Letters to the Editor

J EXLEY

Grant Street, Keighley.

SIR - I noted with interest your publication commemorating the centenary of Keighley Public Library. Will you shortly be publishing its obituary?

I have just visited the library after an untypical gap of a few weeks, and I have thrown in my ticket. I would have liked to borrow one from each of four different classes of book. I could find none. My favourite classical author completely absent. The mathematics section condensed to a handful of out-of-date computer handbooks, overlapping into astronomy and chemistry. And so on.

I have been a member of Keighley Library since about 1950. In the early days it fed and expanded my wide range of interests. Even until recently I was able to find something of interest, though it noticeably started to deteriorate a little time after the Bradford take-over. Apparently, the coup de grace has just been administered.

I am in a fit of angry frustration and can not express how disgusted I am. Bradford, every one of its departments run by people whose only attribute is arrogance, the city which has lost its former character, draws its funds from a wide area and wastes them on its own insular and ill-conceived projects.

If you want a book, don't bother with the former Keighley Library. You can find a better selection at any of the charity shops.

J Bernard Sunderland

Braithwaite Road, Keighley

SIR - With the millions of pounds spent on accommodation, building a new car park and a helicopter pad, closing wards at Airedale General Hospital doesn't make sense. Neither does it make sense when Janet Crouch makes statements that closing wards doesn't mean availability will be affected.

They could save money by not creating so many managers who have meeting after meeting to find a way of saving money.

In the personnel department you have a Personnel Director and a Deputy Personnel Director, who were at one time Personnel Managers, they then get named directors, pay themselves more money and then take on another Manger and Deputy Manager so four people are doing two people's jobs.

In the past four weeks in the wages department, a second Deputy Payroll Manager has been appointed. What is Janet Crouch thinking about to approve the need for a Payroll Manager and two deputies to four payroll clerks?

Also you have so called Modern Matrons who never go on the wards and have little or no input in the medical side of the running of the hospital.

Mr Editor, I would like you and your paper to take this up with Airedale, also perhaps get local MP Ann Cryer involved.

S F DRAKE

Silsden

Robert E Allen Chief Executive replies: I can understand why your correspondent has commented in the way he has. The management and funding of a health care system is a very complex matter, and some of the decisions made must seem to many people to be questionable. However, I do not agree with the conclusions made in the letter.

First of all, in spending money on accommodation, car park, etc, we are using capital funds, ie money which is available on a "one-off" basis only. In proposing to close wards, we are trying to make savings in revenue funds, ie money that we would otherwise have to spend on a continuous basis indefinitely.

The Airedale NHS Trust is accountable in public for its actions, and it is entirely appropriate that people challenge us. We have just published our annual report, in which we have concluded that the health care system in Airedale is living beyond its means, ie we are providing a higher quality of health care locally than there is money available to pay for it.

We are having to think of new ways of caring for our patients in partnership with primary care trusts. Our proposal to close two wards does not mean that services to patients will cease -- it means that we will be providing services in a different way. Our proposals are entirely consistent with the policy of the Government, which is encouraging the Health Service to treat more people in primary and community settings rather than in hospital.

We are inspected regularly by external auditors, and Airedale NHS Trust has been shown to be a very efficiently run organisation, ie we do not have excessive numbers of staff who are not involved in patient care. The staff mentioned by your correspondent have been paid for separately, specifically to implement "Agenda for Change", a new pay system for NHS staff.

We meet regularly with our local MP, and we have explained to her the background to our current financial position. Our Trust Board meetings are held in public, and our financial affairs are open to inspection.

SIR - Ann Cryer's arrogance towards the electorate of Keighley cannot pass unchallenged.

She refers to BNP voters as either thick or racist; later she says, "Not everyone who voted BNP in June is a racist". So according to her distorted logic they must be thick then.

Ann Cryer finds it annoying that people cannot be bothered to vote, as well she might. She should ask herself why. But introspection and self-analysis are not strong points in New Labour's arrogant credo.

That 180 did bother to vote, and voted BNP, is what is known as democracy, or has she forgotten that who gains the most votes, wins?

She throws the tired and worn out label of fascism at the BNP. Fascism is an Italian concept; and we, unlike others, are quite happy to leave it in Italy.

That the local BNP are victims of fascist tactics is perhaps not so widely known, and in the light of the dead hand of an unbelievable local press blackout on any BNP viewpoint this is not surprising.

Our members and supporters have had their mail interfered with, their phones tapped, they have been secretly filmed, they have suffered entrapment, had death threats and threatening letters. Letters which are now the subject of a police investigation.

Ann Cryer accuses the BNP of lying to the electorate, and yet she comes up with absolutely no evidence to back up her statement. The BNP are not lying.

We will not stoop to making scathing remarks about the vices and shortcomings in the Asian community, Ann Cryer is obviously multi-talented in that department.

What we will do is point out the admirable qualities Asians living in Keighley have.

They stick together, they use their own businesses, they have their own community spokesmen and leaders, they respect their senior citizens, they speak their own languages, they cling like grim death to their culture and when times get tough they close ranks and look after their own.

Why then is it such a crime for us to have the same aspirations? Why are we branded fascists, racists or bigots and not the Asian community?

It simply does not add up, and those Anne Cryer calls "thick or racist" in this town know it doesn't. We do not regard our people as either thick or racist, in our community work we find them intelligent and realistic.

They complain over and over again on the same themes, and one of the most frequently heard is that the Keighley News has ignored them for years.

At the time of writing the mis -named Commission for Racial Equality is in the process of attempting to close down the BNP because we are a 'white' organisation.

Ann Cryer and her fellow travellers should do a reality check, but at the end of the day it will not be them who decide, it will be Keighley people who dictate the future of the BNP. We are proud to have given them that opportunity.

