Letters to the Editor

This person is missing the point. The Welsh people only want fair play.

If Anne Robinson had appeared on television and said the same things about Asians, blacks, or any other ethnic minority, there would have been all hell to pay.

If we were all allowed to have a "friendly" pop at each other, without someone showing you the racism card, then maybe racial tensions would be eased. But the fact is this is not being allowed to happen so political correctness has gone mad.

I am a born-and-bred Bradford lass, so what gives me the right to speak on behalf of the Welsh?

Well, I'm married to one, my daughter is one, I am related to many of them, and friends with even more of them.

They are, on the whole, a warm and friendly lot, with a good sense of humour.

Well, they would have to have, putting up with the English for so long.

Mrs J Hart, Idle Road, Five Lane Ends, Bradford.

SIR - Referring to R Stephens's letter of March 12 headlined "Ireland for the Irish". The writer does not appear to have any problem with any other group of immigrants who have come to these shores. I do not think you would have printed "Pakistan for Pakistanis", "Africa for Africans", "Germany for Germans" or "Islamic countries in general for Islamic terrorists".

He uses the pretence of the IRA threat to condone his views.

Your paper castigated Anne Robinson (pictured) recently for comments against the Welsh, but I suppose the Irish are still seen as "a backside to kick" or someone to have a good laugh at.

Is it because they are so tolerant to the abuse of others that such views are seen as acceptable?

If only all migrant groups assimilated into British society as the Irish have done, Britain would not be in the state that so many people exiling themselves up the Aire Valley think we are in.

The letter deserves a strong rebuke from you, and a letter of apology to all the "foreign" people in Bradford from the writer.

Martin O'Hara, Shuttleworth Lane, Bradford.

l EDITOR'S NOTE: It is not our role to rebuke letter writers. We are happy to leave that to readers who disagree with any points of view expressed on this page. In the interests of open debate, sometimes opinions which others might consider outrageous have to be allowed an airing. As in this case, we welcome any responses which challenge those opinions. For the record, we did not castigate Anne Robinson for her comments about the Welsh. We did, however, report that there had been criticism of them.

SIR - Labour councillors have made much in the press recently of plans for the Large Scale Voluntary Transfer (LSVT) of the Council's housing stock. They have used dramatic language and terms which somehow imply the Council is "privatising" its housing and somehow threatening the security of the tenure for the many people who depend on the Council for their accommodation.

The Conservatives introduced Large Scale Voluntary Transfers in 1988 as one of a number of policy measures designed to boost investment in housing.

Between then and 1999, some 400,000 council homes nationally were successfully transferred from council ownership to Registered Social Landlords, or to use a more familiar term, housing associations. This translates to an average of some 36,000 homes a year.

Coming from a national housing stock of just under four million council houses, not what you would exactly term wholesale privatisation.

In 2000, the national Labour Party introduced a Housing Green Paper called "Quality and Choice - A Decent Home for all". This year, the proposals are being implemented, including a commitment to transfer a further 200,000 homes annually from councils.

Under these circumstances, rather than attempt to destroy Council plans to improve housing in Bradford, the opposition in Bradford would be better advised to follow the policies of their own Government and get behind us to achieve this much-needed improvement.

Councillor G W Miller (Conservative, Worth Valley), Shann Park, Keighley.

SIR - I feel I must respond to Councillor Keith Thomson's letter (March 13) regarding Royds Community Association and the excellent work they are doing in Buttershaw.

Royds was set up to regenerate Delph Hill, Woodside and Buttershaw estates with money from the previous Conservative Government. Royds is a charity with the board members made up of residents, councillors and professional advisers.

They employ their own staff and in consultation manage the regeneration. They have been so successful because Royds is not council-led, and they can work in true partnership with residents, who are also tenants, and other agencies.

This is exactly what we proposed at the full council meeting when stock transfer was voted on. The vote would allow all tenants a vote, and if the outcome was yes, not-for-profit organisations where the board is made up of elected residents who are also tenants, councillors and professional advisers would begin.

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

SIR - Most citizens of Bradford rightly care about their city. The T&A does a pretty good job in reflecting opinion about the future of the city centre.

Some of that opinion is inevitably critical yet without that opinion, those planning the future of the city do not have a clear picture of what citizens want.

What is unhelpful are opinions such as D Pedley's (Letters, March 14) that would attribute snobbery to well-meaning folk such as Mrs Robinson (Letters, March 8) who are genuinely critical.

If we are going to have a constructive debate about the future of our city centre, let's keep it clean and not be personal.

Bruce Barnes, Wilmer Road, Heaton.

n CORRECTION: A misreading of handwriting led to us misquoting Mr Stuart Hanson in a letter from him on Saturday as saying that the Conservatives had set aside £506 million to sort out the problems of supernumerary teaching staff. That should have read £5.6 million.