SIR - With reference to your front page headline of December 28, this is one teacher who does not mind being named. I worked with headteacher Bob O'Hagan for the last three months and I feel that his work has been outstanding and that his resignation has been met with sadness by his staff who share the vision for Rhodesway School.

Bob's ideas will hopefully flourish and be proven to be the answer for many social ills that schools like Rhodesway have to deal with.

As for the comments by a former member of staff regarding the newly-qualified teachers in the school, I can only say that the NQT and student teachers I have worked with thus far are a beacon to the grumblers who sit in the staff rooms of many schools and criticise everything that is tried out in order to bring Bradford's Education out of the mire it is currently perceived to be in.

Those staff who were there for 20 years and who have left no doubt bear some responsibility in what has happened to Rhodesway School.

Elvira Grisag, Head of Modern Foreign Languages, Rhodesway School, Oakes Lane, Bradford 15.

SIR - Serco won the Bradford education service contract on the targets within the specification (T&A, January 4). If the targets are now varied by the Council then the contract will have been awarded under false pretences.

This will be no surprise to anyone who has observed the award of contracts in the public sector to private companies. In these circumstances the public-sector customer invariably gives in and pays its supplier the same money for a much-reduced service.

This ploy has been used by many private-sector suppliers and you would think that by now Bradford Council would be wise to it. Sadly there will be only one outcome.

The Council will give in and the loser, as always, will be the citizens of Bradford. For this monumental incompetence the Council's Chief Executive will be rewarded with another large pay rise and the citizens of Bradford will be rewarded with a rise in Council tax.

That's why people don't vote in local elections.

K J Trocki, Birchdale, Bingley.

SIR - Re the debate between your columnist David Barnett and Reverend D E Legge (Letters, December 30). Whether you believe in religion or not there is an invisible space that envelopes us all every day throughout our lives.

Suppose we call this space "TIME" then we may begin to suspect that we are all the same and that belonging to this or that religion takes up time. Trying to believe or proving that one religion is far better than another takes just as much time as someone who uses their time not to believe.

Perhaps this is what was intended - that we should all be given time as individuals and as free people, without persecution as to whether we belong to the correct religion or not at all, to be judged as individuals on whether we use this time for good or evil.

Perhaps Article 1 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights says it better: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood".

And to do that the one certain thing we all need is TIME.

James Priestley, Denbrooke Avenue, Bradford 4.

SIR - When will enough be enough? A few days ago you printed a letter in respect of fireworks from the Guide Dogs for the Blind echoing thoughts and wishes of most peace-loving and animal-loving people and asking for support from your readers.

I have delivered their petition to numerous households in the area in which I live and no-one has refused to sign. We are all heartily sick of the noise and disruption these fireworks cause.

This area seems to harbour an inordinate number of noisy and moronic people.

If these people adore making and hearing such noise, maybe they should consider joining the Armed Forces where perhaps a spell in war-torn countries may diminish their love of "bombs".

It could be that the fear of being flattened or maimed may cure their mindless desire to inflict fear in others.

Mrs J M Cordingley, Escroft Close, Wyke.

SIR - The proposed changes to our beautiful Victorian City Hall were announced just before Christmas when the Council knew full well people would be preoccupied with seasonal matters.

In the Central Library, under the title "Design for Democracy" - a misnomer if ever there was one - we are informed the winning design will be chosen in early January.

It appears the timing and shortness of the consultation period was planned.

Yes, make the City Hall more accessible to the public. Maybe some tasteful interior alterations could be made retaining most of the original features, eg the panelling.

Most of City Hall should be kept just as the first architects intended. The modern designs completely lack the character and dignity of the original building - a gem of our Victorian heritage.

J Kenny, Hutton Road, Bradford 5.

SIR - Why are unruly teenagers allowed to roam the streets on the West Royd Estate during school term time, causing a nuisance/ harassment to many tenants, including damage to property, vehicles and anything else they seem to find of interest?

Where are these so-called snatch-squads of police and education welfare officers?

Ray Harrison, West Royd Drive, Windhill.

SIR - May I, at this early stage of 2003, confess that I've already broken all of my New Year's resolutions save one? I'm determined to give this substitute for the Jimmy Young programme a miss throughout the year in view of the ridiculous way this excellent broadcaster was treated by a sadly ageist BBC management.

Whether others will feel the same way and switch off I know not but it's a tactic which generally concentrates the minds of those who think they know best (although we're paying their wages) wonderfully.

Sid Brown, Glenhurst Road, Shipley.

SIR - I wonder whether your report regarding "the planned £200 Broadway shopping scheme" (T&A, January 3) was entirely intentional or the omission of the "million" merely a Freudian slip.

Perhaps like me you see all the signs of the Broadway development leaving us with the same signs of success as the Rawson Market redevelopment. It is after all something in which our endlessly-incompetent Council has influence.

I do hope they will refrain from demolition until they have assurances that there is a viable future for the site. Personally I would have thought it would be better as a public space rather than more unoccupied shops and office space.

David Simpson, Hirst Avenue, Heckmondwike.

SIR - In your letters page on December 31 a reader asks "Is there a memorial that commemorates the victims of the Low Moor Explosion?"

The only memorial that comes to mind about the Low Moor explosion in 1916 is the one dedicated to the six Bradford firemen who died as they entered the gates of the factory. This memorial in the form of a fireman holding a branch is in Scholemoor Cemetery where it has been vandalised.

I understand in the not-too-distant future this memorial will be moved to the headquarters of the West Yorkshire Fire Service at Birkenshaw. Bradford City Fire Service became part of the West Yorkshire Fire Service in the 1974 local government reorganisation.

I am not aware of any memorial to the civilian victims of the explosion.

R Banyard, West Park Road, Four Lane Ends, Bradford 8.

SIR - Your correspondent N Spring (Letters, December 31) is not the only victim of extortionate price-fixing over the holiday period; bus passengers have also been ripped off, yet again.

Not for the first time (see also Letters, January 11, 2000) First Bradford, having advertised and run a Saturday service at certain times, have nevertheless charged normal weekday fares.

Is this legal?

K A Webster, Abb Scott Lane, Bradford. 6.