Letters to the Editor

SIR - I see that wonderful part of the Bradford scene known as the fairground at Shipley Glen has closed down.

I regard this as an important chunk of our culture and I am deeply annoyed.

Apparently the landowner raised the rent to an unaffordable level, and the Breeze family who ran the fair have removed their equipment.

How dare they fly in the face of history? How dare they threaten the business of the adjoining Tramway? What makes people so negative towards children?

I call upon the Council to refuse any renewed application for planning permission on this site, and not allow it to be used for anything other than a fairground.

Until the fairground returns, I also call upon the Council to offer a temporary summer site to the Breeze family for a funfair eg on the Glen close to Brackenhall, or in the field at the bottom of the Tramway.

Eddie Lawler, Caroline Street, Saltaire.

We're no rogues

SIR - We write with reference to your lead article regarding Oakdale Paving (T&A, September 21) and subsequent editorial comment, which was forwarded to our offices by one of our valued clients based in Bradford.

We seek to clarify that Oakdale (Contracts) Ltd provide a range of quality concrete and natural stone hard landscaping and paving products to a network of builders merchants throughout the North of England.

While most of our products carry a brand name, such as Swaledale and Coverdale, some are inevitably referred to as "Oakdale Paving".

Oakdale (Contracts) Ltd are a reputable and long-established company. We are members of the Builders Merchants Federation and have BS EN ISO 9001 accreditation.

We have no connection whatsoever with the rogue traders depicted in your newspaper.

Michael Jonas, Oakdale (Contracts) Ltd, Walkerville Industrial Estate, Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire.

Too long a wait

SIR - I was sent an appointment referral from the ENT Unit dated September 28. I rang up to make my appointment to see an eye specialist and was informed I had to wait for a second letter which I would get in two weeks time.

I waited for the letter, but eventually I phoned the eye specialist's secretary. I was informed she couldn't help me as I should wait for the letter. I rang the eye appointment office to see where my letter was. I was on the line for 30 minutes and every time I needed an answer the lady had to ask someone else.

I informed her when I would be away so she said she would put me on the January appointments. I said it wasn't good enough from July until January.

I feel very let down. I know now why people forget their appointments - they have to wait too long.

Veronica Farnell, Market Street, Thornton.

Finding Mecca...

SIR - With regard to finding the direction of Mecca by means of a digital compass (T&A, September 19), one does not need to wait until next year.

You need look no further than www.onlineislamicstore.com where two models are already available, at roughly £15 or £10.

They both fit into the palm of the hand. There is no need to spin around with these, the electronic compass does the work.

The £15 one incorporates, among other things, direction-finding from 250 cities worldwide, which sounds very similar to the one your inventor proposes.

The principle of both sounds to be an electronic computerised version of a mechanical device devised in 1939 by Faraj Allah Isfahani, an Iranian. His device gave direction-finding from 60 cities worldwide.

Finding the direction has been a problem for Muslims for a very long time, but has been successfully solved by them over the centuries through the use of astronomical data and star movements accumulated over the millennia in ancient Iran and Iraq, also inventions by Arabs such as the astrolabe, which assisted Europeans in their early world explorations.

Taleb Hussain, Ashgrove, Great Horton Road, Bradford.

Phillips is right

SIR - Let me simply echo the sentiments of Trevor Phillips of CRE who warns British society that 'Britain is sleepwalking its way into segregation'.

As a black citizen and head of the CRE, he is twice blessed in so much as he can say it as well as being listened to, without any fear of being branded 'racist'.

Could any white citizen say as much and receive the same response from the establishment, whether or not they headed the CRE? That is the question! And, if not, why not?

My own six years of research into the northern riots and the cultural conflict that currently prevails leads me to conclude that what Trevor Phillips says is right.

I also say that it mirrors precisely what Ray Honeyford said 20 years ago (and lost his teacher's job for).

For too long now, we have lived in a society that exercises double values. It is not 'what is said' but rather 'who says it' that matters most, with 'how it is said' being relegated to a lower level of importance.

I have always considered 'exclusive groups', wherever they arise, to be a self-defeating exercise. Not only does their existence fuel segregation, but they actively lead towards less integration.

As I have stated before "multiculturism is the disease, not the cure!" Now that Trevor Phillips has said as much, perhaps my words will carry more truth.

Bill Forde, Nettleton Road, Mirfield.

Blind spot

SIR - Re-the letter from Dr Mohammed Ali, Chief Executive of QED UK, who says he has lived in Bradford for 36 years and seen many people of different ethnic origins move out of an area once a certain number of people perceived to be outsiders move in.

I'm sure Dr Ali could be much more specific if he were to be really honest, even though he has only spent 36 years in Bradford.

Somehow, I get the impression of a little 'blind spot' in his letter. Surely he knows that the indigenous view of one minority is completely different to that of another.

His attempt to compare his views of ethnic Bradford clusters with the British who have left to live in Spain is nonsense!

The Brits who have left to live in Spain cause no financial pain to the state, being financially independent.

Gary Lorriman, North Walk, Harden.