Letters to the Editor

Cllr Mitchell said that Rose Thompson's defection has caused embarrassment on a national scale, frankly it should not have.

If Keighley Town Council had any form of effective leadership the situation would have been nothing more than a pin prick. Unfortunately, Keighley Town Council lacks any real form of leadership and direction.

Take a comparison with Silsden Town Council. Here you find a well organised team fighting for their town, an asset. Then look at Keighley.

Whatever happened to Keighley Together? What an excellent idea to bring people together, and it could have been a first line weapon against the BNP -- now dead in the water due to lack of leadership and commitment.

Soon the Town Councillors will be fighting as to who will wear the "big chain". Why not put it back in its case? -- we need a leader not a mayor, we have a mayor in Bradford.

It is some comfort at this moment that major decisions for Keighley are made in Bradford, although it is a shame. Until the Town Council gets its act together it has little use.

R P BEALE

High Row,

Hainworth Shaw,

Keighley

SIR - As one of the instigators of Keighley Town Council our council should not be compared to Trumpton.

There are many Town Councillors trying to build a quality status council, setting it apart from the shambolic disaster known as Bradford.

Sadly, of course, some ratepayers believe the four Mayorships we have had since Keighley gained its extremely limited democracy have not excelled, average to poor, and that was not what was fought for.

Instances include the Keighley website which some believe lacks sufficient information. The legal imposition of a financial cost to the public for access to documentation is undemocratic, the standing orders never repealed. Of concern to me is the continuing banning of the right of the public to audio record council meetings.

Losing first its Town Clerk, then its wonderful Town Cryer and now a Mayoress is, I accept, dilatory to say the least.

However, there has been joy in Keighley Town Council's leadership.

For instance, Cllr Nancy Holdsworth was a brilliant Mayor. The lady set an example on how to bring harmony to twenty nine differing minds in the Chambers. She was able to perform her duties as mayor seemingly with the light touch of pomp, ceremony and dignity other mayors might wish to aspire too.

David Samuels

Highcroft Gardens,

Thwaites Brow

SIR - It is not for me to say whether Cllr Rose Thompson was ever "the darling of Keighley Council" (R Hickman's letter) but on a point of information, the Mayoress is not elected, she is invited by the Mayor to undertake that particular neutral and non-political civic duty and what the Mayor giveth, the Mayor can taketh away.

To Ray Garner I say: it is good that people should have high expectations of the Town Council, but it is also important that they appreciate that, for the present, we are not the Aire-Worth District Council, although please God, within 10 years we might be.

We are legally only a Parish, but we have a big heart, lots of energy and ideas, and we always try to punch above our weight. We often partner bigger organisations, such as the District Council or the police, and pump-prime initiatives by putting our money in first, as in the case of the Library Centenary, Town Hall Square renovations, Church Green improvements, Town Centre Association and Community Speed Watch.

Sadly we don't always get the credit for taking these initiatives, so I have sent Mr Garner a two page document showing clearly what the Town Council has achieved in the recent past, and I have invited him to the Town Hall to discuss his genuine grievances against the Town Council. I very much hope that he will accept my offer.

Cllr Graham Mitchell

Deputy Mayor

Keighley Town Council

Sir - I have enjoyed the recent debate between vegetarians and non-vegetarians.

When people live on vegetables, do they know how much animal life they kill with every mouthful? The insects that live on these vegetables are destroyed through the use of pesticides or by fumigation etc.

Apart from this, the vegetables they eat are living cells. Scientists have now reached a stage in their understanding that they cannot rule out some sort of a nervous system existing in vegetable life.

The plant known as "touch-me-not" shrinks as one brings a finger close to it. This is a visible sign.

Every plant also shows a pattern of behaviour that requires the existence of some nervous system. When a plant grows there are two parts to it. One grows away from light and gets embedded as a root in the soil; the other begins to grow towards the light. Why should the same type of cells have different preferences?

