Letters to the Editor

SIR - Regarding the column by 20-year-old student Sam Bairstow (T&A, February 8), I was appalled by her total negative view of Bradford.

Has she not read the numerous reports of incidents and shootings in other large cities eg Hull, Leeds etc? I'm sure these far outnumber those in Bradford.

Does any young person feel safe at night in certain areas of other large cities? I doubt it!

The building developments and the increased number of applications for places at the university are examples of the progress being made in the city.

Another positive aspect is the number of apartments being built and sold in the centre of the city.

The city of Bradford is also surrounded by beautiful countryside. Outsiders have confidence in Bradford and so should Miss Bairstow.

Mrs M Jordan, Nab Wood Close, Shipley.

Bailing out Serco

SIR - As a council tax payer I am amazed we should be expected to bail out a private company.

Before Serco put in its bid to run Bradford Education Department, its own experts were responsible for pricing the bid, beating three other contenders.

After finding their bid may cost their shareholders money, they came cap in hand to the councillors saying the targets they agreed were unrealistic and unachievable

These were changed to allow certain bonuses to be paid to them. Next was a lowering of standards to accommodate the company. Now a new report suggests council tax payers should give Education Bradford (Serco) £1.5 million extra.

So the company overspent in the first year. The contract is now in its fifth year out of ten - have they just found out about the overspend? If they overspend every year will we be expected to cover these losses also?

Any other private company making a mistake in negotiating a contract would be held to that contract at cost to themselves and their shareholders not to the people of Bradford.

D A Goddard, Upper Ferndown Green, Allerton.

Mergers won't help

SIR - The Government is proposing to merge our police forces, reducing them from 43 to 12, creating regional or sub-regional forces.

It is hard to understand how a more centralised police force will help anybody but the Government claims it is necessary as all forces must reorganise to meet "21st century problems including organised crime and terrorism".

What this policy will do is create remote regional headquarters which would inevitably affect their responsiveness to local issues.

The government has given our West Yorkshire force two options, a single regional force for Yorkshire and Humberside or a merger to two strategic forces, one for West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire; another for South Yorkshire and Humberside. The option of no merger doesn't seem to be on the table.

The West Yorkshire Police Authority along with 14 other authorities has made it known that their preference is to stand alone and not merge with other forces.

As the government is committed to the EU policy of regionalisation it will be interesting to see if it forces the merger through, effectively putting the wishes of the EU above the needs and safety of the British people.

Jason Smith, Town Gate, Wyke.

Bradford's needs

SIR - It beggars belief that, with all the urgent needs of Bradford, they are trying to build a lake.

We badly need two more hospitals, with scanners, and to cut waiting lists for patients who are waiting for operations and are in constant pain.

We badly need a continuation from the M606, with facility to local areas, to the Bingley by-pass and eventually to the M65.

We badly need more police, two more helicopters, two water cannon vehicles and two armoured vehicles with multiple-tazor facilities. These vehicles can be used between all services if and when required.

The schools with their high truancy and low-achievement results. The housing trust situation leaves a lot to be desired. Then there is the situation regarding the secrecy of the results of the Asset Management system with £3 million spent on this with no hope of an acceptable result.

Then there is the computer farce - after spending £160 million to get better results it can't compute the wages for weekly payments, only monthly salaries can be achieved.

Then they spend another £750,000 and are no nearer achieving their object.

Then people are being suspended or given early retirement and top executives are leaving for fun.

Derek Wright, Westbury Street, Bradford.

Respect needed

SIR - The first principle of humanity or any religion is to respect others.

It is a shame for those newspapers who published the cartoons of Prophet Mohammed and for those who are defending the action of a Danish newspaper.

Prophets are from God and we are not supposed to say anything against them. Freedom of expression does not give you the power to insult others, especially religious icons.

If we will not respect others, who will respect us? Freedom of expression is good for any society but freedom to insult somebody is beyond imagination.

I strongly condemn the irresponsible action of the newspapers who published the cartoons and also those who are demonstrating against those cartoons in a violent way.

Those who are demonstrating in London are also wrong. They need to follow a peaceful way. Nothing can be changed by making threats to others.

I ask everybody to calm down and try to find a solution to the problem in a civilised way.

Nida ul Haque, Amberley Court, Bradford.

Scottish lesson

SIR - You report (T&A, February 8) that the possible new street-lighting system will use up to 40 per cent more energy just at the time when we are trying to cut climate-change gas emissions.

How about the Council paying the Forest of Bradford to plant ten trees for every new lamp-post that is erected? This would go some way to using up the extra carbon.

Meanwhile, there is good renewable-energy news from Scotland. Using their forests they intend to develop biomass and jobs and produce 18 per cent of their electricity that way in four years time and up to 40 per cent by 2020.

Good ideas have regularly crossed the border and I hope that this one follows suit.

Keith Thomson, Heights Lane, Bradford

Insult to innocent

SIR - Having read the jokes of the week in your newspaper - the sentences imposed by Bradford Magistrates and indeed Crown Court judges locally and nationally and the Court of Appeal - just how much value is placed on human life? It would seem very little.

Our sympathies must be with the many relatives who lose loved ones by the vicious, malicious acts of others who, it would seem, don't care a damn for others left to pick up the pieces.

Why on earth a 15-year-old girl should be released from custody because she is pregnant beggars belief and those who attack, maim and kill others are almost treated as if it were the fault of the others.

Not only is it saddening it is frightening and a gross insult to all those who try to live acceptable lives.

Barry Foster, Gilstead Lane, Gilstead.

The wrong signal

SIR - How can Mr and Mrs Wellock come to terms with Aimee's death when those originally found guilty had their convictions for manslaughter quashed?

How could they not be held responsible?

We know Aimee had a heart condition, but dancing, which she loved and I believe hoped to do professionally, obviously hadn't been a detriment to her health, so I would have thought may not have been in the foreseeable future, even though demanding energy and exertion.

Losing a daughter, or a son, from natural causes is hard enough, but even worse in the circumstances of Aimee's death when justice doesn't appear to have been done.

What signal does it give out to the public, law-abiding or otherwise?

W Strowlger, Lane Side, Wilsden.