Letters to the Editor

There has been little or no consultation with local residents. Requests for information from local councillors, particularly as to whether the proposed home was a "secure unit", have met limited response.

Councillor Clive Richardson has advised me that the home is intended to house children currently in homes outside the Metropolitan District and that if this is done it will save millions of pounds per year.

As I am aware that some £3 million was spent previously housing children from the Bradford area in "secure units" outside the area. then it is likely that Sowden House is intended to become a secure unit.

There is apparently another meeting on July 10 at City Hall which will be open to the public.

It is important that anyone who has concerns about this proposed home in the area should write to their councillor or to Alison O'Sullivan, the Director of Social Services, as soon as possible.

I have asked my councillors to arrange a public meeting so that residents can express their concerns and have their questions answered.

Leah Corboz, Roundfield Place, Thornton.

SIR - A few years ago I complained through your paper about the state of the ladies' toilets in Myrtle Park, Bingley. I was informed by the powers-that-be that there had been a gala the previous evening, hence their deplorable state.

I was afterwards informed by some Bingley residents that they were always in a filthy condition.

However, last Thursday I once again visited the park only to find the toilets in the same terrible state. One person I spoke to who regularly visits the park said that she had never ever seen a cleaner.

Come along, Council, I dread to think what visitors to the bowling green think.

Mrs E Sinclair, Brackendale Drive, Thackley.

SIR - It has been mentioned that each member of the public will be responsible for the purchase of his or her identity card. This is a non-starter and will be seen as another government rip-off.

Also, for years and years forgeries have been produced which fool the authorities. However, I do think identity cards could be a good idea, and the payment of £25 would be acceptable if the cards were to replace passports valid for ten years (life for retired people).

In this way passport staff would be reduced on a natural wastage basis with no recruitment for several years.

Being a single plastic card slightly bigger than a credit card and bearing the holders photograph, it would be far easier to carry.

Also, as the EU doesn't really bother checking passports, an ID card would suffice. Outside the EU, other paperwork in support of the ID card, work permit, visa, would remain the same. What could be simpler?

Trevor Williams-Berry, Bredon Avenue, Wrose.

SIR - I am researching the Bradford (City) greyhound stadium which operated in the 1960s and am anxious to obtain a copy of a photograph of the stadium.

If anyone knows the whereabouts of such a picture would they please contact me. Thanks.

Bob Rowe, GRA Ltd, Wimbledon Stadium, Plough Lane, London SW17 0BL (tel: 020 8946 8000, ext 253).

SIR - Does anyone believe George W Bush's commitment to two Palestinian and Israeli governments side by side? Does anyone think that Israel will leave the Arabs' land alone? I certainly don't.

There will be no reason for any Arab to harm any Israelis even when they live within their territory, like we all do in each other's countries.

Bush can try to cheat, deceive and fool anyone he likes, like he has been doing since he was appointed by the court, but Muslims (and particularly I) won't believe him unless we see this happen.

Israel and India have failed to comply with UN resolutions for decades and America and particularly Bush wouldn't dare to utter a word against them to upset them.

However it is the UN's responsibility to disarm Muslims nowadays and then America jumps in with the help of the British and the allies (who are bought and threatened) to butcher the defenceless, innocent people and consider themselves brave. They're nothing but despicable.

Where are the WMDs in Iraq?

Mubarik Iqbal, Oulton Terrace, Bradford 7

SIR - I am writing to ask for help from T&A readers in furthering a national Canadian history project.

The Canadian Letters and Images Project (http://www.mala,bc.ca/ history/letters) is an online archive of the Canadian war experience that uses letters, diaries, photographs and other related personal material to permit Canadians to tell their stories in their own words and images.

We borrow all material for copying and scanning and then return them to the families.

We are seeking material related to Canadians during war from any period, but in particular from the World War One era. Significant numbers of those who served with the Canadian forces were recent immigrants to Canada, so many of the letters to family and friends came back to Great Britain.

We are looking for any letters, diaries, photographs, postcards, or other personal material connected to individuals who served with the Canadian forces. All material will be returned to their owners and the project will pay all postage and shipping costs.

If you have any relevant material or any questions concerning the project, please contact me.

Dr Stephen Davies, Project Director, The Canadian Letters and Images Project, Malaspina University-College, 900 Fifth Street, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, V9R 5S5 (e-mail letters@mala.bc.ca).

SIR - Sadly, though this is the European Year of Disabled People, it seems that many policy-makers from local authorities to Westminister are paying lip service to the needs of the disabled population.

People with disabilities deserve to live with the dignity, choice and independence that we all expect. Yet, alarmingly, our two-year inquiry shows that these rights are far from being a reality for most disabled people.

Our inquiry report highlights a serious lack of wheelchair-accessible housing and poorly structured care and health services. Many local authorities impose inappropriate forms of care upon individuals due to budgetary constraints or competition, rather than taking into account what the disabled person actually needs or wants.

This grim situation is largely the result of an unco-ordinated approach based on patchy and out-of-date information about the disabled population.

The report proposes that the Government now works closely with primary care trusts and all other local care providers to plug this costly information gap and build a coherent, life-long support network that helps disabled people to realise their rights.

We urge your readers to write to their MP and support our call for the needs and rights of disabled people to be a greater priority in the future.

Rev Mike Shaw, Executive Director, John Grooms, 50 Scrutton Street, London EC2A 4XQ www.johngrooms.org.uk.

SIR - Sir Alex Ferguson says that success is down to hard work, and individual skills to much practice.

He's well supported. Don Bradman is generally accepted as the master batsman. Was it inherited? A gift?

The young Donald would come home from school and pick up a cricket stump and golf ball, which he'd hit thousands and thousands of times against his garden fence.

No help or divine intervention. Just practice.

English entertainer Tommy Steele met his idol dance master Fred Astaire and asked the secret of his success.

"Aim for perfection," replied Fred, who then placed a coin on the floor and tap-danced around, over, even on the coin, hundreds of lightning steps.

He then invited Tommy to inspect the coin. It hadn't moved a fraction. "That," said the master, "is perfection."

Joe Louis had a left jab so fast it was near invisible. The poverty-stricken young Joe rigged up a make-do punchbag in his rickety garden shed. How many left jabs it took even Joe wouldn't have known. But it gave the great man the fastest left jab boxing has ever seen.

You want success young 'un? You can start right now.

Eric Firth, Wellington Street, Wilsden.