Letters to the Editor

The common theme was that we are too busy persecuting honest motorists to bother with crimes like burglary and car crime, and persecute taxi drivers while police drivers ignore the rules.

I do prosecute staff who wilfully disobey traffic regulations but they can travel through red lights when answering emergencies and the public expect us to. One letter advocates greater partnerships with taxi drivers to solve crime. We are happy to receive help from anyone but do not tolerate the few rogue taxi drivers whose dangerous vehicles put lives at risk. The T&A has reported our campaigns to combat that.

Our main priorities are street crime (robbery), burglary, car crime and combating drugs. From April 1 until last Monday we had 166 fewer robberies across Bradford than the same period last year, 910 fewer burglaries, 829 fewer cars stolen and 740 fewer thefts from cars. And our action tackling drug dealers goes from strength to strength.

Far from ignoring these crimes we have worked hard to ensure that, so far this year, there are 2,600 fewer victims than last year.

Chief Superintendent Phil Read, Divisional Commander, Bradford North

SIR - In reply to J Gupta's claim that the police harass taxi drivers and his call for a hotline to report police wrong-doings (Letters, October 30), I would like to point out that, recently, checks on taxi drivers in Bradford revealed an alarming number had no insurance and drove unroadworthy vehicles.

Without police checks on these people the public would be placed at greater risk. Also, I have witnessed the most atrocious driving by some Bradford taxi drivers, placing other road users in jeopardy. This is presumably why insurance premiums for taxi drivers in Bradford are soaring.

I would like to suggest a hotline to report rogue and dangerous taxi drivers.

G Stevens, White Abbey Road, Bradford

SIR - What a great idea Regen 2000 is. It works like this: purchase a property in a certain area, let it become run down and dilapidated. Regen 2000 comes along with a substantial sum of money. The property owner has only to contribute a minimal amount then have the property stone-cleaned, add new gutters and get the garden walls topped with ornate iron fencing with matching gate, have the garden put in order, then put the property on the market and make a nice profit.

Take a look at the top end of Barkerend Road and see how many houses have come on to the market recently. It's a nice little earner.

I always thought responsible people were supposed to look after their own properties!

L Smith, Tyersal Avenue, Tyersal.

Regen 2000's chairman Mohammed Shaukat said: "Let's look at the big picture. The work on Barkerend Road, and that commencing on Leeds Road, is part of a Regen 2000 programme called Gateways. This aims to provide a long-overdue facelift to some of the main routes into the city and is part of a much wider plan to make the city more attractive for visitors and residents alike. Transforming Bradford's run-down image will lead to increased investments and prosperity, which is good news for everybody in Bradford. Hundreds of thousands of visitors drive through these main roads each year. What they see gives them their first impression of Bradford as a whole. The Gateways programme will make a significant contribution towards making this first impression a good one. If, as a by-product, this has a positive impact on local property values then, surely, this is an added bonus."

SIR - I do hope all the roadworks in Bradford are finished in time for the Christmas shopping period. If not, shoppers may stay away because of difficult access to the city centre.

By all accounts, Bradford shops performed well last year, so why not build on that success and make sure Bradford is extra special and easy to get to?

From what I've heard, people queue to get into the White Rose Centre car park at the weekends. I suspect a lot of these people are from the Bradford district; they must be mad.

People can avoid the long queues if they discover the retail choice right on their doorstep. Bradford has everything you need for Christmas. Shop local!

Jack MacPherson, Killinghall Road, Bradford

SIR - The lack of parks, gardens and open space close to Bradford's city centre is a disgrace, exemplified by the picture on Page 4 of your excellent pull-out, A Vision for Bradford (October 27).

Architect Will Alsop's idea of greening the city and making it car-free, although not new, has to be at the forefront of any masterplan.

This alone would make Bradford the best city in the north.

His ideas have not been widely accepted in London. I deduce we are to become the guinea pigs in the experiment of Alsopism and some of what I see in the plan does not fill me with great confidence about the future. Perhaps Londoners know something we don't.

Many words will be used to describe his work but not "elegant", which is the first word that comes to mind when I think of Bradford's architecture. If large resources are available let's reinstate buildings lost in the past to prominent positions around the lake. This would give Bradford a waterfront second to none and open up the Cathedral area. The Council owe it to us to restore the sense of history which so cruelly taken away from us in the past.

Peter Turner, Harlow Moor Drive, Harrogate

SIR - The regeneration plan for the city centre looks OK but there are many people who will not be around to see it completed.

It is good to see that the canal is included in the plans but surely, with all the money that is going to be spent, the builders could put up a viaduct to connect the city's two stations. Then tourists could come from all over the country, north and south, to see our great city.

Also, when will a station be built at Low Moor and the old Spen Valley line put back into use so that the people of Cleckheaton, Heckmondwike and Liversedge can leave their cars at home and do their shopping in Bradford?

R Lynn, New Works Road, Low Moor.

SIR - Two recent correspondents, Sean Connor and Robert Tee, both use the word "brainwashed" in relation to creation education in religious schools, but it is actually the other way round. Evolution is still a theory even though it is now taught in state schools as hard facts.

In 1938 we were taught the theory of evolution but as fact. We were told that, "They are looking for the missing link in the Atlas Mountains". "They", apparently, thought that they were very nearly home then, but in a recent daily newspaper I read that they are now looking for this elusive element somewhere else - 65 years on!

Mr Tee derides faith - yet that is what many evolutionists have when they approach science which, in itself, is neutral, with their heavy bias. Is this the "beauty of real learning" that Mr Connor wants our children to have?

Walter Metcalfe, Central Avenue, Shipley.

SIR - While I applaud the Rev John Walker's call to turn from the "Dark Side" at Halloween (T&A, October 29), I feel he needs to stop scaremongering. I accept that satanism exists, but witches do not advertise and certainly do not publicly register.

The 10,000 "registered witches" he mentions are, in laymen's terms, "white witches". These people who, while believing in a god and goddess, follow the ancient pagan religions that revere the wonders and beauty of nature and its changing seasons. They do not sacrifice virgins at midnight, they just celebrate life continuing.

Were this 16th or 17th century Salem, I can envisage the good reverend leading a baying mob, howling for old Mrs Smith's blood just because she used granny's remedies, rather than buying a commercial headache cure.

Most, if not all, Christian festivals occur on or around the ancient pagan ones. One reason is that it was easier to get converts to Christianity by "dressing up" an established festival. As far as can be established, Jesus was born around June or July, yet Christianity celebrates his birth during the pagan festival of "Yule", which was December 21 to 25.

Mike McCunniff, Malton Street, Claremount, Halifax.