Letters to the Editor

In my last 21 years I taught in a happy and stress-free environment - surely the birthright of every child and a pre-requisite for staff permanence..

We had first-rate parents, a respected director of education and advisers and an understanding education committee. Supply teachers were rarely needed.

These conditions no longer exist. Authoritarian pressures force many teachers to resign - one-in-seven new teachers comes from overseas, said a national newspaper.

Gerry Sutcliffe MP says: "I'm not attacking heads and teachers - it's the bureaucrats who don't seem to have got it right."

On TV, two prominent industrialists, Sir John Harvey Jones and John Timpson, stated respectively: "Businesses should concentrate on staff management." And: "employees are given freedom to make my business work better."

Until these principles are applied, Education Bradford will fail.

Sydney Moorhouse, Brantwood Road, Bradford.

SIR - All over Bradford I see schools closing and teachers being criticised and undermined. I also see mindless vandalism, rubbish littering streets; youths terrorising vulnerable people; drunken yobs in pubs and clubs; racism against immigrants and religious bigotry.

As the prison population rises, more jails are being built. Far fewer schools equals more prisons! Schools should be segregated. There should be normal schools for the majority of well-behaved students with, say, 30 students per class.

But in special schools for disruptive students there should be say, ten pupils per class, with teachers specially trained to cope and one-to-one teaching for the really hopeless.

Teachers should work longer hours to cover out-of-school activities as part of their job. This would also reduce the influence of bad parents.

The rewards for teaching should be much higher, but the long-term benefits and savings would be astronomical. The population in general, including disruptive children, would become highly educated, non-racists, and earn incomes, eliminating parasites from the community.

L Dobson, Stonecroft, Bradford 2.

SIR - I read with interest about the Council's latest blitz on litter and the warning to fly-tippers, etc, having heard similar comments many times before without seeing any prosecutions of the culprits.

I am waiting with bated breath for the next arrival of travellers who, time and time again, arrive on the scene, eventually departing, leaving behind their own waste disposal tip comprising of everything from the kitchen sink to human waste.

The Council clears the site when they have eventually managed to move the travellers on with us, the tax payers, footing the bill.

I have never heard any of the culprits being charged with any "crime" whatsoever. It will, therefore, be interesting to discover whether or not the Council's tough talk is acted on, as it should be, when the next group of travellers arrive.

E Mills, Wrose Mount, Wrose.

SIR - Mr S Hanson is gung-ho for what he perceives as the rise and rise of the UK Independence Party (Letters, October 31). Could I respectfully counsel that he takes a step backward into the harsh light of political reality?

For such a party to have any impact at all, a significant presence at Westminster is a pre-requisite. Frankly, the chances of this happening make speculating on the resurgence of the dodo seem a fairly safe bet!

The brutal truth is that under our first-past-the-post system, single-issue parties struggle to even save their deposits. To believe that the UKIP could win even a single seat is really to stray into Alice in Wonderland territory. But we all need our dreams I suppose, so who am I to deprive Mr Hanson of his?

Peter Wilson, Thornhill Grove, Calverley.

SIR - We are now in winter and snow could possibly fall. Last February, as usual, snow brought Bradford to a standstill, with our gritters stuck in the city centre.

The Council promised a full investigation, but do we know the outcome? And could it be that our gritters will be poised outside of the centre, at the top of all the roads leading downhill, so as not to encounter traffic trying to get out?

Gary Lorriman, North Walk, Long Lane, Harden

SIR - Like his hero William Hague, it seems Mike Priestley (T&A, November 2) has yet to learn that simply saying something does not make it true.

Without evidence, he labels this Government "appalling and duplicitous" and welcomes Michael Howard. He overlooks the fact that Mr Blair arrested General Pinochet; freed Roisin McAliskey; restored trade union rights in GCHQ and set up the "Bloody Sunday" inquiry.

He ignores the national minimum wage; the lowest interest rates for 40 years and the highest number of people in employment ever. He also forgets that Scotland and Wales have devolved governments; hereditary peers are on their way out and more money than ever is being spent on health, education and welfare.

Mr Howard was a member of governments which doubled crime; nationalised the railways; set up the poll tax; almost bankrupted the nation through mortgage interest rates at 15 per cent and the Black Wednesday fiasco.

Brian Holmans, Langley Road, Bingley.

SIR - Bradford Council has failed miserably over the years to tackle the problem of thoughtless louts who have no regard for this city and throw their rubbish all over the streets, chuck empty fag packets and contents of ashtrays out of the car at traffic lights, discard sweet wrappers, chewing gum or the empty snack packaging into the nearest gutter.

The Council has found a much easier target. Why not send a squad out and clobber the law-abiding proprietors of fast food outlets and takeaways?

Why not ignore the high business rates and local taxes they are compelled to pay for next to nothing in return and make them clean the streets and tidy up the localities at no cost to the Council - maybe even fine them? There could be a nice little earner there.

It's not the fault of the shopkeeper; it's the litter louts who should be the focus of the hit squad.

C I Dyson, Apperley Gardens, Apperley Bridge.

SIR - I greatly enjoyed Sunday's Festival of Remembrance. I have been attending this occasion for many years as an ex-Wren and also the Remembrance Services at the Cenotaph.

Much as I enjoyed the whole entertainment, the high spot was the Bradford Youth Players' spot. It brought tears to my eyes as I remembered the war years. At 15 years old, I was evacuated to Richmond, Yorkshire, from Sunderland.

When I left school, and after the bombing, I joined the Wrens in 1943 and was demobbed in 1946. I married and have lived in Bradford ever since.

Those children on Sunday put on a marvellous show and congratulations are due to the producer and the entertainers.

Mrs Irene Dickinson, Highgate, Heaton.

SIR - Yes, we need city centre improvements; yes we need to draw people and business to the city but a huge puddle is not the answer.

I would not want to see any of my council tax spent on a lake and everyone I've spoken to about this future folly feels the same way. You can do more with a large, hard surface, than you can on water: concerts, fun fairs - how about a market square? That certainly works for Thirsk, Skipton and Shipley. But not a lake unless you are teaching swimming, sailing etc.

Whenever I've approached the Council for financial help towards a cat neutering campaign, there are never any funds available for things that only benefit certain people. Who'll benefit from a large pond? Yorkshire Water, probably.

Jenny Sampson, Cat Watch/Rescue, Rossmore Drive, Allerton.