SIR - In his letter of December 16 Ray Price, managing director of Arriva Trains Northern, fails to mention that he is a member of a board of directors who recently awarded themselves bonuses of over £100,000 a year.

Arriva is a company which has received millions of pounds of government subsidies while being responsible for people having to travel on its trains in grossly overcrowded and dirty conditions.

Last year I had the misfortune to travel on the Arriva service to Blackpool, standing up all the way to Blackburn, along with dozens of other people, in a two-carriage train which could only be described as a "cattle wagon". When I wrote to Arriva about the matter, they did not even have the decency to reply.

Those conditions are not unique. When you add dirty trains, trains that do not turn up, unexplained stoppages in the many tunnels on trans-Pennine journeys and the fact that Arriva don't reply to letters of complaint, then you realise why I had to reply to Mr Price's grossly hypocritical letter.

Sean Connor, Aurelia House, Cunliffe Road, Bradford 8

SIR - It was with great interest I read the article by Mike Priestley concerning the omission of Wyke from a new book about Bradford suburbs. This is the latest in a series of events that have occurred over the last few years.

When the guided bus lane was being planned, consultations were held with every man and his dog in Wibsey, Oakenshaw, West Bowling etc. but not Wyke which is where the road goes to!

We do get copies of the local government newsletters, but unfortunately they come from Kirklees.

Wyke is a quiet and friendly backwater enjoying close access to beautiful countryside and woodlands. As we now seem to have become a republic we will hopefully not have to become involved in some of the Bradford area's stranger happenings and will continue to be left alone.

Richard Hughes, Elizabeth Avenue, Wyke.

SIR - Since the Conservatives took control of Bradford Council with the support of the Liberals, your newspaper has behaved almost as a free publicity sheet for Margaret Eaton and Co.

Rarely a day goes by when we are not confronted with a photograph of a grinning Coun Eaton as she tries to jump on to any bandwagon going. Your newspaper happily goes along with the whole charade.

However, if you are going to get your newspaper involved in party politics (T&A, Comment, December 4), then could you also in the interests of balance make some criticism of this Conservative-led Council's record in office?

Could you for example ask them why they were recently trying to close three old people's homes because they said they are unable to afford the running of them, but can give the Bradford Bulls £4.6 million? Why have they stopped all repairs to Council housing because they are unable to afford it, but are able to spend £100,000 a month on consultants' fees?

Alan Wainwright, Rushmoor Road, Holme Wood, Bradford.

l EDITOR'S NOTE: We used to receive the same criticisms from Tory supporters when Labour were in power. Simply reporting the business of the Council does not mean supporting it politically. If, for instance, we hadn't reported the Council's proposed homes closure - which, incidentally, we urged them to rethink in our Comment column - opposition to them would never have been instigated. We remain independent, impartial and non-partisan and will criticise any party if we feel its actions are wrong for Bradford and its people.

SIR - We note with great concern that under the Council's Unitary Development Plan (UDP) the policy is to remove Special Landscape Areas from the whole of the Bradford area map. These Special Landscape Areas were seen as areas of high-quality landscape.

We believe that once "Special" has been deleted from these areas and replaced by a policy of Landscape Character Assessment (LCA) this will weaken protection of these areas and the Green Belt.

If you share our concerns please send a letter of support with your names and addresses to us stating that you do not agree with the removal of SLAs by the Council and that you wish these to be retained within the whole of the Bradford area, or any other comments.

Your comments will be forwarded with our own to the Council before the pubic inquiry.

Derrick and Dorothy Barker, 10 The Ghyll, Cottingley Drive, Bingley, BD16 1NT.

SIR - I am one of three soldiers serving here in Kosovo over the seasonal period who hail from Bradford, and as the highest rank I have been asked to write to ask you if it would be possible for a Christmas message from as all to be printed in the Christmas Eve edition of your excellent newspaper.

We would like to wish a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to our families and loved ones, from Colin Byrne, Michael Townend and "Pops" Popplewell. Looking forward to seeing you all in 2003.

Here in Kosovo we don't get many opportunities to read the T&A very often but we look forward to our return in April and catching up with the news in Bradford.

CP Byrne, RLC Stores Section, ES Platoon, UK Combat Service Support Squadron.

SIR - I watched with disgust the Trouble Up North TV programme in which the families of the Bradford rioters talked about their appeals on behalf of them.

None of the families expressed any remorse or distaste at the actions of these rioters. Instead they just dwelled on the fact that "he only threw a couple of stones".

Are these people blind? Can they not see what their husbands, sons and brothers did to Bradford? Millions of pounds of damage was caused and the Asian community's reputation was ruined. They tarnished our name forever.

How dare they now make demands for lenient sentences. As for the lawyer Imran Khan, he should be ashamed of himself for taking on an obviously meritless and hopeless case.

The families kept saying that all they want is justice. Well, that's exactly what they got.

Shazia Khan, Ryan Street, West Bowling.

SIR - As the past year has been more difficult for me (I am now registered blind) I would like to thank those who have made it more bearable.

My list includes: bus drivers, especially the Bradford Moor route when I could use the buses; taxi drivers especially from the Eccleshill United depot; staff at Barkerend Post Office, newsagents and Kwiksave, staff at Morrisons (Thornbury branch); Rimmington chemist and staff at the Yorkshire Building Society (Howard House branch).

Thanks too to all those who help produce the Talking Telegraph tape which keeps me up to date with the local news and gossip, and to those who have held doors open and helped me across roads and on and off buses.

But above all my thanks to my friends who have been there for me during difficult times.

To all those that I have mentioned and to all your readers may I wish a very happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

Margaret Lee, Barkerend Road, Bradford.

SIR - I have read with interest your write-up by Kathryn Kittley of the life and times of the late Graham Watson, also the fitting tribute in the acknowledgement column and comment by Phil Boase.

While I concur with everything said, having worked at the mill from 1931 to 1954 except for the war years, I was surprised no mention was made of "Billie" Watson, Graham's brother who also had an office in the Dress Silk Dept and frequently checked all was well and shipshape as he strode through the various sections of the mill.

Quite different to Graham, he was the sporting type who entered into the inter-departmental sports competitions. I remarked to my team members to say "Sorry Sir" when tackling him.

What a fine specimen of British manhood he was. His marriage just before the war was a highlight to which work people flocked.

How tragic that a short time later, returning from his honeymoon in his Delage tourer, he was killed on the Great North Road.

The mill folk mourned with the family.

Bill Edmondson, Royd Street, Wilsden.