However the latest figures from the Home Office are interpreted, the level of violent crime in and around Bradford is a cause for considerable concern. Recorded police figures add up to some worrying statistics, with the number of reports of violent offences across the district up by 40 per cent in 2003-4 compared with the previous year.

In some areas - like Bradford North with a 60 per cent increase and Keighley with a 38 per cent rise - the figures are positively alarming.

The local breakdown of police statistics may well contradict the national picture as presented via the British Crime Survey, which is apparently the Government's preferred method of assessing the situation and is based on random questioning of members of the public.

However, it does not give a local breakdown so we must rely on police figures, which particularly highlight the surge in alcohol-related offences.

It is refreshing to report Dean Loynes, chairman of Bradford Inner City Licensing Association, as saying that much of the problem could be linked to binge-drinking fuelled by cut-price offers of alcohol. This kind of marketing, allowing young people to consume a lot of drink in a short time for greatly-reduced expenditure, needs to be brought under control.

The only way that will happen is if the drinks industry develops a new, more responsible strategy and sets minimum prices at levels which will help to control the rate of drinking. Until that happens the police will be left trying to keep the stopper in the bottle with very limited resources.