Community spirit is at an all time high in Otley with businesses and residents joining forces to make the 2003 carnival better than ever.

It is great to see that Otley Carnival has an action-packed line-up planned for this weekend, the weather forecast is good and the organisers expect it to be as popular as ever. It attracted 25,000 visitors last year and this year it hopes to break the record.

Nine companies have kindly donated trucks and drivers for the floats and more than 30 groups and organisations have offered their support for the day. Schools and scouts to theatre groups and nurses are all set to brightly decorate their floats for Saturdays parade. More than 20 floats have entered this year proving that the Carnival is as popular as ever now it has entered its 20th year.

Otley businesses have got behind the Carnival's pre-publicity by entering into the spirit of the occasion and competing in the window dressing competition. That's the spirit.

Thieves who threatened a man and his three-year-old grandson for the sake of a car must be feeling pretty proud of themselves after causing havoc across West Yorkshire.

The men who forced granddad Malcolm Osbourne out of his car with the toddler obviously did not feel a pang of guilt at what they had done. We find that the car was later used in a crime spree where a woman was hit and petrol was stolen.

The granddad in question bravely stood up to the challenge in front of him when forced out of his car. The fight or flight instinct comes in to play, but as just about any granddad would, he knew that the first priority was his grandson.

It was only later that he realised the enormity of what had happened, but it appears that even the toddler has been traumatised by the event. At just three he is reliving what the thieves said at the scene and it is not a nice thing to experience.

If the thieves realise just one thing after the whole sorry episode, it should be that violent thefts are traumatic, devastating and cowardly crimes.