SIR - Last year the council tax for Bradford was increased by 5.8 per cent. This year it rose by 5.5 per cent. We have had the usual tiresome exchange whereby the Government blame the councils and so on for the increase.

Based on the Treasury's November 2001 Pre Budget Report, assuming this year's forecasted yield of £15.8 billion, the council tax yield nationally will have risen by £4.2 billion in real terms (ie, above the rate of inflation), since 1996/7. This is equivalent to 1.5p on the basic rate of tax.

Some proportion of every council taxpayer's bill is paid into their council employees' pension fund. This year for Bradford the figure is some £11 million.

I am on the minimum wage. I am not eligible for state benefits. The very last thing I can afford is a pension.

However, I am left in the position of trying to find money - under penalty of possible imprisonment - to fund other people's retirement.

Meanwhile MPs last summer voted themselves a 20 per cent rise in the benefits of their already very generous final-salary scheme. I invite my MP, Gerry Sutcliffe, to defend this double standard. I shan't hold my breath.

Barry Daniels, Hawes Road, Bradford 5.

SIR - Regarding the Bradford car park "cruisers" and their demands. Why not open up the old Transperience site to them at an agreed entrance fee (the £1 suggested being impractical and miserly).

This would bring more revenue into Bradford as a place for enthusiastic youth. It is ideally situated on the M606 for incomers from the M62 and M1. Sites within the perimeter could be made available for a fee to traders (snack trailers).

A public address system could be easily installed. The enthusiasts could run the events (no interference from the authorities). An audience could be bussed in (this would increase the takings).

It could be the centre of excellence for cruising in this country, a giant step forward by Bradford to give our youth a place of their own. And it would recoup the losses incurred by Transperience.

I know it must be difficult for the Council to bend to the wishes of the youth of today. So perhaps the only way it could be brought to fruition is by a forward-looking entrepreneur stepping in. Any takers?

Trevor Williams-Berry, Bredon Avenue, Wrose.

SIR - I was glad to see that Bradford City have an under-12s football team but horrified by the photograph which showed them smiling after losing. And what's more, they were all clean!

Perhaps they have not yet learned that it is better to be a miserable winner than a happy loser !

No wonder that Bradford City FC are languishing in the First Division instead of the Premiership with this attitude! I am not advocating that they all become "Rambos" without humour but just to adopt a more serious approach to winning.

Then and only then will we begin to have a successful team in Bradford.

Phil Boase, Elizabeth Street, Wyke

SIR - I would like to add to the letter from Councillor Palfreeman (T&A, March 27) regarding policing. On top of the issue of the lost 400 police officers and inadequate funding, there is the fact that it takes two years to fully train a new recruit.

Therefore we will not be seeing many of these "new" officers for some time. What local people consistently want are "Bobbies on the Beat". Unfortunately, the problem of funding will not go away. Home Secretary David Blunkett supports community policing, yet has not provided any extra money.

Where community policing has taken place in the UK, there have been huge falls in street crime and it has proven popular among local people. However, the funding for such schemes has come from local people paying Council Tax, not from the Government.

Council Tax payers in Bradford have seen the police levy rise by 25 per cent just to pay for the riots. How shall Bradford get its much-needed "Bobbies on the Beat" if the Government will not help? Will local people be expected to pay even more?

Councillor Robert Reynolds (Conservative, Wyke Ward) Westminster Crescent, Clayton

SIR - George Bush is a master of confusion. Politically and intellectually he is so sub-standard in leading the world that it worries me. Add to that a smiley "obedient servant" Blair and you have got a classic comedy sketch.

As every day goes by, the Bush-Blair axis is slowly pushing the world towards a Third World War. Did our Parliament get a chance to discuss the massacre in Palestine or Israel's arrogance in ignoring the European Union's efforts for peace in the area or Blair's comments that he will support a US unilateral military attack against Saddam Hussain?

US and Israel are playing a "good cop, bad cop" game which is costing thousands of lives in Palestine.

Now that the UN knows that the US and UK have already made up their minds on Iraq, the other permanent members of UN Security council should start negotiating with Iraq to send arms inspectors in.

The US and UK should keep out of this process, as they have already spoken and they or their inspectors can never be objective on this matter.

Shaukat Ahmed, The Boundary, Bradford 8.

SIR - Re the article on the hoped-for repair to Lund Tower which stands above the villages of Cross Hills and Sutton-in-Craven.

I was always told (being born in Cross Hills) that the tower was built as a memorial to the daughter of James Lund, who was horse riding when the animal bolted and tried to jump the iron gates at the end of their drive. She was thrown from the saddle and killed.

Another thing about the tower. My grandfather and another man and an apprentice had a hand in its construction and the apprentice had a habit of regularly being late for work.

As a punishment one day, my grandfather and his mate cemented the lad's lunchbox under one of the steps.

My grandfather was Arthur Riddiough who died in 1952 and was a plumber and glazier in Cross Hills. His grandson and great-grandson now carry on the business which was founded well over 100 years ago.

Catherine R Thomas, Grovelands, Bradford 2.

SIR - The other day I read with disgust about the visit by Cherie Blair, pictured, to Seaworld in Florida, and splashed across the page was a photograph of her hugging one of the captive killer whales.

I think that being the wife of the Prime Minister it is extremely politically incorrect that she is seen to be supporting organisations that hold killer whales captive, especially when there has been so much controversy about it and much campaigning for the release of the animals.

It may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for Cherie Blair to get the opportunity to hug a killer whale but it would be a lifetime experience for the whales if they were to be released back into the wild.

Debbie Alstead, North Bank Road, Bingley

SIR - In reply to Mr Paul Wade's letter (T&A, April 3). The stewards are Bradford City stewards, not the Bulls'. The Bulls have very little control over them and how they operate. Both home and away supporters have had problems, more so the away fans.

The stewards are used to dealing with football fans and they are very different to the majority of Rugby League fans.

Gillian Johnson, Owlet Road, Shipley.

SIR - I went to the Spen Valley Gang Show last week. It was a super show and good to see so many young people putting on such a splendid effort.

It was a 21-years celebration. All the hard work that went into it proved worthwhile.

Mrs P Oldridge, Langland Road, Cottingley.