Letters to the Editor

What a farce. I sometimes wish that these potty judges, living in their security-patrolled ivory towers, were forced to live for six months in some inner city to find out what real life is all about.

The excuses are that jails are overcrowded and prison does no good. May I inform the noble Lord that I couldn't care less how overcrowded jail is. In fact the more uncomfortable it is the better.

And, yes, it does a lot of good, because while the scum are in there they are not out here robbing, mugging and thieving.

I never fail to be amazed at the loony decisions constantly being made by our Government and judiciary and I believe it is only the incredible good nature of the British people that has stopped a major uprising by the vast, law-abiding, silent majority.

M Wood, Westercroft View, Northowram.

SIR - I read the letters page on December 19 about a midden mix-up. Many years we had an outside toilet. Next to it stood the dustbin. These were separated by a wall. Over both was a roof. It was made of stone like my house is.

Ever since I was born many years ago, I've known our outside toilet-cum-dustbin hole as a midden. As a child I often climbed on top of the midden till mum told me to get down or I'd fall off and hurt myself.

I've never heard my local neighbours call our outside toilets closets and I've lived in the same house for 56 years. It's always been a midden to me and always will be even though I've just had it demolished now that the toilet is inside. We have a wheelie bin as well.

R Baynyard, West Park Road, Four Lane Ends, Bradford 8.

SIR - Is this the best this Government can do, asking people to work over the age of 65 because of their incompetence? I notice they have got their own pensions in order.

When a person reaches the age of 65 you have had the best out of them. You don't see many horses working at the equivalent of 65.

What the Government should do is stop spending our money on so-called asylum seekers and others, and start looking after our own people for a change.

We must be the only country in the world where we put our citizens second.

Michael Breen, Bolton Hall Road, Wrose.

SIR - Contrary to my school history lessons, I know that Dick Turpin and his colleagues are alive and kicking in the form of Bradford taxi drivers.

On Boxing Day my son left for work at 11.30 am and got a private hire car from the Girlington Taxi Co. to the Leisure Exchange. Cost £3.50.

After leaving work at 7pm he got a taxi home from the Interchange. His fare wasn't £3.50, nor even £5, but a staggering £7.50.

Goodwill to all men unless you are a taxi driver, in which case Christmas apparently means "let's rip everyone off".

If we need a taxi from the city centre in future, my son and I will be calling for private hire.

N Spring, Gilynda Close, Fairweather Green, Bradford 8.

SIR - Re the area designated to remember the Newlands mill disaster in West Bowling. It is more than a mile away from Upper Castle Street, where the tragedy happened.

I lived much nearer, in Baird Street, which was about 200 yards away. In my time there before the Second World War I never once heard anyone, even people much older, who could remember at first hand this event. Surely after some 120 years this gesture by well-intended people seems a little late. Is there anything similar that commemorates the victims of the Low Moor explosion during the First World War?

There are other tragic events that happened in Bradford that have never been remembered. The Bradford City fire was rightly remembered and the memorial to it was put in the correct place at the right time.

One point about Newlands Mill disaster was the then almost unheard of goodwill of the millowner who saw to it at his own expense that all the dead would be buried in a decent manner, which have been hard for the families left to have paid for.

Kenneth E Higgins, Bempton Court, Great Horton.

SIR - Re Cynthia Trasi's letter of December 11. What really made this country "great" was the people working long hours in unhealthy sweat shops: textiles, engineering, steel, shipyards, coal mines and building sites.

Sweating blood for a pittance and just enough food to stoke them up for the next week's graft. Not taking anything from anybody but producing and despatching quality goods to the four corners of the globe.

If it said "Made in Britain" you bought it because it meant quality.

The remnants of these great and noble generations are still here and can do without being insulted.

Eric Firth, Wellington Street, Wilsden.

SIR - Do any of your readers want to run the Flora London Marathon 2003 on April 13?

The British Lung Foundation is looking for runners either with their own places in the race to run in aid of the charity or ready to take on a BLF Gold Bond place.

Anyone wanting a Gold Bond place should e-mail events@britishlungfoundation.com or telephone 020 7831 x202. All we ask is that they raise a minimum of £1,500 and in return we will give them a place in the London Marathon, personal training advice, and a team training day.

There are eight million people in the UK with lung conditions, including premature babies, children with asthma and adults with TB, lung cancer and COPD. The BLF is the only national charity dedicated to working for all the people who suffer from these different lung conditions.

Last year 78 runners raised a staggering £110,000 for the BLF. In 2003 we aim to have more than 100 flying the flag. These special people will be helping those who are not able to run due to breathlessness and helping to raise more than £150,000 to fund our vital work.

Samantha Gosling, Special Events Manager, British Lung Foundation.

SIR - I am confused over the future of Bradford's Broadway development. Soon after Yorkshire Forward announced their refusal to provide vital funding, Caddick Construction said that they had signed up with a major development company.

I thought that this meant that the new company would provide the vital funding and it would guarantee the development. But then I hear that £15 million is still needed. What's going on?

If the money is not found, does it mean the end for Broadway?

How can Bradford prosper and be a thriving city centre without the best modern shopping facilities?

It is true that Bradford deserves better than some plain cheap White Rose Centre. What is needed is something like the prestigious and stunning Trafford Centre, which will help turn the corner in winning back shoppers.

Yorkshire Forward have acted very irresponsibly. I just pray that the Broadway Centre finally becomes a reality.

Jack MacPherson, Killinghall Road, Bradford 3.

SIR - I hate to take issue with Derek Mozley but he is not entirely right in his contention about the plural of dwarf (Feedback, December 23). Tolkein (who was a scholar of Anglo-Saxon and professor of English as well as a writer) consistently uses dwarves as the plural.

Who am I to believe - Derek as a superb and experienced sub-editor or Tolkein as the 20th century's foremost scholar of Old English?

Councillor Simon Cooke, City Hall, Bradford.

SIR - I think it is disgusting that a picture of the paedophile Cub Scout leader has not been shown. Everyone with children should know what these people look like. No child is safe with people like this about.

We cannot protect them from people like this if we don't know what they look like. He could move next door to a family and abuse their kids. The police should let his picture be published

Julie Bailey, Longfield Drive, Dudley Hill, Bradford 4.