Letters to the Editor

Firstly I would urge Mr Breen to discover the facts about the refugee and asylum seeker issue by looking at the "myth buster" section of the Refugee Council website (www.refugeecouncil.org.uk)

There you will see that the UK is under a legal obligation to help these people, as set out in the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to Refugees. The UK, far from being a soft touch, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees ranks only eighth out of 15 European Union countries in terms of asylum applicants per 1,000 inhabitants.

Refugees and asylum seekers have a huge variety of skills and, given the opportunity to work, make significant contributions to the economy and culture of the UK.

A recent Home Office report shows that people born outside the UK, including asylum seekers, contribute ten per cent more to the economy in taxes and national insurance than they consume in benefits and public services - equivalent to a boost to the economy of £2.6 billion.

Chief Supt Phil Read, Bradford North Division, West Yorkshire Police, Lawcroft House, Lilycroft Road, Bradford 9

SIR - Unlike AC Clark (Letters, June 21), I have spent the last ten years in Bradford, and many years before that. Without need of a trip to Asia, I have learned about one eastern culture right here.

I should like to walk about my city again, or wait at a bus stop, without being subjected to foul-mouthed racist abuse and threats.

I do not wish to tolerate this "culture" of racism, prejudice, and contempt. I would appreciate some proper policing, and some arrests.

L Hobsbaum, Willow Crescent, Bradford 2.

SIR - Bill Hudson's appeal on behalf of Tony Martin (Letters, June 14) is a bit naive. The law doesn't work like that. It's a very simple formula: protect the criminal, insult the victim, appear to be working hard on the case but do nothing.

When was the last time anyone heard of a redundant policeman, magistrate or judge?

According to Malcolm Starr, friend of Tony Martin, Tony is doing OK. He is looking forward to going home and is planning a lecture tour to thank his supporters. He is looking for a venue in this area and has been promised £250 donations up to press.

A telephone poll by a TV news programme of 8,000 viewers recorded 97 per cent in favour or Tony. So there must be something wrong somewhere.

If anyone wonders why I can be so cynical, it's 70 years' experience, 2 years of being persecuted by the Yorkshire Ripper mob, and being burgled twice (including once being stabbed).

I've also been labelled the "eccentric crank of Eldwick" by a party with an equally cranky name.

Don't bother to try to help the police. It's not worth the insults.

Frank Holt, Sherwood Close, Bingley

SIR - Nicola Murray of Wrose was quite right to draw attention to the illegal closure of Plumpton End (T&A, June 19).

The works on Kings Road/Wrose Road are programmed but the closure was not advertised; consequently others interested in the matter were denied an opportunity to comment.

Living in the quieter areas must be nice and many of us living on Wrose Road would love to have less noise, be free of excessive traffic and have a safer environment.

Isn't there a touch of hypocrisy from the residents of Plumpton End? Most seem to have at least one car, some even more. Where do they go when leaving the confines of the street?

The real problem is the flawed traffic scheme to the new estate in Bolton Woods. Eventually up to 500 extra vehicles will move onto the Kings Road/Wrose Road junction.

We will all have to put up with the extra traffic for we are all part of the problem; Plumpton End too, for it is a useful distributor into the adjacent estate and should take its fair share of the traffic.

R J Lacey, Wrose Road, Bradford 2.

SIR - I can't say that I have heard of a "Christian Right," much less its agenda, but I am intrigued that the subject of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ has been featured in the T&A.

I refer to the letter from Halima Brooks-Ahmed (June 17).

However, I do know who is Number One on the Christian agenda - he is, of course, our Lord, Jesus Christ. We eagerly await his return to gather us to himself, to extinguish forever the forces of evil and bring in the New Heaven and the New Earth.

To that we say, with the Apostle: "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." (Revelation, chapter 22, verse 20). We ask: "Will you be there?"

Walter Metcalfe, Central Avenue, Shipley.

SIR - The City Circle bus, 601 and 602, runs every hour. It used to be every half hour, which was better.

You can go for your pension, have your hair done, visit the doctor, but it doesn't take an hour for any of this and appointments which are separate visits.

It would be good to have the half hour reinsetated. I am surprised no-one else has complained.

Mrs J Marshall, Carrington Street.

SIR - Councillor Margaret Eaton is quite right to say that a Yorkshire Assembly would be a backward step (T&A, June 16).

Why on earth do the local Labour MPs think people want another layer of government and bureaucracy?

A Yorkshire parliament would be an expensive white elephant full of failed political cronies. If Labour believe things should be decided more locally, they should hand more powers to the local councils, not make decisions more remote at a regional level.

The greatest irony is that the local Labour MPs who are so keen for an expensive referendum on a Yorkshire parliament that few people want are the same people who oppose a referendum on the new European constitution which transfers vast powers out of this country altogether.

So much for having decisions taken at a more local level!

Philip Davies (Conservative prospective Parliamentary candidate - Shipley), Otley Road, Shipley.

SIR - I would like to thank Gary Lorriman for standing up for me, when I said Britain was the greatest nation in the world and the Germans were arrogant.

What I do feel sad about is that none of these ex-service organisations who have clubs, or meetings every month, are up in arms about this Government's plans to give away all that we fought for in 1944 and onwards.

They are hiding behind the excuse that they are non-political.

The trouble is that many (not all) are run from their top branches, which are run by paid staff, many of whom are ex-officers.

Need I say more? I think not.

N Brown, Peterborough Place, Undercliffe.

SIR - I read your story about the proposed demolition of Clayton Middle School with interest as it brought back memories of the war years when the boys of Princeville travelled to Clayton for cookery lessons.

The recipes were restricted to what could be spared from our rations. I remember learning how to bake a potato and to make stew. It is doubtful if anyone in our class would have qualified as a chef!

Eric Brook, Bay View Road, Benllech, Anglesey

SIR - I wonder how many others, dismayed with the increase of drug abuse, were further dismayed to read in a national newspaper that "Ministers were shocked when compulsory testing for adults found 60 per cent of theft and robbery crimes were committed by addicts".

Either they do not live in the same world as the rest of us or were surprised the percentage was so low. I wonder which?

Stuart Atkin, Cheriton Drive, Queensbury