Bradford traders are gearing up for the New Year sales following a Christmas in which they are reported to have done reasonable business after a slow start.

It has been a Christmas, too, which will have seen more money going into the tills and less walking out of the door in the bags or beneath the coats of shoplifters thanks to anti-crime measures by the police and other agencies, which have led to a 25 per cent reduction in such offences in the past year.

However, city-centre crime remains a problem, largely because of what the police refer to as "multiple opportunist criminals who are committing a combination of offences" - business crime, vehicle crime, burglary and theft from the person as well as shoplifting.

These are not the sort of people any city wants at large in its shopping area. So it makes sense for the police to have taken the unusual step of naming and shaming ten of the most prolific offenders in a bid to drive them out of the city centre.

These individauals each have an appalling record. As the police say, they like the anonymity that makes it easier for them to carry out their crimes in and around the shops and stores. Members of the public need to know what they look like, as do shop staff.

The ten criminals themselves can hardly object to being highlighted in this way. Their past behaviour has earned them this treatment. If they mend their ways they should be spared the disgrace of being featured on future lists of shame.