SIR - I think that the Comment of December 24 lamenting some Bradfordians' negativity to their own city, and scepticism about Gareth Gates's abilities, is a tad simplistic.

Nobody begrudges the Bradford boy makes good. But a fair chunk of the readership have been brought up in eras when we celebrated real, creative musicians and singers, and manufactured pap like the Archies were laughed out of jukeboxes.

By all means salute a local success story, but let's put it into perspective. The coverage Gareth Gates gets in this paper makes one wonder if he is the reincarnated Elvis!

Bradfordians might be cussed and cynical, but it could be something to do with how the city has evolved. When virtually all the decent architecture has been, and continues to be, decimated and we see proposals for more glass effigies, it makes one wonder why we pulled down Provincial House.

Let's consider the Bradford town centre experience! Avoid the Ivegate drunks but beware of Thornton Road confidence tricksters, and then close your ears to the racial insults from the baseballed-capped youths in passing cars.

Gerald Knowles, Bradford Road, Idle.

SIR - All New Labour's ex-CND warriors, from Tony Blair down, are going to involve Britain without justification in George W Bush's war with Iraq. They are all eager to "pay the blood price" Blair promised Bush in the rash moment after September 11. Whatever may be said against Saddam Hussein, he is not daft enough to start a war against a super-power.

Bush and Blair have been trying all year to construct an excuse in order to hide the real reason for attacking Iraq. They want to set up a puppet regime there, controlling all of Iraq's oil resources. With all the instincts of the bully against a weaker opponent, they think they are on to a good thing.

On that September morning in 1939, I recall personally that everyone accepted Prime Minister Chamberlain's decision that Hitler's attack on Poland now involved Britain. I hear no such comment on the streets today.

The UN inspectors are not being impeded in their investigation of Saddam's weapons so far.

Robert Hornsby, Bredon Avenue, Shipley.

SIR- Am I the only one who thinks that no matter what Saddam Hussein does to co-operate with the United Nations, Britain and the United States are hell bent on war?

No weapons of mass destruction have been found. Yet North Korea admit to having weapons of mass destruction and what's happening? I can't see Tony Blair and George Bush taking dramatic actions to deal with the situation because if they did North Korea have their neighbours South Korea within artillary distance and also Japan is within missile distance.

With Japan being one of the biggest economies in the world, it would cause a lot of problems to economies all over the world and there's no way George Bush is going to take military action against them!

Why are we hell bent on seeing our soldiers being involved in something that as far as I am concerned hasn't been proved?

There's a lot of propaganda going on with Iraq. Your readers should ask themselves why go after Saddam when it's obvious he is co-operating with the United Nations resolutions yet the North Koreans are virtually sticking two fingers up at the rest of the world by openly admitting they have weapons of mass destruction.

Waseem Butt, Bannockburn Court, Bradford 5

SIR - With things in such an uncertain way during what we're told is the season of "Peace on Earth" it may be that we are close to war by the time this is published.

Thankfully some of our young men such as Euan Blair (Bristol University), Matt Straw (Oxford) and Prince Harry (St Andrews) will be safe. Others may not be so fortunate.

It was the magnificent Great War poet Wilfred Owen who penned the lines to those who'd not experienced its horrors:

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old lie "It is a sweet and glorious thing

To die for your country".

Tragically he died just before the Armistice of "the war to end wars".

Sid Brown, Glenhurst Road, Shipley.

SIR - A Palestinian stone-thrower gets a bullet in his head from an Israeli gun pumping hundreds of rounds per minute. A Palestinian bomb explodes killing two Israelis and Palestinian civilians get F-16s, helicopter gunships, and bulldozers.

Israel's armoury of such weapons is ignored by the White House and Downing Street, but they are hell-bent on destroying Iraq.

Why is the UN resolution on Iraq highlighted always, held up as sacrosanct and inviolable, while UN Resolution 242 is ignored? Here are a people robbed of their lands and identity being termed as "terrorists" for defending their own land, while the savage beast gets a pat in his rear end, is hailed as a defender of democracy and provided with more weapons of mass destruction.

No US president, from Truman to now, has taken a fair position on the Palestinian issue. American interest is mainly Arab oil, and to that end Israel has to be supported at any cost.

So long as America pokes its nose where it is not wanted, innocent lives will be lost, and there will be many more Osamas and Saddams.

Jamal Ahmed Smith, Woodland Street, Bradford 8n.

SIR - Two letters the other day really caught my attention. Firstly how much I agree with Les Vasey when he states that the people who seem to know all about Bradford do not live or work here. This is best shown by the example of Lord Ouseley who comes two days a year if he has nothing better to do but can tell us what is wrong and how to put things right.

That he can do this while still being able to keep up his full social life shows tremendous dedication to the Bradford people he so kindly guides to the path of peace in the community.

As for the Council getting a good grade, I don't know anyone they asked for an opinion among ordinary people (the ones that pay the taxes). If they even bothered to read the T&A Letters page they would have learned more than enough to change their minds.

As for Mubarik Iqbal, I suggest the T&A print a standard letter once a fortnight saying "All Muslim good, all West evil". This would save her the trouble of writing in and we could all just skip the letter.

Tony Redgrave, Claremont Grove, Wrose, Shipley.

SIR - On Saturday, December 21, Bradford Festival Choral Society held its annual Carol Concert in St George's Hall. At the end of a splendid evening of Christmas music, a collection was held on behalf of the Sargent Cancer Care for Children fund.

Members of the audience responded most generously, enabling me to send a cheque for £460 to this very caring organisation. On behalf of the members of BFCS, I would like to say a very big THANK YOU to all those who contributed to our collection.

Mrs Irene Hainsworth (secretary, Bradford Festival Choral Society), Heathfield Close, Bingley.

SIR - The time is right for the silent majority to stand up and be counted. The scandalous "Justice For All" campaign is slowly gaining momentum while the real victims of that weekend are too scared to speak out.

I suggest all the friends and relatives of civilians, policemen, the business community and all the other victims start a campaign to keep rioters firmly behind bars for as long as possible.

I Khan, Leylands Lane, Bradford.