SIR - Sunday, January 27, is Holocaust Day.

I attach a record of my thoughts following a recent visit to one of the German concentration camps.

I invite you to use them as a reminder of past dreadful events and a warning about the evils of racism.

The Haiku is a three line poem which captures a fleeting moment.

I wrote these four Haiku after a visit to Bergen Belsen, the former Nazi concentration camp, in an effort to capture the feelings and emotions I experienced.

LINDA BARRACLOUGH

Cavendish Street, Keighley

Bergen Belsen

The smell of fear

remains

feelings of helplessness

linger

In the fields of tortured

souls.

Silent song birds

unscented pines

the legacy of evil

The black sole curls

covered in green moss

silently crying

No sign posts direct

to heather clad mounds

uncover them and weep

SIR - There is news that a deal with India for the export of $1.5billion worth of military planes is likely.

This news, together with the lifting of an arms embargo on Pakistan by the Americans and the India-Pakistan dispute over Kashmir, which could threaten us all with nuclear war, is a recipe for disaster.

There is to be an international arms fair in Delhi next month and Britain will be one of the biggest contributors - the stand will be funded by British taxpayers.

Perhaps we should be asking the prime minister how he equates the export of military hardware with the fine words he has been using while on his visits to India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

How can the issue of poverty and development be addressed and Britain play a serious role in peace keeping while our living standards depend so much on the poor of the world buying planes, guns and bullets from us?

SYLVIA BOYES

Wimborne Drive, Keighley

SIR - I am becoming more and more fed up with the way Downs Syndrome is being portrayed in the media.

Sensational stories about genetic testing seem rife but never is it printed that life with Downs Syndrome is rewarding and not the end of the world.

More and more pressure is put on women to be tested for Downs, even though this could result in miscarriage. I believe as parents it is right that we ultimately decide what is best, but only when this is an informed decision.

Kids with Downs are usually healthy, go to mainstream schools, make friends, go out to work, get married like anyone else. They are not something to be afraid of or feared.

I would like the media to have the guts to portray people with Downs in mainstream programmes doing normal things rather than in contrived story lines which focus on the perceived disability rather than the person.

Downs Syndrome is not a disease or an illness, it is the most common form of learning disability. Kids affected by Downs are not placid as stereotyped.

They are full of potential and - most importantly - individuals.

Having a child with a disability does not ruin lives, but fear fuelled by prejudice does.

KAREN McNULTY

Elm View, Steeton.

SIR - Bradford Council is promoting the idea that Bradford and its subservient outer districts should bid to become a European Capital of Culture.

In your Keighley News Opinion column 18/1/02 the heading states that it is now 'Time to bury any animosity and back culture bid.'

Obviously many will say that Bradford's cultural aim is laudable and should be encouraged. Apparently when Bradford became the 'Curry Capital' of Europe a huge influx of visitors from around the western world were persuaded to partake of Bradford's unique new cuisine.

No figures are available to back up such spurious claims, however.

Now political spin from Bradford's cathedral of public relations, City Hall, implies that millions of culture seeking tourists will hunt out the many artistic and edifying delights that Bradford has to offer and so create economic happiness for us all. I'm not so sure!

A letter in the same issue of the Keighley News by Paramedic in Keighley graphically illustrates the violence within our society.

Sadly, with all the best wishes in the world, the reality is that parts of Keighley and of Bradford are out of bounds to many ratepayers and visitors, day or night!

May I therefore suggest that the brains and efforts, which make up Bradford Metropolitan District Council, first make City and Town centres within its boundaries a safe place to walk at night before embarking on any cultural bid?

Finally. Mohammed Saleem, a Keighley community leader, echoes the feelings of many local people, Keighley is once again excluded from mayor consultations.

'Time to bury any animosity and back culture bid.' Why not ask all the people of Keighley and district for their views, or are we ruralites to be force-fed culture?

DAVID SAMUELS

Station Road, Oxenhope.

SIR - Re your letter to Keighley News on January 4 about the plight of the elderly in ice-bound Greenhead Road.

We on the brow side of Haworth have the same problem - cannot get out of our houses to go shopping or to the doctors or anything that involves venturing outside the home.

Bradford Council seem to think all OAPs are either in Anchor Housing or in Heathcliffe Homes.

I for one do meals on wheels in Haworth, so if there is snow and frost we are unable to do our duty as the roads are not salted. Come on Bradford Council, do your bit for Haworth folk.

School children going to school slipping and sliding all over the place, falling and injuring themselves.

One young man fell and injured himself, injuring his head, finishing up in hospital.

When I approached the people who are gritting they say they have to look after the tourists on the other side of Haworth.

We also have to pay Council Tax like any other householders, so come on, play fair and let's have some salt on Prince Street.

BARBARA BENTHAM

Dean Street, Haworth.