Letters to the Editor

Sir, - In five years, the total rolls of children aged five to 18 in the Ilkley area has fallen by 23 despite the increased number of new homes and enrolments of children from outside our area.

Altogether there are 2,836 children in that age group in our local schools, so the decline is less than one per cent.

This fact contradicts the warning of the Conservative monopoly on Ilkley Parish Council that predicts (Ilkley Gazette April 17) that our schools will be 'too small' to accommodate the continued influx of children. The roll numbers of secondary school age have remained at 1,498 - the same as five years ago, and confirming that there has been a small drop in the five to 11 group.

Some primary schools have spare spaces. Despite the opening of new facilities and much higher payments to schools to provide facilities for under fives, the total number of these infants enrolled in our primary schools has increased by only 15 amongst the six schools. Not much sign of an influx there.

Why is it that Conservative councillors are so badly out of touch with reality? Partly this reflects their monopoly of parish discussions, which means their musings go unchallenged.

Moreover, councillors' grasp of human biology is askew: They believe that houses have children rather than families. Our Conservative Councillors do not appreciate that fewer young families living in our area (because they can't afford Wharfedale house prices) are bound to level off the number of schoolchildren, too.

So, far from facing an influx of extra children, local schools already rely upon a substantial minority of pupils from outside of the LS29 area, and drawn by the excellent reputation of our schools hereabouts. It is a shame that our parish councillors are so unaware of the development of the communities they represent.

Andrew Dundas

2 Pines Cottages,

Parish Ghyll Drive,

Ilkley,

LS29 9PR.

Right to speak

SIR, - Was it deliberate mischief on your part to put the 'name and address supplied' letter of the Ilkley Peace Group adjacent to The Curmudgeon's column?

At least it highlighted our rights in this country to speak out, although I am always mystified by Peace Groups' bias against America. There always seems a hidden non-peaceful agenda to their outpourings.

From all the words written about recent events, nothing has moved me more than an article on torture during Saddam Hussein. The man who had personally cut out 13 tongues and chopped off some 40 hands.

The man who had broken the backs of three men and the arms of a further four. One of his comrades would hold a detainee's head in a firm grip and force open his his mouth.The torturer would grip the tongue with pliers, would slice it open with a knife and toss severed pieces into the street.

Globalisation puts us cheek by jowl with other cultures. Cultures who create their own poverty and expect the rest of the world to bail them out. Cultures where some people have no respect for human life.

Thank goodness we have the right to speak out in our own country. As do Americans in theirs. What would have been the fate of western minorities in Middle Eastern countries if September 11 had happened there? What will be the fate of Christian Minorities in non-Christian dictatorships, be they secular or religious?

In the Cold War, peace came through (western) strength. CND's tactics would have put us under a totalitarian regime.

Which gives the better result, accepting that no pathway in life is perfect?

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED

Ilkley.

Claim is fishy....

SIR, - Believe it or not, I am glad the scientists at the Roslin Institute have released their findings that 'fish feel pain'. Why? Because it is moving research on the matter, and therefore the debate, forward.

I believe it is good science even though I disagree with the findings, as do other international scientists. I do not believe that fish feel 'pain' in the way we understand it, and I think there is a long way to go before any compelling evidence on the issue is found. The research we have so far, including the Medway Report and the Farm Animal Welfare Council's report on farmed fish, only concludes that we don't know.

Indeed, other research would suggest that fish do not have the brains to understand or feel pain.

I believe a Royal Commission into animal welfare, to set out what is acceptable treatment of animals and what is not, is the next logical step. More and more often we are coming up against animal rights bodies who consistently talk about the 'rights' and 'feelings' of fish in overly sentimental and ill-informed tones. We must base our behaviour on scientific research, not sentiment.

A properly researched scientific paper would help lessen the current '"Disneyfication' of fish and provide a framework within which anglers can go about their business, fish and continue their vital conservation work, in harmony with the environment as they have always been.

Charles Jardine

Director,

Countryside Alliance Campaign

for Angling

www.gone-fishing.info

....But it's true!

SIR, - The new research from the prestigious Roslin Institute in Edinburgh showing that fish feel pain is backed up by earlier research from the Government's own Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) and by the RSPCA Medway report.

The FAWC found that fish experience fear, stress and pain when removed from water, and that the physiological mechanisms in fish for experiencing pain are very similar to those in mammals. Similarly, the Medway report concluded that all vertebrates (including fish and people) experience similar sensations in response to painful stimuli.

