Letters to the Editor

If the Bishop of Bradford is so concerned then let him ask his bosses to sell off land and property and cash in some investments and use that money instead of the increasingly desperate and angry tax payers.

The Church of England has got enough out of this country this last few hundred years.

Every week we read of some group setting themselves up and then expecting to be tax funded.

Let the Church become a business - If it has something worthwhile to offer, people will buy it and they can give it all away to their many higher causes.

Eric Firth. Wellington Street, Wilsden.

SIR - Whether or not green areas should be used for any other purpose than for recreational use by ratepayers or building new houses etc depends on your point of view and your personal requirements.

Personally, I can remember when the golf course at Bradford Moor (by the hill called Myra Shay) was chopped in half because it was declared vital for the development for the community. Then the ground was left to become the dumping ground for all the rubbish in the world.

There are not enough green spaces for our kids (and adults too) to enjoy themselves and the ones that are still there are constantly being used by selfish, unthinking dog owners.

What the dogs do is a natural function but where they do it is chosen by humans. I wouldn't let my grandchildren play on the grass these days for fear of what they may catch. Even footballers have to be careful when they play their games.

Phil Boase, Elizabeth Street, Wyke.

SIR - I am glad that at last someone like Asama Javed is doing something someone should have done a very long time ago.

The truth finally appears in the final paragraph of the letter from Mr Firth, of Wilsden: "Or is the idea to keep people in this country who would otherwise be deported?"

I was a man suffering from domestic violence. I'm neither Pakistani nor Muslim. I'm British white; yet not even one British white person took me seriously or did anything to help me.

Miss Javed was the first to believe me and support me. The fact that she is a lawyer does not matter. She was a counsellor, a friend and a good listener.

She did more over and above the call of her duty to make me believe in myself. She restored my self-esteem and confidence.

There was never any question of deportation so, Mr Firth, please get your facts straight. Maybe you should do a little more to try and understand the problem rather than cause further friction in an already fragile society.

Michael Andrews, Walker Drive, Bradford.

SIR - What's the number one item on the agenda of the Christian Right? Abortion? School prayer?

Believe it or not, it's Israel - its size, its strength, and its survival.

For Christians who interpret the bible in a literal fashion, Israel has a crucial role to play in bringing on the Second Coming of Christ.

The return of the Jews to their ancient homeland is seen by Evangelicals as a precondition for the Second Coming of Christ. Therefore, when the Jewish state was illegally created in 1948 they saw it as a sign.

Israel's genocide of Muslims and conquest of Jerusalem and the West Bank in 1967 also deepened their excitement and heightened their anticipation. And today's war between Jews and Muslims was also prophesied, they say, in the pages of the Bible.

According to the Book of Revelations, the final battle in the history of the future will be fought on an ancient battlefield in northern Israel called Armageddon.

It will follow seven years of tribulation during which the earth will be shaken by such disasters that previous human history will seem like a day in the country. The blood will rise as high as a horse's bridle at Armageddon before Christ triumphs to begin his 1,000-year rule.

Halima Brooks-Ahmed, Toller Drive, Bradford 9.

SIR - Mike Priestley's North of Watford item (June 7) telling us about those nasty warlike men Blair and Bush never gives a mention to the mass graves now being found. Some will say a case for war has been proved.

A report from the leftie BBC now says some 250,000 missing people may be in graves still to be uncovered.

Does anyone believe Saddam would have mentioned those buried if he'd remained in power?

George Galloway and Clare Short could have spoken up for him at the UN making a case for a badly-done-by Iraq indeed.

Give me the big bad US and UK any day.

F Dickinson, Larkfield Road, Rawdon.

SIR - The Government is right to insist that we should only join the euro under the right economic circumstances and that we may not (quite) be ready to do so at this moment in time.

However, this does not detract from the fact that, in the long run, staying out means losing out.

Our British businesses are now competing at a disadvantage within the European Union - which is our main market on which 3 million jobs depend. While our Dutch, French, Irish etc. competitors can trade across the EU in their own currency, the euro, British manufactures must face the extra cost of converting currency and insuring (hedging) against exchange rate fluctuations.

Inward investment from American, Korean, Japanese etc. companies, where Britain received more than any other EU country until a few years ago, has declined dramatically, with even France overtaking us - again because we are outside of the euro.

We may not be quite ready to join just yet but this does not for one moment detract from the fact that, in the long run, staying out means losing out.

Richard Corbett, MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, Blenheim Terrace, Leeds 2

SIR - It is reported that VAT could be put on fatty food to stop people being obese. Isn't there enough tax on food already?

If there are too many fat people about, isn't it the problem of supermarkets and fast food chains which promote this sort of thing? We are bombarded with fast food sale adverts.

If the VAT for fatty food did come into being would it make small businesses close down like fish and chip shops? It would also put up the price of the more healthy foods that do people good.

That would put more people into debt if they are on very low incomes, and benefits, because they would have to rob Peter to pay Paul and the bills would have to be paid later.

To make people better off and healthy there should be more better-paid jobs and incentives to eat better foods.

Martin Palliser, Waincliffe House, Laisterdyke.

SIR - Glancing through the Court File of late, I cannot help but notice the large number of motoring offenders, here in Bradford, who have no licence! Necessarily, if caught driving, they are then also guilty of driving without insurance.

As a law-abiding driver, I find this most worrying as it must be compromising the risks that I and all other law-abiding drivers necessarily take when driving on our Bradford roads.

Is this a local or a national problem?

Derek Round, Clayton Heights, Bradford 6.

SIR - More than 50 years ago, a letter was sent to a newspaper from three concerned parents of disabled children, and the hundreds of responses it generated led to the formation of The Spastics Society, now known as Scope, one of the UK's leading disability organisations.

Half a century later, Scope is still responding to the needs of disabled children and adults.

As a patron of Scope, I am writing to tell your readers about the launch of a new website to support parents who have disabled children.

Face 2 Face is a befriending service which gives parents who have disabled children the chance to talk to other parents who have been through similar experiences themselves. The scheme is now being launched on line at www.face2facenetwork.org.uk to reach out to more parents across the UK.

Parents can visit the site to find out about local befriending schemes, obtain information sheets, volunteer as befrienders themselves or to seek support and guidance. I would also encourage professionals working in health, social care or education, to visit the site so that they can help parents access the support network.

Lorraine Kelly, Scope Patron.