Letters to the Editor

If they had got in between the two lines of confrontation when all hell was let loose, we could now have been a lot happier, even a culturally capital city.

Alas, history repeats itself because we aren't learning its lessons. In the Western world the loony Left's peace marches always lead their followers into the camp of the political Left.

They offered no human shield when the Communist armies provoked wars in quest for world domination. When Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia rose in desperation against their oppressor, the Communist parties of the West, at least officially, lined up behind their masters in Moscow.

Their fifth columnist battlecry, "Better be red than dead", was originally coined by those martyrs who really put their lives on the line, saying and doing "Better be dead than red."

It was their sacrifice which exposed the true nature of the inhuman system as an unacceptable alternative even to our decadent western lifestyle.

Of course it needs a lot of improvement, but don't knock it down from inside because it will fall on top of all of us.

K Novak, Kingsley Avenue, Bradford 2.

SIR - Re the troops out in the Gulf needing messages from loved ones in Yorkshire. You would think that the British Forces with all the hi-tech equipment that they are preparing to use, if deemed necessary, could spare a few measly quid and provide at least one computer so the soldiers could keep in touch with their loved ones via e-mail rather than having to send snail mail. By the time a snail-mail letter is received it could well be too late.

If the British Army is not prepared to 'splash out' on a cheap computer for the comfort of its troops, maybe we Bradford folk should take the lead and raise the money ourselves via any means possible.

Ray Harrison, West Royd Drive, Windhill, Shipley.

SIR - In the tide of the US-led campaign against Iraq the true meaning of peace has been lost and this will become evident as the waves of destruction fall on the innocents of Iraq. An attack on Iraq of the type being suggested by the movements of troops and weaponry will not achieve justice or allow peace to prevail.

We must stand firm in our knowledge that in this war bombs will hit the Iraqi people in our names, and blood will be spilt in our names - not the names of Tony Blair and President Bush but in the name of the USA, Britain and all who reside within them.

As the tears of the children stream down their cheeks and the anger brews in their stomachs, we will create the emotions of anger rather than tranquillity and vengeance in stead of gratitude.

We live in a democracy which means that actions carried out by us as a nation are representative of the nation. This will be the world's view of our actions in the coming days. In order to achieve peace we must submit in unity to its demands.

May God help us all.

Adam Walker, Christophers Drive, Addingham

SIR - It must have been a traumatic experience for seven-year-old Brian Holmans to be buzz-bombed in June, 1944. Could have been at the same moment that I was throwing up on a landing craft as we approached the Normandy beaches.

During the next year my battalion received many casualties. But then we were fighting a well-armed, well-trained enemy, not one that has been subjected to a 12-year embargo that has resulted in the death of countless men, women and children all in the name of the United Nations.

What can you say about an organisation that decrees that Iraq could have pills for oil? Pardon me, I used that naughty word, we are not supposed to know that oil is all this war is about.

Mr Holmans is rather nave to raise the issue of casualties during the blitz. Does history not tell him that we carpet-bombed German cities and that they suffered four times the deaths we had?

Bombs kill, no matter what side you are on.

Thomas Craig, Mount Avenue, Eccleshill.

SIR - Karl Dallas is obviously acting from the best of motives and should be commended for his dedication to peace. However, I wouldn't commend his common sense or his patriotism.

Bush and Blair do not appear to care who gets hurt in their thirst for war. Also, Mr Dallas has forgotten that Saddam Hussein proved in the last conflict that he already has plenty of human shields - his own countrymen, women and children.

In the second world war, if anyone had gone to Berlin to act as a human shield he would quite rightly have been charged with treason on his return.

Sandy Parkinson, Grigg Place, Hilton, Western Australia

SIR - Following my earlier letters and those of a growing number of other regular contributors, here are a few more observations on the way this once-great city is being run.

We have a Council that seemingly cannot control the management of an SRB, a Director of Marketing who is so passionate about Bradford that he is off to a new job leaving no discernible impact for three years doing I know not what, a failed Capital of Culture bid now replaced by a Culture Consortium which is going to get even more money to waste on "never happen" projects and another incomer from Glasgow to run the URC (is she going to have the same impact as the "deal maker" who seems to have disappeared without trace?).

In addition we have "privatised" schools that are clearly still failing and now housing and public buildings going down the same track.

No doubt all these things along with filthy streets, empty shops, increasing crime and the underlying ethnic issues are part of Bradford Vision.

To rub salt in the wounds, the "leaders" who presided over this situation now want increased taxes and want our trust that they will spend them wisely.

William Oxley, Beck Lane, Bingley.

SIR - On February 11 the people of Ravenscliffe and Greengates were invited to the Eccleshill Housing Office to look at maps of the area and had a chance to speak to consultants from three housing associations. Each person received a map and a draft master plan.

The map was beautifully coloured. Unfortunately there were no street names on it. The primary, secondary and tertiary roads are quite misleading.

Another misleading document is The Holywell Draft Master Plan, which states that it is a schedule of properties shown to be demolished. I'm sure the people living in them do not realise they are living in a vacuum.

Let's look at the figures put out by the developers: 450 properties to rent, 460 tenants. Really!

Whoever did the master plan took the figures from an out-of-date electoral roll and the figures shown include houses that have been bought and also houses that have been demolished and houses that should have been demolished. It is not an accurate document.

The people of Ravenscliffe deserve the correct information. They are angry, confused and frightened.

Joan Foulds, New Line, Greengates.

SIR - Week after week this Letters page includes a letter from some individual who feels the need to let us all know how caring they are. They do this by attacking blood sports.

One gets the impression that you can no longer travel quickly round Bradford because of the hordes of posh people in red jackets on horseback.

Yet these same concerned individuals yet never seem to spare a thought for the thousands of animals actually killed in Bradford every week, many of them fully conscious while hung upside down to bleed to death.

It's a funny old world.

Richard Mozejko, Bradford Road, Keighley

SIR - Although I might agree with the sentiments of Mr Hawksworth's letter "Stop Whingeing" (T&A, February 28) I must object very strongly to the linking of the Chindits, right, with the Burma-Siam Railway.

These very different activities of 1943 and 1944 took place 1,000 miles apart in every meaning of those words.

The railway construction workers were POWs mainly from the fall of Singapore and were comprised of non-combatants and other troops with little or no experience of fighting. They were indeed inadequately supplied and harshly treated by their captors.

The Chindits were recruited from the British Army and the Indian Army and were specially-trained, combat-seasoned troops. They established fortified bases deep inside Japanese-held territory and were supplied from the air.

If the Japanese did not oblige by attacking them, they sent out fighting patrols and demolition groups. Their food was limited, uncooked, and monotonous, but there was an occasion when a Chindit column deferred a "Luxury Drop" in favour of more ammunition and weapons.

E Lindley, Bankfield Road, Shipley.