate themselves from mainstream society.

Such self-segregation and lack of understanding of other cultures has already been highlighted as a major factor in the Bradford riots.

Ignorance of the English language leads to an inability to contribute to society and lower educational achievement for children of such marriages. Small wonder that children from some areas of Bradford have such poor standards of literacy and engage in mindless destruction and vandalism.

P Daniszki, Legrams Lane, Bradford.

SIR - I would just like to wish all the nurses and all other staff on Ward 19, BRI, all the very best for the New Year. Having had to stay in for three days recently for a hand injury, I couldn't have been better looked after if I had been royalty.

Their kindness and compassion goes beyond the call of duty (not to mention good humour, which is so scarce these days).

We often hear so much to the contrary, therefore I would like to give the lie to that. Angels indeed!

Mark Shaun Breen, Bolton Hall Road, Wrose.