Find cash to keep post offices open

SIR - We attended the meeting at St George's Hall on September 15 to oppose the closing of Exchange Post Office and 17 sub-post offices in our city.

The meeting was organised by the Regeneration and Economy and Improvement Committee of Bradford Council.

Representatives from Royal Mail spoke first to explain why these closures were necessary. Their reasons for closures of these offices were, in our opinion, totally without any common sense, but may we say that under pressure from the opposition against closures, they conducted themselves in a good mannered and courteous way.

The Council team was brilliant in the manner it opposed the closures and I have nothing but praise for the dedication showed to the people who will suffer if these closures are implemented.

Also invited were various groups armed with thousands of signatures against the closures who made impassioned pleas for the closures to be dropped.

Our view is that this is still a public service and the standards of this service should not be downgraded.

If the service had millions of pounds to waste on the changing of Royal Mail to Consignia and back again then they can find the money to keep our post offices open.

Mr and Mrs V A Skelly, Brassey Terrace, Bradford.

Reasonable fees

Sir - It was suggested in your article on the new licensing laws (T&A, September 13), that the council is maybe at fault for a bureaucratic regime from which it is trying to profit.

This is nonsense. The new laws are being introduced by the government, which has set the fees far below what the licences cost local authorities to administer.

I would suggest £200 for a ten-year personal licence is hardly excessive - £20 per year seems cheap at the price.

This seems very reasonable to me, particularly as I pay far more than that to do my job: £55 for my ACCA membership, more than £100 for the BCS, plus more than £1,000 in government registrations this year - all to practice as a business IT consultant.

The new regime should also make some things easier for the landlord, as they will only have to deal with one licensing authority rather than two.

My sympathy lies more with the hard-working officers of Bradford's Licensing Unit, who will have to introduce a whole new regime in a short time with limited resources.

Coun Matt Palmer, Chairman of the Licensing Panel, City Hall, Bradford

Complex problem

SIR - N Brown (T&A, September 9) performs a farcical about-face regarding the Iraq war.

Last week, he reviewed Bush and Blair as devils incarnate. This week, they are mankind's saviours!

The catalyst for this Pauline conversion was the carnage of Beslan, triggering his desire, shared by everyone, for the defeat of terrorism.

However, he ignores the fact that both his latter-day heroes have admitted Saddam's connections to international terrorism were as illusory as his stockpiles of WMDs.

Mr Brown's remedy is that "we must...strike at these terrorists in their own country". Which is exactly what Mr Putin has been doing for five years in Chechnya, killing untold numbers of Chechens, reducing much of the country to rubble, but still unable to prevent the horrors of Beslan.

Terrorism is a complex problem and certainly not one susceptible to the kind of simplistic, knee-jerk nostrums peddled by Mr Brown.

Fortunately, his hands are not on the levers of power. If they were, I think we might pencil in the start of World War Three for around next Wednesday.

Peter Wilson, Thornhill Grove, Calverley.

Terror concessions

SIR - In answer to Norman Brown (T&A, September 9), if you want all-out war with terrorists, that is what you will get.

They don't mind losing their lives, and they don't care how many innocent people they kill. The Beslan school atrocity is an example of all-out war on terrorists.

I would recommend that Mr Brown reads the teachings of Jesus Christ, eg "If a man strikes you, turn the other cheek. If he takes your coat, let him take your tunic."

No, I don't suggest we give in to every terrorist demand. What I do propose is that they are offered something towards what they want - preferably something it is not too awkward to grant.

The approach of people like President Bush of regarding terrorists as implacable enemies leads to a "stick with no carrot" policy and is a direct cause of the carnage that has resulted.

Ask yourself what the terrorists' motives are.

Keith Trobridge, Otley Road, Shipley.

Paying lip service

Sir - My rival candidates have been strangely quiet over their parties' policies on the environment. Perhaps this is because they are so hard to defend.

In his speech on climate change, Michael Howard claims that Labour's policy on sustainable transport is a jumble of contradictions. It is, but this is an accusation that could just as readily be laid at his own party's policies.

Like Labour, but with an even higher octane, Conservatives want more road-building and cheap petrol. Howard's party is opposed to in-shore wind farms and his spokesmen regularly berate the EU for its environmental regulation.

The truth is that Labour and the Tories sing off the same song sheet when it comes to the environment. Both settle for an economy based on cheap oil and over-heated consumption.

The environment is an after-thought. They pay lip-service to the green agenda, but when it comes to taking measures that might lose votes, they don't want to know.

Quentin Deakin, Green Party Parliamentary Candidate (Shipley), Newark Road, Crossflatts, Bingley

Pensions plea

SIR - At the moment I can remember a pin number, drive a car, and walk (with difficulty) as far as the nearest post office to collect my pension.

I can foresee the day when I shall not be able to do any of these things.

I already know of several people who are incapable of doing any of them. Some of them are on very limited means.

If we are bullied (no other word for it) into payment direct to a bank, each pension collection will involve the extra cost of a taxi.

Surely it is not beyond the powers-that-be to allow book holders to keep the present system.

"Natural wastage" would eventually remove the problem with no suffering to the many frightened, helpless old folk.

Not everybody has the luxury of a "Good Samaritan" they can call on!

Paul Patmore Jackson, Glenview Avenue, Heaton.

Fireworks shock

SIR - A quiet Sunday morning in Shipley, that was until 11.45am.

I was just about to let one of my cats out when all hell let loose. I thought world war three was happening on my doorstep.

No. it was people, letting off fireworks so loud the cats were crying, the noise must have hurt their ears, not to mention the dog who was shaking, as I was myself.

I was due to go out to pick up an elderly lady from church and take her out to lunch. I was late as I had to stay with the animals until the noise stopped.

When is this behaviour going to stop? I thought it was illegal to cause a public nuisance and let off fireworks whenever some people want.

Joan Milligan, Hall Royd, Shipley.