Letters to the Editor

What strikes me is that this decline, seen across the country, has come at a time when reading itself is becoming increasingly popular. Books are now high-profile, with more film adaptations every year, and new TV shows about famous writers seemingly every week.

Far from being seen as elitist, literature is now a mass-market product, with the potential to be as fashionable as a pair of jeans.

This change has been accompanied with the rise of national bookshop chains with their stylish decor, comfy couches and adjoining coffee shops.

And this, I think, is why library use has declined. Obviously publishers would much rather sell 100 copies in a shop rather than have one copy borrowed by 100 people in a library. But also, in today's image-conscious world, they would probably prefer to have their "product" associated with a nice, shiny bookshop, as opposed to a dingy old library.

And without the support of the publishing industry, public libraries sadly but inevitably face extinction.

Philip Corrigan, Evesham Grove, Bradford 10

SIR - Mr Carroll (Letters, August 5) is mistaken in his belief that in the future English-speaking people will be disadvantaged and excluded when Asian languages become compulsory.

He is wrong because it has already happened. Many jobs are advertised with a requirement of knowledge of an Asian language - usually not specified. English speakers are disadvantaged.

I am excluded from an interpretation course at Bradford College. Why? Because although I am a qualified linguist, I speak no Asian language, but "only" European.

Bradford College has yet to explain this blatant discrimination. There is a shortage of European language interpreters but no lack of Asian language speakers.

L A Hobsbaum, Willow Crescent, Bradford.

SIR - In response to your article "Villagers in bid to halt mast" (T&A, August 5). Hutchinson 3G have never written to local residents. My neighbours and I are disgusted that they can make this claim.

Why have they picked an area which is totally residential? Until health risks have been checked out and confirmed 100 per cent, nobody should be put at any risk. I have a four-year-old daughter and I certainly do not wish to hang a potential death penalty over her future!

At the local residents' meeting (which my husband attended) it was mentioned that any child under seven living in a 100-metre radius of the mast could be affected. Any slight indication that children could be affected from this mast should halt this ridiculous idea immediately.

How can the Government condone such an idea of erecting a potentially life-threatening eyesore near homes and schools when they fully support the healthy-eating campaigns and stop-smoking campaigns? It doesn't make sense.

Also, nobody is willing to say who owns the land which Hutchinson 3G intend to erect the mast on! Why?

Mrs Silvia Henderson, Gilstead Lane, Gilstead, Bingley

SIR - On the anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bombs by the Americans on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, it must be remembered that there remains the nuclear capability for the nuclear powers to destroy life on our planet many times over. While the issue of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was used to go to war with Iraq, the issues of Britain's WMD are not discussed and analysed in the same way.

The power, number and deployment of Trident nuclear submarines with their arsenal of 144 nuclear warheads, each equivalent to 100,000 tons of TNT, or eight times the power of the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, remains clothed in official secrecy.

The evidence of the aftermath of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombs must surely make all accept that Trident is Britain's weapon of mass destruction, as such illegal, immoral and a danger to us all.

None of the problems we face at the beginning of the 21st century can be resolved by the possession and threatened use of either weapons of mass destruction or conventional weapons.

After a century of wars, now is the time to break the stranglehold of war, starting with nuclear weapons.

Sylvia Boyes, Wimborne Drive, Keighley.

SIR - The international community has once again requested America's help in the latest world crisis. This time they have been asked if they will step in to try to stop another African country's rapid descent down the path to total self-destruction.

Isn't it odd how America is always the one asked to resolve a crisis but in carrying it out is then subjected to every kind of abuse, criticism and humiliation? Why on earth should the Americans even consider it?

Following their appalling treatment in an unbelievably ungrateful Iraq, where every thug and loony considers it fair game to take pot shots at the young soldiers, I wouldn't think America would want to go within a thousand miles of Liberia, and who could blame them?

M Wood, Westercroft View, Northowram

SIR - Does N Brown really think that the solution to this country's problems lies in the creation of yet another party? Haven't we got enough politicians already?

We have allowed both our world and this city to be "managed" by a minority who make a career out of controlling our lives and the society we live in.

Politicians across the political spectrum from the far left to the far right, no matter how radical their rhetoric have consistently betrayed the people who elect and support them. There's nothing surprising in this.

Can we really hand over enormous power and control of our lives to anyone and expect them to act in our best interests?

Our collective memory tells us we can't yet we still look to politicians and leaders of all persuasions for solutions to the problems facing our communities, ignoring the fact it was this group of people who caused most of them in the first place.

Ultimately we are the only people capable of running our lives, and we can trust no-one but ourselves to organise and manage the communities we live in.

Tom Liddell, Bradford Anarchist Group, Chapel Street, Bradford 1.

SIR - The letters disparaging Biblical authority from Paul Flowers (July 28) and Peter Wilson (July 31) reveal their own faith in atheism and/or the Enlightenment etc.

Their debunking of the effect of sin in our nation - whose presence is a daily issue in this newspaper - ignores those effects.

If sin of any kind is condoned in the established church, what does the rest of the wider church do?

The Rev Flowers has stated his position but we, from his "farthest reaches of Christian sectarianism", must speak out against it - the unchurched often do but are flippantly dismissed.

An African proverb says: "If the gold rusts what will the iron do?"

Walter Metcalfe, Central Avenue, Shipley.

SIR - While on holiday in the Yorkshire Dales in July we were in the village of Carleton in Craven and were inspired by the rebuilding project of an Elizabethan hall.

How marvellous that we live in such a hi-tech environment on a small island but retreat into the past with such love and attention given to this building.

Congratulations to all those involved in its restoration.

Mr A and Mrs B MacFall, Elveden, Thetford, Norfolk

SIR - I was interested to read Mr Richard Sheard's letter (T&A, August 5). He reminded us that he was a councillor for Wibsey for four years and lived in the ward.

I read on that Mr Sheard suggested that councillors should live in the locality of their wards. Fine.

But then why did Mr Sheard attempt to become councillor for Eccleshill in the local elections?

Paul A Newbould, St Enoch's Road, Wibsey.

SIR - The passing away of Don Alred is a reminder of the honesty, fairness and understanding he brought to stories in the T&A.

I was just an ordinary workman doing my duty but it was recognised by Don and Dennis Flatt. They told and showed how things were during their partnership, particularly in their sporting reports.

Don was recognised by high-profile people and rightly so. I experienced his humour and seriousness when called for. He served the T&A well and will leave many memories for years to come.

J Clapham (former City and Avenue groundsman), Spring Hill, Wilsden.