Letters to the Editor

SIR - I can concur with the sentiments of anyone who finds graffiti offensive because it drags down the quality of all of our lives. What do parents think their offsprings are going to do when they see them leave home with a spray can of paint in their hands?

The puerile efforts in subways like those at the bottom of Manchester Road are little better than those to be found elsewhere on our city's buildings. The would-be Van Goghs ought to confine their "talents" to paper and crayons in the privacy of their homes.

The Council should not only concentrate on litter louts but also on those who despoil our walls with often indecipherable daubings.

Culprits who are apprehended must not only be fined but made to erase their "masterpieces".

David Rhodes, Croscombe Walk, Bradford 5.

Tough on crime?

SIR - I see from a recent court summary (T&A, March 16) that the typical fine handed out for driving without insurance varies from £45 to £220. To the criminal mind this must compare very favourably to the annual £1,000 or more that young people who choose to stay within the law are paying for their car insurance.

On the facing page I learn that only three-quarters of fines imposed in West Yorkshire during April to December last year were collected.

I'd like to offer some advice to our public servants.

To the bailiffs: try seizing the vehicles of offenders - in some cases the value of fuel in the tank will come to more than the amount of the fine.

To the Labour Party in the run-up to the next election: don't even think about re-using your "Tough on Crime" rhetoric from eight years ago.

Steve Aze, Redburn Avenue, Shipley

Black humour...

SIR - A few days ago an acquaintance of mine, a grave-digger with a great Yorkshire sense of humour, was stopped by the police late at night locally. He was invited into the police van to have a breathalyser test and was left for a considerable time.

When he asked the officer what the delay was, the officer said they did not have any breathalyser equipment and were waiting for some to arrive.

To which my acquaintance said: "Nay lad, I've dug thousands of graves but nivver turned up without a shovel."

He'd not been drinking neither.

Gary Lorriman, North Walk, Harden

Wasted money?

SIR - We needed the Shipley by-pass in the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.

Everything was prepared and planned but Bradford MDC could not afford to implement it.

No need to worry now about Green Belt because the Council has allowed the area to be deliberately run down.

A third has been infilled and leased to a local football club and a large area beside Dumb Mills has been sold to the mill owners.

Surely Shipley Eastern Bypass records can be lifted from the files to save thousands of pounds being spent on a feasibility study?

R Craig, Popular Drive, Windhill.

Parents to blame

SIR - I wish parents would take more responsibility over what their teenage sons are getting up to. Twice in the last three weeks I have had confrontations with teenage boys in Horton Park, shooting birds with air rifles.

Parents who know their kids have air rifles are to blame for the suffering to animals caused by them.

Why allow their children to have air rifles which could kill human beings?

These kids are so cocky with a gun in their hand and want to show off to their mates. One of these days it could end up in tragedy.

Cruelty to animals is very bad in Bradford, and where people know where it is going on they should report it.

A Williams, Frank Street, Great Horton.

Cut out the junk

SIR - I recently read an article on "Cutting out that junk food". I think it is so true that we should be the ones deciding what children eat.

Although I don't have children myself, I have young family members and know just too well how difficult it is to get a well-balanced meal down children each day, but that is what we have to do.

We are the ones in charge here, and if our children are left to choose their own meals they will choose junk food as it seems tastier and because that is what schools offer.

Laura Blanco-Medina, High Coach Road, Baildon.

Iconic confusion

SIR - Your edition of March 8 implies that the Odeon is going to be demolished so that an iconic building can be erected in its stead.

On March15 it is reported that the same lot are going to demolish Shipley's iconic clock tower. Am I being conned by these iconoclasts?

John Pashley, Westcliffe Avenue, Baildon