SIR - I note with interest that Serco, the private firm awarded the contract to take over the running of Bradford's failing Local Education Authority, have appointed a managing director of education on a salary of £130,000 per annum.

One cannot argue with the appointment to this post of Mr Pattison, reputed to be the ninth best schools boss in the country, and his level of remuneration. Clearly he has been appointed to an extremely important post.

However, I find it difficult to appreciate the managerial philosophy of Bradford Council as they also made, last week, an appointment to the vacant council post of Director of Education (salary £90,000 per annum). So now we have two Directors of Education in our city!

To me as a layman there would seem to be a clear duplication of function and misuse of public money. What are the responsibilities of this postholder?

Unfortunately, that is not the end of this sad saga as in spite of their various privatisations, Bradford Council have found it necessary to introduce a new tier of top management.

Clearly, the time is now opportune for an independent review of the management of our local authority. It would appear public money is being wasted.

W F Cooper, Lucy Hall Drive, Baildon.

SIR - On behalf of the Bradford Players, I too wish to thank the Telegraph & Argus for their sterling work in bringing to the wider public the plight of the Priestley Centre which has elicited such a wonderful response.

This year my society has come together with the Priestley as their musical arm, and our first joint production is "Jack and the Beanstalk" running from November 30 to December 8.

It would have been a great shame if a first-rate cast of principals, singers and dancers, plus two teams of enthusiastic children, had been unable to perform - not to mention all the hard work already put in by the production team, backstage workers and cast.

So once again, many thanks from us all.

Mrs Patricia Robinson, President, The Bradford Players, Hollingwood Lane, Bradford 7.

SIR - Having endured chaos for months because of the construction of the guided busway in Manchester Road, we are now told that passengers will be provided with piped music and heated seats while they wait for a bus (T&A, November 5).

In the same edition of your newspaper, it was reported that Milton House elderly people's home may well have to close through lack of funding for necessary refurbishment

Get a grip, Council, and sort out your priorities.

David Slater, Avondale Road, Shipley.

SIR - On November 3, 1998, my three-year-old nephew died of meningitis.

On the third anniversary of his death, his mother and brother (my sister and nephew) went to visit his grave at Scholemoor Cemetery, only to find that once again it had been vandalised.

Toys were stolen, ornaments smashed, and a letter placed on his grave appealing for the offenders to stop had been shifted to another child's grave.

Practically every time we visit, something else has been done.

We have approached the police and the wardens but get the same reply: "We will increase patrols but nothing can be done." Why not?

Parts of the cemetery are covered by CCTV, but the section that needs it most is left without supervision. There are toys and ornaments on the graves, an attraction to youths who can find nothing better to do with their time.

With attitudes like this it is no wonder that people take the law into their own hands.

My family want to visit Sam's grave without worrying about what has happened next, and unless the Council do the right and decent thing and put CCTV in the whole of the cemetery, we will never be able to.

Andrew Dodd, St Paul's Avenue, Wibsey.

SIR - In response to Mr Andrew Bolt's letter (T&A, October 30) wanting reasons to stop moaning. Most of the things listed are the result of ten years of under-investment by Labour in Bradford - ten wasted years.

Liberal Democrats are working alongside other political parties to put some life back into our great city.

Watch this space, Mr Bolt! Ten years is a long time to put right, but we will get there if the people of Bradford give us chance.

Councillor Ann Ozolins (Lib-Dem, Idle Ward), Crofters Green, Idle.

SIR - At last, this country is beginning to recognise that the continued slaughter of further lives in Afghanistan will not bring those responsible for the deaths of September 11 to justice. How can the continued bombardment of Afghan peoples who have already suffered from the previous ten years of war and conflict be allowed to continue?

I continue to hope that public opinion against this Government's support for military action will grow in strength and that greater numbers of Bradford's residents will join in with the continual "Peace" vigils outside City Hall each Monday, between 5pm and 6pm.

Finally, I am due to co-ordinate a joint assembly with a fellow Quaker at my daughter's school in the near future, covering the subject of "Remembrance Day". We shall be discussing the origins of both the "Red remembrance" and "White peace" poppies and the significance of each.

I live in hope that our children for the future will connect with the importance to strive for peace and not allow the cycle of wars to continue which we are all too aware have taken place despite the declaration of world peace in 1946!

Paul Andrews, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Sherwood Grove, Shipley.

SIR - I'm sure I'm not alone in finding it grotesque that the richest country in the world should be bombing the poorest in the hope that this will establish its future security.

If the danger really came from a mere mad religious fanatic hiding there, one might find it cruel, but at least rational. But Osama bin Laden in his broadcast did not limit himself to vituperation against the Satanic West. He put forward four points with heavy resonance among the Arabic peoples, thereby proving himself a leader of some stature.

He wanted: 1, an end to the British and American bombing of Iraq and the killing of innocent civilians by blockade; 2, a secure homeland for the Palestinians; 3, a removal of US troops from his Holy Land Saudi Arabia and 4, a removal of British and US weaponry from the Middle East.

A handsome 6ft 5in hero of the war against the Russians, he could be more danger to us dead than alive, venerated as a martyr. If we really want to be rid of him, we'll take serious steps to meet those political demands, stop killing innocent people in Afghanistan and hob-nobbing with oppressive Islamic governments.

Alex Eaton, Tower Road, Shipley.