Letters to the Editor

SIR The article on contracting out Council services (T&A, March 24) reflects the two opposing viewpoints clearly. The devil is, as always, in the detail.

The specification of the services required, the evaluation of performance and penalties needs to be accurate and legally bombproof. The Council needs a robust and properly-funded quality control department.

As the many failed IT projects prove, contracting out a service you don't fully understand is a recipe for disaster. If you don't know exactly what you want how can the contractor deliver?

Another problem arises from the unquestioning belief that a private firm is always more effective than public provision.

Private firms can run themselves into difficulty very easily, and the long-term nature of current contracts can lead to taxpayers bailing out a contractor for many years.

We are ruled by lawyers, but this doesn't mean that the best way to run services is to have them waving bunches of contracts at each other in a courtroom.

Rod Bulcock, Grange Road, Eldwick.

OAP problems

SIR - Recent correspondence about recycling seems to me to have missed one important point - no consideration is given to the problems of OAP or disabled householders such as myself.

I am very much in favour of recycling as much as possible, paper, cans, bottles, plastic and so on, but I have, sadly, physical limitations.

I find it as much as I can do to manhandle one wheelie bin up to the road and consequently declined to have a second one for paper, and I certainly could not accept further bins for other recyclables if I have to manhandle them also.

Some years ago, in the happy days when the Council actually managed to fetch and return our dustbins to our houses, we were lucky enough in this area to benefit from a paper recycling scheme using wheelie bins which were handled for us, and we paid much less council tax.

I will be very pleased to recycle as much as possible whenever the Council will collect and return the bins to our houses as they always used to.

Ian R McDougall, Hawkswood Avenue, Heaton.

Superb skills

SIR - On March 16, because of roadworks, all the traffic lights were out of action at the junction of Hall Ings and Bridge Street.

A solitary policeman was controlling the heavy flow of traffic and I stood and watched for a while just as I used to do when I was a youngster. What a superb display of skills. I mention this only to point out to those who moan that there's never a policeman around when you want one, that they have other extra duties to perform like this officer.

It was a very cold day with a biting wind and I'm glad I wasn't the one having to stand in the middle of the road directing traffic, but motorists and pedestrians on that day should have been very grateful that one man did.

David Rhodes, Croscombe Walk, Bradford.

Welcome move

SIR - Car-share lanes on the motorway network are a welcome approach to improving traffic flow.

It is an unfortunate misconception to believe single-occupancy cars are disadvantaged.

Providing take-up is reasonably good, perhaps encouraged by workplace travel plans, all road users will gain as the car-share lane is extra and takes the multi-occupancy vehicles out of the existing lanes.

Express buses will also be able to use the new lanes and this will bring even greater benefits than car sharing.

Car sharing combined with express buses will mean fewer cars on the city approaches and less competition for limited parking places. Traffic reduction will also help all buses keep to schedule and attract more users, reducing traffic further.

While car sharing is a very positive way forward, we also need park and ride, bus priority, improved trains and cycling as essential components of a sensible transport strategy. Cars are a convenient form of travel only when there is enough road space.

A free-for-all with no demand management will reduce traffic to an all-day crawl where most of the benefits of modern road transport are then lost.

Ray Wilkes, Transport 2000 West Yorkshire Group, Tower Road, Shipley.

A caring career

SIR - There is currently a shortage of social care workers in this country. This is why we support a national campaign to encourage more people to consider a career in this area.

Research shows many people have little understanding of what these professionals actually do.

As you read this, thousands of social care workers throughout the UK are making a crucial difference to the lives of our neighbours, friends and family members.

They can enable independent living for adults with mental health conditions and learning disabilities, provide support to people who misuse drugs and alcohol, and ensure older people live in comfort and are treated with dignity and respect.

They can also ensure children and young people growing up in the most difficult and challenging circumstances have the chances in life we all expect for our children.

We would urge anyone interested in further information about a career in social care to call 0845 604 6404 or log onto www.socialworkandcare.co.uk

Kate Nash (Chief Executive) Radar, City Road, London; Margaret Dillon (Executive Director) NCH, Lucerne Road, London; Paul Cann (Director of Policy, Research and International Development) Help the Aged, Pentonville Road, London.

Release puzzle

SIR - I, as many of your readers will be, was amazed at the system of early release from prison sentences and then the subsequent crimes committed on release.

I can see the benefits to the prison system - it frees up space to allow for the next perpetrator of a crime serious enough to warrant a custodial sentence.

Recently we have had examples of criminals being released early on licence, only to go on to commit further far more serious and indeed in some cases fatal crimes. This means they are then sent back to the same place they came from.

My question is this if we are releasing these criminals back into society early they are on licence.

A condition of this is they attend meetings with various agencies, social workers, police and the like, I presume.

Why are they not subject to attending their local police station or social worker's office on a daily basis until such time as their original sentence has been served?

This way their tag could be checked and their movements scrutinised a little closer. At least then if they missed their appointment without a valid excuse we could bang them up again where the sun doesn't shine, with the loss of their remission.

That, I suggest, would be at least a small deterrent.

Dean Loynes, Sackville Street, Bradford

So disrespectful

SIR - I would like to condemn the Jerry Springer: The Opera coming soon to the Alhambra Theatre. I believe this opera describes our holy prophet Jesus as gay and wearing a nappy.

How can our so-called freedom of speech allow a tolerant and peace-loving society to describe a man of such great ranking in such a disgraceful, disrespectful and hurtful way?

As a Muslim, I feel hurt and let down by the Alhambra.

How can disgraceful cartoons of the prophet Mohammed and this hurtful Alhambra production bring peace to the society we live in?

By insulting the holy prophet Jesus in such a way we, as Muslims, feel the same pain of the Christian community at this time.

S Aktar, Undercliffe Lane, Bradford.