Get tough with young vandals

SIR - What a sorry state of affairs we are in when we read of the vandalism being carried out in our area, particularly at St Joseph's Primary School, Bingley.

A few years ago such acts would have warranted immediate removal to a mental hospital.

If they were my children I would be deeply concerned. Don't parents bother any more?

Contrast this with the headlines about the starving millions in the Sudan. Those poor children haven't the strength to carry out acts of vandalism.

How long are decent, law-abiding people going to put up with ineffectual sentences passed by judges and magistrates, while police forces seem more concerned about speed cameras than real crime?

It's a strange, sad old world.

Barry Foster, Gilstead Lane, Gilstead.

Barbaric pastime

Sir - Mike Priestley and Phil Boase (T&A September 18) carry on the idea that fox hunting is all about pest control.

If that is so, why the pre-hunt speeches and drinks, the fancy dress and bizarre rituals?

If it is necessary for killing 'vermin', why do some hunts make sure that foxes breed by using a network of artificial fox-breeding chambers to source, locate, chase and finally kill foxes for sport?

Hunting has nothing to do with pest control and everything to do with a cruel, barbaric pastime.

Mike calls foxes unpleasant and vicious; very human qualities! No fox is inherently cruel. Along with greenfly, slugs, spiders, rats, snakes, sharks, etc, they have neither choice nor conscience. Humans do.

I would like to thank Scott Alden for his excellent letter on the subject in the same issue of the T&A.

Cynthia Trasi, Kirkgate, Shipley.

A welcome ban

SIR - The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is delighted at this week's long-awaited vote by Parliament for a ban on fox hunting in the UK.

This is not only a victory for the democratic process, but also for animal welfare internationally.

For many years, our efforts to end other forms of cruelty to animals overseas, such as bullfighting and bearbaiting, have been hindered by the continuance of fox hunting in our own back yard.

By voting for a ban on hunting with hounds, the British Parliament has demonstrated its continuing commitment to animal welfare. Not only will this decision have positive repercussions for the efforts being made to end other bloodsports abroad, but it will also reaffirm Britain's international reputation as a nation of animal lovers.

Philip Lymbery, director of communications, World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), Albert Embankment, London.

Crossing needed

Sir - Once again, there has been an accident at Four Lane Ends (T&A September 20).

Is it not about time there was a proper pedestrian crossing system here? It beats me why there was not one originally included with the traffic lights.

It is only a matter of time before someone is killed on this junction.

Please could the transport department provide a proper system, with push button and "green man".

Mrs Catherine Gilsenan, Avocet Close, Arundel Village, Bradford.

Gum dangers

SIR - Re the letter from Ian Vine (T&A, September 16), I agree with what he wrote, but what he did not mention was the chewing gum brigade.

Apart from the mess it leaves, what about the health hazard as people spit it out or leave it stuck on bus seats, under tables in coffee bars, pubs etc?

I remember not long ago the Council paid hundreds of pounds to clean up Centenary Square of this chewing gum mess but now we still go home with it stuck to the soles of our shoes. This does not happen with cigarette butts.

Shirley Hedges, Weston Avenue, Queensbury.

No evil here...

Sir - I fail to understand the Reverend Marcus Bull, vicar of Trinity Church, Rawdon, who has called on Asda to withdraw plastic crosses it is selling as accessories to Halloween costumes (T&A September 21).

To call the Pagan religion "a celebration of the forces of evil" I find highly offensive.

The origins of Halloween date back over 2,000 years to the ancient indigenous Celtic festival of Samhain, the beginning of the Celtic New Year on November 1.

Not "a celebration of the forces of evil."

J Henderson, Holme Street, Bradford.