Letters to the Editor

This club has been housed on a council-owned ground enjoying a peppercorn rent for donkey's years. Such support for a regional sport that enjoys kudos only in its West Yorkshire hotbed is more than generous.

Remember when Bradford Northern were a laughing stock, hardly in existence and playing in front of crowds of less than a thousand? The Council helped to bail them out, and one wonders if other cities would have done so.

There is much wrong with Bradford evidenced by the growing BNP support, but it's up to all our citizens to raise their head above the parapet and help.

I suggest the writer becomes a little more "bullish" and fight his corner for a once-proud city.

D J Ledgard, Bolton Lane, Bradford 2.

SIR - Immediately after the local elections, the intelligence of the Bradford voters is one again insulted by more claptrap from Council leader Margaret Eaton.

She claims that with half a million voters in the district the small vote for the BNP has to be put into perspective.

I voted for my local Conservative candidate and have never ever voted for the BNP, but I just cannot stand the sheer fantasy of her comments, so let's take another unbiased look at the figures.

Using figures printed in the T&A, and working to the nearest whole percentage, there appears to be no more than 330,000 eligible to vote.

In the eight seats the BNP contested, a total of 30,897 voted. The BNP attracted 6,391 votes and the Conservatives 6,763, just over one per cent more.

Also, in these eight seats the BNP attracted more votes than the Green Party in the whole district.

The significance of these figures lead me to completely different conclusions. I do not have to spin or pay lip service to anyone.

G A Lorriman, Long Lane, Harden.

SIR - Margaret Eaton's dismissive comments on the size of the BNP vote (T&A, May 2) do not stand up to scrutiny.

In Queensbury they were in second place with only 144 votes fewer than the Tories. They also came in second in Idle and Shipley East, third and fourth in other wards.

Having fielded only eight candidates they totalled 6,391 votes. The Greens, who contested 15 wards, had 5,541 votes.

In rough percentage terms the three main parties together who contested all 30 wards had between them an aggregate vote of 29 per cent each, the BNP contesting only eight wards had six per cent.

The Leader of the Council stated that the people of Bradford had put the BNP into perspective. They have indeed and unless the politicians accept the underlying reasons why it is happening and take steps to counter it, they will continue to gain support.

I would like to make it clear I voted for one of the main parties but I can understand why others don't.

Nick Caroll, Northcote Terrace, Bradford 2.

SIR - With regard to your May 5 report about jailed trucker David Wilson, the best way people can help get him released, or at least get him a fair trial, is to boycott going to Greece for their holidays.

This is not the first time Greece has played the heavy hand. Remember the plane spotters last year?

If people stopped going for their holidays to Greece and it hit their tourism trade, maybe they'd realise you can't treat people like David Wilson and the plane spotters in such a way.

Personally I would not go to Greece with the attitude they have to British people.

Michael Breen, Bolton Hall Road, Wrose.

SIR - I wish to add my support to the idea of a cross-city rail link. It was first mooted more than 150 years ago and about 50 years later the Midland Railway Company planned a new line from Dewsbury to Bradford which was to enter the city centre alongside the Lancashire and Yorkshire and Great Northern lines, continuing across the city on a viaduct to Forster Square Station.

This project foundered due to funding disagreements.

A cross-city line does not require work on this scale. The differing height between the stations is an advantage, not a problem. If the stations were at the Forster Square level there would have to be level crossings or expensive road raising projects.

There is space in which to continue a double track from the Interchange, under Bridge Street then past the east side of the Law Courts and across the city centre on a viaduct, crossing Cheapside and on to a gentle downward gradient curving left past the Tax Office, followed by a right curve taking the line behind the Retail Park and down a straight gradient to join the existing lines beyond Forster Square Station. There would be clearance under the viaduct to allow car access to the station forecourt.

An extended platform No 4 at the Interchange would serve through trains for a start and the line to Leeds would be electrified.

K Ellison, Verdun Road, Bradford 6.

SIR - Re Karl Dallas's letter of May 2. Personally, I don't think any weapons will be found.

Saddam Hussein had 12 years' practice at hiding weapons which undoubtedly did exist, and if he had been successful in fooling the inspectors he would have then been free at some future date to accumulate more.

Britain and America have got rid of one more despot, which is reason enough for the war.

It seems Mr Dallas wishes to continue wearing blinkers and doesn't want to know. Some member countries in the UN are not exactly squeaky clean, and any observations they make legal or otherwise, do not impress.

L Dobson, Stonecroft, Bradford 2.

SIR - My name is Muriel (Mattock) Humphreys. I am inquiring about any descendants of my father, William Mattock, who was born in Skipton, England in 1869. He had many brothers and sisters. I can only recall Lizzie, Annie, Harry and George. My father married Elizabeth Brown in 1896.

In 1904 my parents came to Canada with my brother, Allan and sister, Marjorie. They moved to a farm district which was named "Skipton" after my dad's birthplace. I was born in 1910 and still enjoy good health. My dad passed away in March, 1929, aged 60.

I am 93 and would like to hear from any living relatives of my father.

Muriel Humphreys, Box 971, Tisdale, SK Canada S0E 1T0.

EDITOR'S NOTE: T&A researcher Alan Magson is currently researching the Mattock family's links with Skipton and would also like to hear from anyone who has information in response to the above letter. Please write to him c/o Newsroom, Telegraph & Argus, Hall Ings, Bradford BD1 1JR (e-mail: alan.magson@bradford. newsquest.co.uk)

SIR - Once again our NHS is being privatised by the back door and people will be paying for treatment in the near future.

At present there are as many managers as there are beds in the NHS so why have more management?

Everybody uses the NHS some time in their life. Don't you think we should stop this Government from destroying it?

Protest to your MP. It's your health service, not the Government's. They only run it - or try to.

J R Smith, Flawith Drive, Fagley.