Letters to the Editor

SIR - Your story about the former hospital cleaner winning a civil action after contracting mesothelioma from asbestos (T&A, December 5) filled me with hope for other sufferers of the cancer.

My brother-in-law died from this disease three years ago after working with asbestos 25 years ago.

What most people do not know is that, unlike asbestosis, mesothelioma can be caused by just one particle of fibre. This one particle can lie dormant for 20 to 30 years before spreading throughout the lung lining. One does not have to work with large amounts of asbestos to die from this type of cancer.

Winning this case is a landmark for future sufferers. It is predicted by experts that hundreds will die from this disease within the next ten years. I hope it does open the floodgates for compensation. There are no safe limits of asbestos when it comes to mesothelioma.

I am so pleased that this brave woman had the strength to go to court and win her case.

Sandra Allatt, West Lane, Baildon.

So glad I left...

SIR - What a sad letter from Steve Brear, who explained why he wants to move out of Bradford (Letters, December 8), but it is all true.

I grew up in Great Horton and remember playing outside until after 10pm and going home to a house where the door was left open wide in the summer. Not any more.

I can't believe the locks my mom and sister have to put on their cars, it's ridiculous. People can say what they want about New York but, where I live, it is safe. We can sit outside with our doors open and have no fear.

I am not saying we don't have crime, that is worldwide, but at least the police come if there is a crime committed. I should know, I am married to a detective and have two sons in the police.

I love to visit my Bradford home but I am more fearful there than here. Other than missing my family, I have never looked back as to why I came here. I am just so glad that I did. Isn't that sad?

Diane Duguid, E4th Street, Deer Park, New York.

Cross-rail benefits

SIR - Are T&A readers aware of the massive provision for car parking in the proposed Broadway development?

Has City Hall had an independent study of the orbital and radial roads to determine the impact of increased traffic created?

The Bingley bypass will reduce traffic going through Bingley town centre. However, the problem will be transferred to Saltaire, Shipley and the B6269 Cottingley Cliffe Road which goes through Heaton.

Why are the people of City Hall anti-rail? I frequently make the train journey from Burley-in-Wharfedale to Forster Square in 20 minutes; by car I would be lucky to get to Guiseley White Cross in that time.

Bradford cross-rail would have the same effect on rail usage between Shipley and Halifax that electrification has had on the Aire Valley lines.

When BRUG met City hall officials in November 2002, hard-fact documents were presented of two cities which had used the Bradford transport strategy and had admitted it did not work, resulting in large rail investment and cross-city rail links to provide an alternative to the private car.

C V Barton (chairman, Bradford Rail Users Group), Hasley Road, Burley-in-Wharfedale.

Refreshing read

SIR - I write in appreciation of Eddie O'Hara's letter in which he attributes the strength he needed to stop smoking speedily to divine help (Letters, December 4).

It is rarely that one reads in the secular press or hears public acknowledgement being given to divine intervention to encourage, empower and enable change for the better.

It was all the more commendable given the present climate of belief in the divine being a very personal and private affair not to be embarrassingly exhibited.

Occurrences like this are usually, cynically and popularly put down to some other factor eg coincidence.

This letter made for refreshing reading. More in the same vein, please!

P Fernandez, Upper Rushton Road, Bradford.

Tory police pledge

SIR - The Government has recently published figures showing that the number of special police constables across West Yorkshire has fallen by 46 per cent since 1997. No wonder seeing the police on the beat is such a rarity.

These Government figures reveal that the number of special police constables has fallen by more than 300 since 1997 across West Yorkshire and by 44 per cent across England and Wales.

Special constables play a vital role in neighbourhood policing. But specials, like full-time officers, are being overwhelmed by bureaucracy and paperwork. Morale across the police has plummeted. Disenchantment and frustration have led to a huge retention and recruitment crisis as these figures show.

Conservatives want to see police back on the beat on Keighley's streets. We will give local communities a greater say on police resources and priorities by creating elected police boards. On top of this, we will fund more than 1,500 additional full-time police officers across West Yorkshire to make our streets safer.

Robert Collinson (Keighley Prospective Parliamentary Candidate), Churchill House, North Road, Keighley.

Blot on landscape

SIR - Every time I drive through Bingley I notice it is a beautiful little town with very old but neat buildings. And then I see, at the top of the hill, a monstrosity that looks like the KGB headquarters.

I was told it was the Bradford and Bingley Building Society head office. I would be ashamed to tell any visitors it had any thing to do with a building society.

It is out of place, ugly, dirty and, in my view, should be demolished. It spoils a beautiful town and how it passed the planners is beyond my comprehension.

P Wilson, Bass Street, Dukinfield, Cheshire.

The real threat

SIR - Listening to Prime Minister's Questions, I heard the harrowing statistic of three million predicted deaths worldwide from HIV/Aids next year.

Our noble leader went on to defend his stance on pay-as-you-go (or after-you-go) education, his costly, dubious action on Iraq, and our in-house biological warfare in failing NHS hospitals - a less-than-secure stance.

Given the relatively small number of deaths from terrorists and dirty nurses, surely there is only one weapon of mass destruction we need fear: one that, in our present freestyle sexual culture, has the potential to wipe out the species.

Instead of standing transfixed on the track, staring moronically into the lights of this oncoming train like dumb rabbits, shouldn't we be investing MORE money in our universities to ensure that the best research brains can declare war on the REAL threat? Or am I over-egging the pudding?

Bill Walsh, Windermere Road, Bradford.

Another disaster

SIR - The story of consecutive night ram raids at Henry Smith's outfitters in Shipley (T&A, December 4) was another publicly humiliating disaster for the police. After warning the owner that he may be immediately targeted on the second night and promising to be vigilant, they were once again missing in action.

The best thing for the owner to do is dress up all his mannequins in police uniforms and put them in the window. But it's not funny, is it?

Gary Lorriman, North Walk, Long Lane, Harden.

Book search

SIR - I wonder if any T&A readers can help me find a copy of Clayton (Then and Now), by Margaret Dalgety, published in about 1985.

Richard Burton, 6 Thearne Green, Clayton, Bradford, BD14 6EZ.