Letters to the Editor

Dieticians and nutritionists in the area have long worked with individuals and communities in an attempt to help people improve their diet and effect weight loss/weight control. Sensible dietary advice works well - at least as well as the Atkins diet results - without the potential health problems. In fact weight control can be managed while positively enhancing health, not destroying it!

The Atkins diet only works because people are eating fewer calories than they need. It is as simple as that. For instance, if people did the exact opposite of the high-meat, high-fat diet and ate only high amounts of carbohydrate they would still lose weight.

The bottom line is weight management and protection from certain cancers and heart disease is best achieved by following a good balance of all foods as is outlined in the balance of good health. No one good group provides all the nutrients necessary for good health.

If people wish to get guidelines around losing weight and healthy eating then I can provide them. As a representative of the Bradford food network and a public health nutritionist, I am more than happy to supply resources to people who live in the district who want this information.

Trevor Simper, Bradford District Health Development Service, Leeds Road Hospital, Maudsley Street, Bradford 3.

SIR - After a short stay in the ENT and Eye unit of Bradford Royal Infirmary, I feel compelled to write to your paper in praise of the excellent care which I received while in this well-run hospital.

The standard of nursing and medical treatment was superb. I feel that the professional manner of all the staff who, day after day, work extremely hard to provide a first-class health service in this hospital, deserves more public recognition.

Carry on with the good work Bradford Royal Infirmary staff - you have my admiration and sincere thanks!

Allan Greenwood, Laburnum Grove, Cross Roads, Keighley.

SIR - Conservative Councillor Andrew Smith recently defended the outrageous proposal of selling off Bradford's properties and assets. He stated (Letters, September 1) there was a need to think "outside the box", an insubstantial and ethereal phrase.

If party politicians really need to find the money to rectify the repugnant wrongs of past and present political mismanagement of Bradford City Council, then why not seek the obvious salvation of sound financial management?

First cut the salary of the Chief Executive, directors and any officer earning over £45,000 by 40 per cent and replace the cut by prudent incentive payments.

If they don't produce they should find themselves other more suitable employment in the private sector.

District councillors, who now declare dedication to Bradford, should give back to the electors at least half of the gratuities they now receive from the public purse.

The numerous hare-brained schemes, such as "Capital of Culture" status, costing millions of ratepayers' hard-earned cash, should be abandoned.

Such ideas might even bring respect instead of the near-universal scorn and contempt we, the ratepayers, have for most party politicians.

David Samuels, Station Road, Oxenhope.

SIR - Please leave Sir Ken Morrison alone. I wrote to him months ago asking him to invite a friend to a store opening in Port Talbot, Wales, never expecting an answer back from the man himself, possibly customer services.

But no, I received a letter back saying that the store would open a few months hence and they would keep my letter on file.

Early this year the store opened and my friend was invited to breakfast with Sir Ken and presented with flowers. He had no need to do this.

Another point: I was born and bred in Bradford but now live in Mirfield. If I could get a train from Mirfield to Bradford I would gladly not drive into Bradford every day for work, what with road works (Manchester Road is a nightmare).

I've come to the conclusion if you can drive in Bradford you can drive anywhere.

I can get a bus from Mirfield but that would be like going on a flight to Spain the time it takes. Or open Low Moor Station and connect to the Spen Valley line, create a big car park at Low Moor and away you go.

D C Dewhurst, Stocks Bank Drive, Mirfield

SIR - Once again I read that Bradford Council members in charge of Education are making it easier for Serco (a private company aka Education Bradford) to make larger profits.

However, it is not clear why members elected by Bradford citizens see their allegiance as being to a private sector company rather than to the people of Bradford.

The Council is happy to charge us ever-greater council tax. It then seems to be delighted to hand this over to a private company so that it can pass the money over to its shareholders and in bonuses to its under-achieving managers.

Why is this good value for Bradford people? Serco was brought in to improve education standards and contracted to do so. Why has the Council allowed Serco to re-write the contract? It seems to me that the Council is remarkably naive in its dealings with the private sector and is consistently being outmanoeuvred by people much smarter than they are.

Or maybe, having contracted with an underachieving company, the Council has not the courage to admit that it has made a huge mistake and will continue to pay huge premiums to cover up the extent of the mistake which it has made.

K Trocki, Birchdale, Bingley.

SIR - My letter to you of August 5 criticised the proposal to teach children who are from Asian families in, as it was put, their "home tongue". In reply Councillor David Ward, who says he does not respond to ridiculous criticisms but would make an exception in my case, suggested that I had 'fallen off my trolley' and was a 'lost cause'.

Well, I too do not usually reply to politicians whose cages have been rattled, but I will also make an exception on this occasion!

In his follow-up letter of August 26 Coun Ward then accused me of saying that Asian languages will be compulsory in schools! Sorry councillor, that seems to have been your idea! What I said was that it could become compulsory in other areas.

If, ten years ago, anyone had proposed that children in British schools should be taught in any other language than English they too would have been vilified and accused of being "off their trolley."

My comments were written slightly tongue in cheek, in other words a daft response to a dafter proposition to emphasise the point but with some valid concerns and worries about the future.

Coun Ward would find that, if he bothers to inquire, most people do not share his optimistic view of this City's future. As for trying to "stir up trouble", well, I refute "trouble" but "stirring it" I admit to! Is that not why we take the time to write to 'Letters'?

Nick Carroll, Northcote Terrace, Bradford 2.

SIR - How refreshing it is to see a Senior Fire Officer divulge the truth (T&A, August 23).

Shipley will lose 24 firefighters and one fire engine, if plans go ahead. The lost appliance will disappear to Nelson Street, Bradford, never to be seen again.

Once more the higher council tax payers are losing an essential service: "The more you pay, the less you get."

It would appear that fire chiefs are gambling over the fact that Shipley and its people only require one machine. It is truly worrying.

Who is next I wonder, Bingley?

Bryan Clayton, Gilstead Lane, Gilstead.

SIR - Re your report (T&A, September 2) on the early-morning sound check at Myrtle Park on Sunday.

I too was woken at 7.30am and, like Rachel Somers, I thought it was someone parked outside with a stereo on. And I live off Haworth Road.

But, never mind, it's only ever happened once and it had its advantages: I actually got up on Sunday morning and then I got to hear all of the Party in the Park for free in my back garden. Roll on next year!

Sam Chitty, Brantwood Oval, Heaton, Bradford.