The evidence is clear, and means that angling is cruel and unjustifiable. It also means that eating fish is just as cruel as eating meat, and that fish farming is particularly cruel.

Salmon and trout are kept in sea cages that are so overcrowded that many fish become injured as they collide with each other, when trying to get exercise without there being sufficient room. The overcrowding also means that parasites spread rapidly, with sea lice being a particular problem. The fish suffer both from the lice and from the chemicals used to deal with them.

Wild-caught sea fish also suffer greatly. When hauled up from the deep, fish undergo excruciating decompression. Frequently, the intense internal pressure ruptures the swim bladder, pops out the eyes and pushes the stomach out through the mouth.

The only way to avoid causing great suffering is to leave fish alone. For more information about how to combat cruelty to animals, please contact Animal Aid on (01732) 354 032.

Richard Mountford

Development Manager,

Animal Aid.

Jaundiced view

SIR, - The person who signed himself/herself 'Ilkley Peace Group (Gazette, may 1) has a somewhat jaundiced view with respect to America and its association with Iraq.

The letter quotes various American people who have been placed in positions of high office, and to quote one, the writer makes issue of the fact that a US oil executive has been placed in charge of the oil industry.

Where is the problem in this? It makes sense to put someone in charge who knows the business; the others follow in a similar cadre.

The writer then goes on to say that the Iraqis have just changed one dictator for another. What unadulterated rubbish. This is obviously someone with an anti-American agenda.

If I were the major protagonist in this affair, and put up most of the money and most of the servicemen, I would make damn sure that before I left the region there was no chance of it reverting back to what it was before and having to go through the same process of war again.

I see no problem with what the Americans are doing, and wish them well in their endeavours, which aren't always understood or appreciated.

A G GOLDSBROUGH

Flat 10,

Dale Court,

Ilkley.

Not up to the job

SIR, - It is generally agreed that democracy is a lousy system, but it is the best we have got. Heaven help us!

On the whole, cruel tyrants are trying to make the world a better place. Genghis Khan might not have been everyone's choice as a good guy, but on the whole he was a good influence on an imperfect world.

The much reviled Stalin had good intentions but was unable to deliver because it was necessary to divert resources into defence against the 'good' guys.

In contrast, a God-fearing socialist democracy is committing the most ghastly oppression blatantly for self-interest. Are we in a world where we cannot win?

Alas, it is not the world's fault; we are not up to the job, even the best of us. For a start, evolution has kitted us out with madly inappropriate instincts for our modern, high-tech world. Our faiths are like computer viruses and prevent our brains reaching the right conclusions.

Once again science fiction has addressed the problem. When the world's cities took off into space, effective management became vital for success. The city computers took charge and appointed the brightest and best man as CEO; a bit like Ken Livingstone.

It should be easier now because we can have adequate computer power quite easily. The poor cities were relatively in the Dark Ages for their computers and had to make do with those archaic monsters of the 1960s.

We are not quite there yet. The computers that will be required will have to design themselves and learn on the job about what is needed. They, and we, will have to learn to walk before we can run.

It would be a lousy computer that could not improve on the present world.

WILLIAM BOOCOCK

17 Wheatley Lane,

Ilkley.

Postcard plea

SIR, - My name is Jerzy Matuszczak. I am a 44 year-old man from Krakow, Poland, who collects blank post-cards.

I have already more than 25.000 and hope one day it will be the biggest world collection.

I would like to ask your readers to help me, please, and send some blank post-cards with views from England. Thank you very much for kind help.

Jerzy Matuszczak

31-462 Krakow,

ul.Pilotow 22/21,

Poland.

Ilkley touch to clock's history

SIR, - In the late twenties, my late mother, Ivy Robinson, as she then was, had a physiotherapy practice in Ilkley.

One of her grateful patients gave her an unusual wall-mounted clock which, he said, had been designed/manufactured by himself.

She was given the choice of one with a brown face with gilt numerals, or a black face with white figures and she chose the latter.

I inherited the clock come years ago, but found only recently that it had been made by the Key-Less Clock Company in London, the owners of which were Thomas Watson and Christopher Frederick Webb. Is it possible that one of these gentlemen retired to the Ilkley area, and would any of your readers have knowledge of him?

The 'keyless' description refers to the mechanism of the clock, which is a bob weight actuated by a lever on the side which has to be pulled down every 24 hours. The clock contains no spring and very few working parts.

JOHN BOX

Stable Cottage,

Thornleigh Drive,

Burton in Kendal,

Carnforth,

LA6 1NQ.