Letters to the Editor

Their prompt and caring response brought to a happy conclusion a situation that had been a nightmare for us.

We, her friends, had spent the best part of an hour searching for her, after she (a lady with Down's Syndrome) was thoughtlessly abandoned by the taxi driver responsible for making sure she was safely in our care.

Imagine this extremely vulnerable lady, dropped off in the middle of Manningham, on a busy match day, and left to fend for herself. Imagine too, our fears when we knew she had gone missing.

Anyway, this plucky little lady made it all the way to the ground on her own, and it was not long before those "Guardian Angels" on reception spotted her distress, coming swiftly to her aid, and comfort.

When we caught up with her, she had already made new friends of her rescuers, who included, among other kind folk, Elaine, Gareth, Jean, and Tony, the chief steward.

We wish to express our profound thanks to all at Bradford City. In an increasingly cynical era of football, it is gratifying to see the club measuring up, through the excellence of its staff, to heart-warming community values.

Whatever the results on the field, it makes us proud to be fans of the Bantams.

Eddie Hughes, and Ingrid Dzerins and Andrew Greenough, Woodview Terrace, Manningham.

SIR - The Capital of Culture proposals invite our ideas. I propose that Bradford Council should nurture and encourage an annual arts and music festival.

The festival could feature both local and international artists. There should be an emphasis on involving Bradford schools, artists and cultural groups. The majority of people working for this festival should be local so Bradford can proudly demonstrate what its residents can achieve from within.

Were such an event to be supported by the Council, no doubt their effort in creating a bonded community in Bradford would be recognised.

Yet Bradford Council would not consider the above to be a sensible option and has chosen to abandon and discard the wealth of talent and dedication that has previously been given to the city.

I feel that the gap between Bradford Council and those it is meant to represent has widened yet again.

Peter Foulkes, Legrams Lane, Bradford 7.

SIR - So New Labour wishes to impose a referendum on Bradford to waste money on proposing something the very large majority of people in the city do not want, eg an elected mayor.

How can it be perceived as an important issue when only 37,000 people expressed a preference either way out of the total eligible voting population?

If this pointless exercise is enforced, will New Labour pay for it? And will provisions be included to ensure that the majority has to be at least 51 per cent of the eligible voting population, and not just those that vote, so we do not have a system enforced upon us?

The majority of people are clearly not interested either way. That's English indifference to politics today.

M McCabe, High Street, Thornton.

SIR - The bombing of Afghanistan has achieved: the death of more civilians; destruction of some holy places; destruction of the environment; pushing Pakistan nearer to destabilisation; driving people from their homes; the destruction of a nation's history (Kabul, Kandar, Jalalabad and other cities were as dear to the people of the area as New York and Washington are to the Americans); pounding tons of bombs into the soil, making it unworthy of production.

Both Pakistan and Afghanistan have paid the highest price for America's interests. First they fought America's war with Russia on their own soils and now they are suffering this terrorism.

If it really had been a war against terrorism, they would have bombed Israel long ago for not giving the right of living to the Palestinians or to India for not freeing Kashmir.

Now this latest stunt of biological war in America means involving other states. After all, both America and Britain have to find an excuse to show off their might and to test their deadliest weapons.

Will these wars and the mass terrorist hunt wipe out the evil, once and for all?

No, it will not, as long as the big powers are unfair, unjust, and fundamentalist themselves.

Z Jabeen, Ferndown Green, Bradford.

SIR - Osama bin Laden's threat that thousands of young Muslims in Britain are willing to die in suicide attacks should not be taken very lightly.

Muslim clerics with extremist views have been imported specifically to prepare gullible youths for a holy war against the infidels. Imams all across the country are urging Muslims to take part in a holy war.

Immigration loopholes are being fully exploited by bin Laden supporters and the Government should accept complete responsibility for putting our safety at risk.

Our laws on deportation and repatriation are also open to widespread abuse, because we allow the right to appeal, appeal, appeal and appeal again. Most aren't removed anyway because of marriages of convenience.

Islam is undoubtedly the truth and jihad is a fundamental part of Islam, but there are conditions attached to this.

I Khan, Heaton Road, Bradford

SIR - Tony Blair recently declared that Jews, Christians, and Muslims are all children of Abraham.

Well count me out, Mr Blair. Abraham was a man who was prepared to plunge a knife into his own son because a voice told him to, and also to pass off his own wife as his sister to save his own skin. I'm no child of Abraham.

Like every other being, I was created by the power and energy of the universe. A spirit that Isaac Newton described as "a vibratory energy pervading all known space" and in which, the Bible says: "We live, move and have our being."

Why do Westerners humiliate themselves by believing in bearded Middle Eastern gods? Each religion has created its own god in its own image.

In different factions this god has been moulded to a particular taste.

Bin Laden has a taste for western blood. His hatred, like that of Khomeni before, is born of sheer envy. And as Khomeni died in agony from the cancer his thoughts had created in his body, so bin Laden will die in the terror he created.

Eric Firth, Wellington Street, Wilsden.

SIR - It occurs to me that instead of counter-attacking the terrorists, thus widening the base of terrorism and killing innocent people in the process, we must resolve to eradicate the root cause of terrorism which is inequality and injustice all over the world.

I believe if all of us accept and respect other people's religion, way of life and ideology, and be tolerant of other fellow human beings, then this world could be a much safer place to live and enjoy.

M. A. Choudhury, Ashwell Road, Bradford 9

SIR - Pressure by the many faiths and religions calling on the USA and Britain to stay the onslaught against the Taliban stands little chance of success

A more logical approach to the problem surely would be to wave banners demanding bin Laden's surrender to prevent the eventual destruction of Afghanistan.

Kenneth E Higgins, Carr Bottom Road, Little Horton.