Vigilante should be given a medal

SIR - I felt I must write with regards to the article concerning the sentencing of 'vigilante' Mr David Hawley of Wibsey (T&A, February 19).

One hundred and eighty hours community service was too much, in my opinion, to give anyone who has had to defend his widowed mother against the scourges of our society.

The said burglar has had 18 similar offences and for his last sentence was given a very lenient two-year jail term. This means he shall be free to instill fear into the elderly people of Bradford in 12 months.

Mr Hawley should have been given a medal for his actions and has given his community the service it really wants.

A R Tate, Watkin Avenue, Thornton.

Fateful night

SIR - I must agree with Michael Breen (T&A, February 19) about the hype over the bombing of Dresden.

I really don't understand all the hand-wringing about the episode. As a little child my wife lost her mother during one of the many raids on Glasgow, and I will always remember as a boy standing on a hillside above Warminster during that fateful night when Bath was blitzed, and seeing the flames leaping high in the sky.

Many innocent people lose their lives in war, and the big regret to my mind has to be that wars occur at all, but that seems to be human nature, even today.

Norman Backhouse, Fountain Drive, Liversedge.

Health checks

SIR - The Conservative Party wants all would-be immigrants to have a full medical examination before being admitted to the UK. I go further and state they should have this examination before leaving their own country.

Furthermore, anyone who is absent from this country for three months or more and has lived in a vulnerable health area of the world should have a similar health check.

This is common sense really, but I have no doubt that the chances of it being adopted are negligible due to cost.

Phil Boase, Elizabeth Street, Wyke.

Petty concession

SIR - I cannot allow Councillor King to push us aside because we are pensioners. What a petty concession to allow pensioners to travel after 9.30am. Pensioners should travel all day when the new 35p fare is introduced.

At the same time, shoppers in Bradford should be given a thought. For example, the Queensbury 576 service to Bradford drops passengers who wish to shop at the top end of the city, at City Hall. They then walk uphill to Godwin Street, etc.

More bus services should be allowed to travel nearer the top end of the city, and help more people to shop in our Bradford.

More vision from people like Coun King would help.

K Robinson, Albert Road, Queensbury.

Rail link priority

SIR - More evidence that the lunatics are running the asylum is seen in your article on a proposed new canal in Bradford. This "vibrant green corridor" means polluting cruisers chugging into the city centre so that loft dwellers from Little Germany can prink on the shore of the proposed City Centre Swamp.

How many boats will be accommodated without a marina? What happened to the shortage of land the Council always claimed?

This Council demolished public toilets in The Tyrls to build the filthy rubbish-trapping "Fountain", then spent thousands on gold and marble lavvies for councillors in City Hall. It claims a cross-rail link is unaffordable and unwanted, but thinks a canal costing £20 million (by the time it's built, if ever) will receive public approval which a sensible rail link will never attract.

If this land can be dug out at such a cost to cater for a wealthy few, why can't it be banked and graded for a railway line benefiting those who have spent years paying for all this nonsense?

George Healy, Evans Towers, Ternhill

Why so bored?

SIR - Can someone please explain why, in the Pudsey area at evenings and weekends, teenagers are hanging around street corners when there are leisure facilities on the doorstep?

There is a leisure centre in the Market Place while Bramley Baths are within walking distance, but the bus shelter on Waterloo Road is regularly occupied by teenagers, bored out of their minds.

Both the local authority and private enterprise spend millions of pounds between them to provide leisure facilities for all age groups, not just teenagers, yet the reluctance to use them beggars belief.

A Shipman, Harley Gardens, Swinnow, Leeds.