Letters to the Editor

Recently I have had cause to complain about youths throwing stones and fireworks at windows in my area. On phoning the police I was told all calls now go through to the central control in Wakefield.

No wonder it takes time for things to get sorted out at local level.

I do not blame the ordinary PC for this. He (or she) just does as they are told. No it's the staff officers (like most staff officers) who cause the cock-ups.

What we need are more not less patrols on the streets, and better liaison with the community at large, and calls met at local level not at some central point.

Colin McLean, Kensington Street, Girlington.

SIR - On behalf of myself and other residents of the Stone Hall Road area of Eccleshill, can I thank the police for their action in what can only be described as a "nightmare"?

Night after night during mid-October gangs of youths would congregate around the recreation ground, shouting and screaming, releasing rockets and bombs, with motor bikes racing up and down Stone Hall Road from around 7.30pm until may be 11pm.

I received numerous telephone calls from some "not-so-young" local people suggesting that what they were experiencing was probably what was experienced in London during the days of the "buzz-bombs".

I wrote to the police for assistance and their response was immediate and effective. Our evenings are peaceful again. Thanks again.

Councillor Peter Lancaster, Flaxman Road, Eccleshill.

SIR - It is good of the unions to link up with protesters against Stock Transfer, good to see them take an interest in tenants, good to see them looking after assets.

I hope tenants are not misled. Unions are only interested in members, nothing else.

Look around at boarded-up properties. It's not all vandalism, I am sure. Bad management and neglect allowing deterioration must be taken into account.

Let us not be hoodwinked. I say yes to Stock Transfer, the sooner the better.

Stephen Walsh, Church Street, Bingley.

SIR - As a member of what I now suppose is the former Bradford Festival Mela Advisory Group, I write to express my sadness to discover that the responsibility for Bradford Festival and the Bradford Festival Mela has passed to a new company.

I would like to know what marvellous things the new company will deliver that the old company, who after all created and developed the Festival and Mela, could not?

I am also curious to know exactly what changes, if any, will be made to the Mela in particular?

The Mela has been a glorious celebration of all cultures and has made a unique and positive cultural contribution to the city. Any diminution of it would be disastrous.

It should not be forgotten that it has been a difficult jigsaw to assemble. The pieces could too easily be scattered and that would cause great damage to our already beleaguered city. There are many, many people I know would like answers to my questions.

Will anyone answer?

Balbir Singh, Spring Hill, Wrose.

SIR - Clive Woodward claims his England rugby union team threw away their game against Ireland. No they didn't Clive, they kicked it away - just like they used to do years ago before you remodelled them on Wigan. The once-promising young Jonny Wilkinson has become boring Rob Andrews Mk 2. A two-year contract at Wigan, Bradford or St Helens, would have made him a real superstar.

England also played in an uninspiring all-white 1950s-type strip, and showed a distinct lack of pride in their country by standing to the United Kingdom anthem, suggesting that England is not even a nation.

This lack of national pride is the reason we so often lose at both football and rugby to countries like Scotland, Wales and Ireland, who by rights we should beat by cricket scores.

Eric Firth, Wellington Street, Wilsden.

SIR - To avoid further riots we don't need more cushy committees, more politically correct reports, income regeneration programmes or meddling from the CRE. We just need the judges in the riot cases to see common sense and not be forced into leniency by the ethnic-minorities lobby.

I appeal to all the judges to save Bradford from further catastrophes. Asian businesses all over Bradford are being boycotted by the indigenous population because they feel that Pakistanis cannot control their sons.

I have been self-employed in Bradford for 12 years and since July 7 my business has slumped, not to mention the vandalism caused by white youths in revenge attacks.

The judges have a moral obligation to punish the rioters in a manner that would act as a deterrent to other potential rioters.

I also make a plea to the indigenous population not to blame all Asians for the riots and to unite in ensuring that tough sentences are imposed. The judges will not only be deciding the fate of rioters but the fate of Bradford as a whole.

If justice is not done I will definitely be joining the mass exodus of people from Bradford. Please save Bradford, judges.

Ameen Patel, Thornton Road, Bradford

SIR - Watching the Kilroy TV programme about the disruption young people cause, the best answer came from a lady who said they should be brought face to face with the person they have done damage to and made to work to pay them back.

This is what should be done in Bradford with the rioters. Why should the public pay?

D Burnett, Great Horton Road, Great Horton.