Cllr C Kirby

Keighley and Worth Valley

BNP

Shann Lane, Keighley

Editor's note: A number of other letters making the same point, including criticism of the Keighley News, have been left out for reasons of space.

SIR - The Asian community must wonder how they can get Ann Cryer MP off their backs.

The articles in the Keighley News of 17 September 2004 linking the BNP and segregationists in the Asian community is the latest instalment.

On the front page of your edition of 29 August 2003 you reported that, "controversial claims were made by Mrs Cryer that the traditional Asian culture and arranged marriages are responsible for sexual assaults on girls in the town". Mrs Cryer said, "These young men are caught between two cultures. They are brought up in Western society and can see their peers entering into relationships with young women. Many will be promised to brides, normally a first cousin in an arranged marriage".

As this was unclear, Mrs Cryer's office clarified, "that to have casual sex, the men had to look outside their own culture and found it easy to target young girls, enticed by their money, cars and gifts".

Setting aside the validity and logic of these comments, they acted as a recruiting call for the BNP, who used the theme of your report in their election literature when two BNP councillors were elected to the District Council for Keighley.

The August 2003 article drew attention to alleged criminal activity by Asian men against white girls. Such reprehensible acts and other criminal activity should be pursued with vigour by the police, whoever carries them out.

Where I take exception is Ann's association of criminal acts with Asian culture. If I drew a link between the "yahboo" culture sometimes seen in Parliament and a small number of MPs whose standards and conduct fall below that acceptable I would be ridiculed. And yet I believe it is this sort of false logic that underpins much of the current debate.

I would like to make a few suggestions as to how our MP might move forward constructively, bearing in mind that difficult and intractable problems do not succumb to megaphone diplomacy and that criminal acts should be pursued by the police and not by politicians adopting populist agendas.

Ann should broaden her approach. She could set up a group with the purpose of improving relationships with the Asian community, and when confidence is restored, to consider the difficult areas she has outlined. How matters are tackled is extremely important if it is wished to make progress.

Such a group could consist of Asian leaders, local councillors (district and town), social services, people who are experienced in managing change and the police. The Government should have a wealth of information, which might be helpful, in working with communities not dissimilar to that in Keighley.

The present situation, of periodical outbursts in the press, is an inadequate way of fostering good relationships with the Asian community and does not encourage change and communal harmony.

JOHN COPE

Lidget, Oakworth

Sir - For far too long people and politicians alike have danced around the fundamental causes of the racial divide in Keighley.

MP Ann Cryer is to be applauded for her comments to the Asian community, asking them to take ownership of their problems and seek to resolve their issues rather than play the "victim".

Her statements may have offended some, but it is time to stop the violence and the finger-pointing and time to sit down and work this out!

The comments of Mohammed Saleem, Chairman of Keighley's Ittehaad Community Associa-tion, provide a very crucial point about Asian people not being accepted as "British" because they are categorized as outsiders despite being born and bred in Keighley, leading to resentment.

Allan Rhodes, chairman of Keighley Town Council, claims that he doesn't think there's a "serious problem". Perhaps he needs to take a closer look at the situation before making such a colossal understatement?

We must accept each other for who we are rather than judging each other by unjust stereotypes. Events that bring all peoples together, such as last weekend's "Music in the Park" - where community members celebrated music from around the world in Lund Park, are essential for the development and sustaining of healthy communities. Multiculturalism is celebrated in many towns and cities around the world; there is no reason why Keighley shouldn't be proud of theirs.

Working closely with people from many cultures, I can assure you that the more you get to know people, the more you will realise that we are all the same. Acceptance, tolerance, respect, communication, education and empathy will go a long way.

Peter Anness

Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.

SIR - You rightly call for action by the silent majority.

The problem I think is not that that they are silent, but inactive.

Most people are members of something, be it a church, a political party, a men's or women's group etc.

Sadly, many pay their subs and consider their contribution to society fulfilled, or on some perceived slight or disagreement, take their bat home, truly most can't be bothered.

I sincerely believe that this is copping out, despite Mrs Thatcher's view that there is no such thing as society, we all have a duty to each other and society.

You ask for a solution. We have to be an active majority, we all have to get involved, and do something.

Like what, you may ask. Well I can only speak for the Worth Valley Labour Party, though I suspect other mainstream parties and many other groups are in a similar state, or worse.

In the Worth Valley Labour Party we have 50 plus members We used to have 100 plus. If we are lucky we get between six and 10 at meetings.

So what should we do? Well the 40 plus members who are basically inactive should get off their backsides and do something.

The 50 plus who used to be members should stop sulking, stop moaning about Tony Blair, pay their subs and do something.

The alternative is that we let local politics devolve to people who get their opinions from the tabloid press or to people like the lady quoted in a recent KN: "I read the BNP leaflet and it sounded good".

It sounded good! That leaflet was the worst collection of lies and misinformation I have seen in 35 years in politics.

To repeat, we have to do something, or to quote Edmund Burke "It is necessary only for good men to do nothing for evil to triumph".

Trevor Lindley

Far Slack Farm,

Stanbury

SIR- I am absolutely livid over jobless single parents being pampered, getting a complete makeover, new clothes and £15 a week extra.

There is no point working when you are better off on income support.

I'm a working single mum and recently increased my hours at work so I would no longer have to claim housing benefit.

Because of this I have gone into another tax and national insurance bracket, which means I am £31 worse off -- also my tax credits have been reduced by £37 because of it.

This now leaves me £68 a month worse off.

To encourge people to work the government should at least make sure you get as much as, or more money than you would claiming all these benefits

I want to work more, but what is the point if you are penalised for doing so?

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