As the position of the sun changes, (it also changes in different regions of the earth from north to south), the branches of trees are differently patterned and tend to grow more in the direction of the sun. There are other similar behaviour patterns that indicate there is some sort of nervous system that we cannot detect. Hence, this is also a sort of life. Why destroy life at all? This is the question.

We live in a world where life lives on life. The lower order of life is permitted to be sacrificed for life of a higher order. Hence, if this is true of the stage below that of man, why should man be deprived of it? This is the plan of things and there is no reason why man should be exempted.

Mujeeb Rahman

Ahmadiyya Muslim

Association

Shann Avenue, Keighley

SIR - The feedback Frank Morris has received about vegetarians has amused me no end.

Years ago I delivered milk to Frank Morris, and he used to shoe our horses.

I always found him to be a plain speaking, true, Yorkshire man and a craftsman at his job. It doesn't bother me if someone is a vegetarian, each to their own, but I would like to offer some comfort to Frank.

I once worked alongside an avid vegetarian who would regularly point out her feelings on eating meat, that is, until my boss at the time made his observations clear to her. Every lunchtime she would happily don a beautiful leather jacket, then place over her shoulder a leather handbag. As my boss explained to her, a cow has died to provide you with that coat, but that's ok, as long as we don't eat the meat! (Food for thought)

Laura Darnbrough

Oakbank Lane, Oakworth

SIR - Some weeks ago I reported what I thought was a low rainfall over the past several months, only to be corrected by Denis Briggs who had measured an average of some 24 inches of rain a year across the past sixteen years.

On Sunday my gauge broke the 25 inch barrier. But my first year still has almost six weeks to run.

Conclusion:the south may have a drought but we in Keighley are getting slightly wetter than usual this past year!

BRUCE WOOD

Exley Road, Keighley

SIR - Ken Mather tells us that the Prime Minister's invocation of God in connection with the Iraq war is an insult to all Christianity.

Leaders of "Christian" nations have always invoked God in this way, even when making war on other "Christian" nations, and Hitler claimed to believe he was doing God's work by persecuting the Jews.

Surely it is hypocritical of followers of the Prince of Peace to prosecute or support any war, and especially hypocritical to oppose only those wars which happen to be prosecuted by Labour Prime Ministers.

RE Swindells

Spring Row

Denholme Road

Oxenhope

SIR - I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those people in Keighley West who voted for me last week.

I realise that people have put their faith in me and I will do my very best and work hard to make sure that their trust in me is never misplaced.

The overwhelming support I had is yet more remarkable given the tactics of intimidation adopted by the BNP. Realising that they had lost the argument, they resorted to sending offensive leaflets and hanging around polling stations in an attempt to frighten people off. I hope that they have got the message. The people of Keighley will not be intimidated by you and we are quite capable of addressing the problems in our town ourselves.

Angela Sinfield

Broomhill Avenue

Keighley

SIR - Rose Thompson, justifying her move to the BNP, stated "Statistics show there were 52 million people in Britain in the 90s and 65 million now".

This is completely untrue. Statistics show 57.5 million people in Britain in the 90s and just under 60 million at the last official count (source: ONS). Hardly the increase of 13 million she claims.

She was also quoted in another paper as saying she "doesn't want to see anyone chucked out". Leaders of the party she has just joined make no secret of the fact they would like to see repatriation - and forced repatriation if necessary.

Perhaps Rose Thompson is just parroting the misinformation of the party she has rushed to join, but scape-goating of minority communities and immigrants based on false information shows a lazy minded attitude and lack of ability to find real solutions for the Keighley of today. Rather than showing the resilience to work alongside mainstream parties in the face of funding cuts, Rose's actions seem more like throwing the dummy out of the pram -- an attention seeking device.

There is no doubt that a great deal needs to be done in Keighley -- for all communities -- but how aligning with a low ability, marginal party with zero track record is supposed to achieve change for the better is not clear. Keighley needs the support of Councillors with a higher ability than this.

H Murdoch,

Steeton,

Keighley