Letters to the Editor

It was as thought there had been a timeslip back to the excesses of Nazi Germany.

The two young women, Donna and Emily, must receive justice for the terrible crimes perpetrated against them. The vicious morons responsible must be found and punished.

Bradford has rarely seen such a cruel and cowardly act of Satanism. Homophobia has no place in our fine city - or indeed anywhere. Such an appalling example as the one you have reported must never happen again.

John Fearnley, Staybrite Avenue, Cottingley.

SIR - Further to the T&A of February 25, re teenage pregnancies, I could not believe what I was reading and had to check the date wasn't April 1.

That such sexual intimacies are to be taught to our under-age pupils is grossly irresponsible, not to say deviant. Whatever next!

Surely it is going against accepted moral principles to recommend such a substitute for the usual methods of contraception? This is more worthy of the brothels of Cairo than this country's Health and Education Departments.

Health? This would be risible, were it not for the fact that it is no laughing matter.

They could be sandwiching the Kama Sutra as a bit of light reading in between Ann of Green Gables and Watership Down. We may even have a new degree - Master/Mistress of Conception Avoidance, and the little darlings will be so expert at it as to teach their elders and betters a trick or two.

The world is sick enough without this and the authorities should be teaching children moral regeneration and a return to the old values.

Derek Mozley, Moorhead Terrace, Shipley.

SIR - Being an inveterate marcher for peace and justice still left me equivocating about the recent Bradford Diocesan Synod motion on Iraq.

I am reminded of Herbert Read's words: For every hundred people hacking at the branches of the tree of evil, there is only one hacking at the root.

I attended the Millennium Square rally, and agreed with journalists about the paucity of most of the London Rally speeches. Isn't it time we heard church people and politicians make a ringing call for a non-violent domestic and foreign policy response to the cycle of violence always responding to violence?

Violence is no longer a logical alternative to terrorism, economic equality is.

But this is not my chief equivocation; at Bradford Diocesan Synod I spoke of the main obvious cause of international terrorism, WTC attacks and Muslim anger: gross inequality and immense Western "Christian" wealth.

Even my own modest income of £10,000 a year and relative domestic security represents luxury to a majority of the world's population.

Graham Carey, Granville Terrace, Bingley.

SIR - In response to the points raised in Mr R J Lacey's letter ("Hand of Friendship", March 4). Parish councils are not usually set up across ward boundaries, as would be the case in Wrose. However, the proposed changes to the ward boundaries in the Boundary Commission's review place Wrose within one ward (Shipley East), making the case for a parish council in Wrose feasible.

The campaign for Wrose Parish Council is not an initiative of Shipley East councillors. But the Labour Party supports parish councils in areas that wish to set one up, and I would support the petition should it come to Council.

If Government agrees to a parish council, then all residents within Wrose will be balloted to decide if there should be one.

As regards the traffic scheme, this scheme was the recommendation of traffic engineers, and was voted on by the executive committee, which is controlled by the Conservative /Liberal alliance. It is difficult to see how Shipley East councillors "foisted" it on to an area over which we have no control.

Councillor Mark Blackburn (Labour, Shipley East), West Royd Drive, Shipley

SIR - Can G Stevens (Letters, March 3) please explain which community he is referring to about curtailing the criminality of their youngsters? Does he recommend that we should take his community as an example, eg Ravenscliffe, Holme Wood, Buttershaw etc where apparently it's a crime-free zone?

No community can control segments of its criminal element. If Mr Stevens has a solution, I am sure both the white and immigrant communities can try using his formula.

Also would letter writers please not keep threatening the rise of the BNP. If they want to vote for them, then go do it. After all, it's a free country.

Waheed Butt, Glenview Avenue, Heaton

SIR - I am writing in the hope that some of your readers may be able to help me.

I am writing a book, and making a small museum, about the Allied campaign in eastern Sicily in 1943, with special emphasis on the Siracusa-Avola area. I would like to prepare a series of exhibitions on the campaign.

I would very much like to contact veterans (or the relatives) of this campaign, which sadly seems to have been forgotten. Their recollection will be an invaluable contribution to this project.

I would like to receive stories, photos, maps, badges, poems etc.

Roberto Piccione, Via Aristofane 8, 96100 Siracusa. E-mail: robi.piccione@jumpy.it.

SIR - We are not governed by referenda, I have voted in only one in my 70 years.

Defence and foreign policy are certainly not suitable subjects for one. The electorate is not and cannot expect to be privy to the intelligence reports given to the Prime Minister. He, therefore, cannot let protesters, no matter how many, cloud the implications of this intelligence.

The protesters would have more of my support if they carried two placards, one saying "No war with Iraq" and the other "Saddam - Free your people!" and of equal prominence.

We are a democracy and elect a government to decide our defence and foreign policies to be endorsed by elected MPs of all political parties, not just the one forming the government.

Imagine two million BNP supporters protesting over, say, asylum policy - bet everyone of the current protesters to a man, woman or toddler would insist the government ignore them, and rightly so.

Let's all pull together no matter the outcome.

P E Bird, Nab Wood Terrace, Shipley.

SIR - So the truth is out. George W. Bush lied when he claimed to be worried about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. Otherwise, Iraq's stepped-up co-operation with the UN on disarmament would be stunningly good news, obviating the need to rush to war.

Instead, the UN weapons inspectors' verification of Iraq's destruction of missiles, private meetings with Iraqi weapons scientists, visits to locations where biological and chemical weapons were destroyed in 1991 and a series of unfettered flights by U2 spy planes have been met with a shrug and sneer in Washington.

The White House line is that even if the Iraqis destroy all their slingshots, Goliath is still bringing his tanks and instituting "regime change."

The arrogance is breathtaking. We have demanded that a country disarm -- and even as it is doing so, we say it doesn't matter, it's too late, we're coming in. Put down your guns and await the slaughter.

Adam Khan, St Michael's Road, Bradford 8

SIR - Immediately after D-Day in 1944 Transport Command aircrew supplied our troops with food and returned with the seriously wounded.

Young nurses accompanied them to tend to the casualties. The devotion these girls gave was remarkable. There is no doubt their grandchildren will be equally determined to serve if necessary.

Dennis Rhodes, Allerton Road, Bradford.

SIR - If our leader is the President's poodle, then Iain Duncan Smith must be the poodle's poodle. And if a US invasion of Iraq escalates into a wider conflict, I suppose we will have Dubya Dubya Three.

Peter Wilson, Thornhill Grove, Calverley.

SIR - Re your report on Shirley Hannah's 42 years of service with the NHS (March 6).

May I congratulate Shirley, right, for such wonderful dedication she has shown throughout her nursing career.

Why has she never received a Queen's honour? Some people with less service, much younger than her and not as dedicated have been honoured. I remember Margaret Thatcher's hairdresser receiving a Queen's honour.

Come on Bradford NHS and do your duty, Shirley should be bestowed with the highest honour. If she were a man she would be knighted.

Pauline (Marston) Collins, Greenhill Lane, Micklethwaite, Bingley.