Letters to the editor

SIR - If a vote was to be taken on the use or removal of traffic cameras, I think the latter would win.

For cameras to be of proper use in road safety, one would have to be placed every 100 yards on every road, as drivers tend to speed up between the traps.

Mr Stephenson (T&A, November 7) mentioned accidents in Thornton Road have been reduced. Yet sadly, flowers hang from lampposts there for most of the year round.

You only need to watch the pedestrian crossing outside the school to see one problem. The road is crossed above and below the crossing by schoolchildren oblivious to oncoming traffic and drivers who are too busy watching their speed clocks.

Ask any driver about the dangers of having to constantly take their eyes off the road to watch their speedometers and maintain a speed limit through the unforgiving cameras like the ones at Fox Hill at Queensbury (on a series of blind bends).

Mr Stephenson is right when he says there aren't enough police on the roads to catch the dangerous drivers. Cameras cannot chase and arrest speeding/hit-and-run/joy riders.

R McDonald, Thornton Road, Bradford.

Probe is needed

SIR - Mr Holmans's letter "No Crisis Here" (T&A, October 15) accuses Mike Priestley of malice and hatred of Health Service bureaucracy.

Justifiable and objective criticism does not denote either malice or hatred. Rather does it evidence a desire for improvement. I also, have some cause for criticism, but hatred can be self-destructive.

If Mr Holmans cared to read a few of the national and provincial newspapers he would find many others have cause for dissatisfaction.

On occasions I have attempted conversations and debate with Health Authority officers and consultants and have found them lacking in knowledge of fluoride toxicity.

They seem remarkably ill-informed about the fluoride connection with osteoporosis, thyroid dysfunction, SIDS, juvenile osteoporosis, juvenile arthritis and juvenile cancer.

Only a few consultants know of the fluoride presence in the strongest of antidepressants and phenothiazine tranquillisers that can induce suicidal and homicidal behaviour.

Cot deaths and infant mortality are of particular concern as 'path labs' and inquisitive medical practitioners are prohibited from carrying out investigations essential to revealing the fluoride connection with infant deaths and illnesses. Without essential investigations there can be no correct diagnosis and no possibility of correct treatment.

Dennis Edmondson, Duck Hill, Pecket Well, Hebden Bridge.

The real threat

SIR - We human beings are a peculiar lot. We worry ourselves silly about things that are unlikely to happen and yet we put off making decisions about those that will certainly harm millions of us in the future.

The threat from mobile phone masts is very small indeed, unless they fall on you, and avian flu is likely only to be a real threat to us if we have feathers.

In both cases there is a reasonable chance that we will be unscathed but this is not so with climate change.

The evidence for the very rapid change in climate is all about us, from the melting Arctic ice to the hurricane-spawning warmer seas, rising sea levels, widespread flooding and the encroaching droughts in the Mediterranean and elsewhere.

Turmoil, material damage, death by famine, disease and discord are certainties later this century unless we take action now.

I just wonder what level of destruction will be necessary to make us realise that cheap air fares, big cars and strawberries at Christmas are not worth it.

By then, of course, it will be too late.

Keith Thomson, Heights Lane, Bradford.

Wooden horse

SIR - Regarding Michael Breen's letter (T&A, October 31) and the sealed lips of Bradford Councillors over the demolition of the Odeon and the creation of Lake Ludicrous.

There is a conspiracy of silence on this matter and it needs addressing. But it is not only the Council that is guilty of democratic hypocrisy.

The public have a very simple, honest view of what democracy is, while others pay lip service, for personal or business reasons, none more than Maud Marshall.

The Council is quite obviously in favour of the destruction of the Odeon and if this were to happen they would then, for their own health reasons, knock back Lake Ludicrous, saying they have been persuaded by public opinion.

How easy it is to see the lake as the wooden horse.

Gary Lorriman, North Walk, Harden.

I've had enough

SIR - I would like to know when this new firework ban is going to start because when I go to bed at night and have to get up early for work I cannot get any sleep due to the fireworks.

My sleep is so disturbed by the noise that before I have even started working I am already tired, and I am fed up with it.

I work all weekend, plus I go to college as well. I am tired before I even do anything. It is just not at Bonfire Night, New Year etc, it's nearly every night now and we should not have to put up with it.

Victoria Partridge, Southmere Drive, Great Horton, Bradford.

Unfair tax

SIR - Successive Tory and Labour governments have consistently taxed the smoker, the drinker and the gambler, to the detriment mainly of the lower paid.

Without a doubt, they know that they are after money, as the demand for these commodities is inelastic. In laymen's terms they know that smokers etc will always find the brass.

Either excise duty should be abolished completely, or the tax should be devoted entirely to the care of people stricken with compulsion or related illnesses.

At the very least mild cigarettes should be taxed less in much the same way that there is less tax on unleaded petrol.

It would be a brave government that would tackle the breweries, distilleries, cigarette companies and gambling cartels. I would support such a government.

J Arnold, Ebridge Court, Edward Street, Bingley.

Ban fireworks

SIR - I fully agree with banning fireworks for all the safety reasons relating to humans and to our pets, which everyone seems to forget about.

As a horse owner and a dog owner, the nights surrounding November 5 are a nightmare to say the least.

My animals are terrified and often in danger as rockets fly anywhere and everywhere - we have found many that have landed where our horses graze.

Ban fireworks - they are nothing but a waste of money. Let people go and enjoy the organised events where at least they are worth looking at and not just big pointless bangs.

Victoria Elliott, Thornton Road, Bradford.

Carry on ranting!

SIR - I enjoy the outbursts of BNP Councillor Lewthwaite (November 5) almost as much as I enjoyed the television programme showing how members of his party behave when they think that nobody is looking.

Please publish more from Coun Lewthwaite to help T&A readers to judge who is ranting and raving. At the same time, some more from Islamic extremists would show that these groups preaching hatred and intolerance have so much in common that they should consider a merger.

L A Hobsbaum, Willow Crescent, Bradford.

Welcome change

SIR - It's nice to see a 'star' switch on the lights this year, instead of Gareth Gates. I thought Gareth was going to be 'bigger than ever this year' to quote one letter in reply to mine last year. But I haven't heard a whisper about him.

Good luck to him in whatever he is doing now, but thanks for choosing someone different for a change.

Karen Lee, Oaks Lane, Bradford.