Letters to the Editor

Paisley, like many who support our first-past-the-post voting system, arrogantly ignores those who voted for smaller parties such as Sinn Fein or the SDLP and the many who did not vote because they were alienated by petty squabbling or by not getting a representative for their vote.

Paisley and others can make their outrageous claims but they don't necessarily have the support of the majority.

Like Paisley, many of our politicians talk glibly but proudly of "democracy" while using their size to impose their wills on the majority (eg the Poll Tax).

As Martin Bell illustrated in ousting Neil Hamilton in Tatton, the only sure way of getting rid of a Paisley or Hamilton under first-past-the-post is to turn the race into a two-horse one. But is this "democracy"?

John Hall, Pennithorne Avenue, Baildon.

SIR - We are always hearing about bad doctors and how poor our hospitals are. Please through your column may I say that we have been with the same GP, Dr Jandu, for many years now and have never had any complaints as regards treatment from him or any member of staff at two surgeries.

May I also say that since the beginning of May this year, my husband has been in and out of both Bradford hospitals for various reasons.

He spent 17 days in Ward 14 at BRI. Throughout this time every one was marvellous and, despite working long hours under some very difficult conditions (bus strike and fuel crisis), they were all very professional.

Mrs P Wright, South Road, Frizinghall.

SIR - I write in reply to the letter from Martin O'Hara (Monday, September 25) which I find both arrogant and ignorant of the facts.

The fuel protest was born out of frustration after two and a half years talking by the Road Haulage Association and the Freight Transport Association with the Government via the Transport Forum. The Government would not listen and, judging from recent comments from Mr Prescott, is still not prepared to listen.

The real truth of the cost of diesel to hauliers is the pump price paid this month of 86.36p per litre compared to Mr O'Hara's recommendation of 83.9 per litre at Morrisons supermarket.

If Mr O'Hara wishes to recommend cheaper diesel, then he should look at prices in Saltaire and Bingley which are up to 2p per litre cheaper. To answer the point on rebated diesel, the pump price paid this month is 31.08p per litre compared to a price of 16.07 per litre a year ago.

I suggest that before Martin O'Hara puts pen to paper to try and defend this Government, he should do a little research into the topic he wishes to discuss and not finish his letters with statements about efficient and responsible Labour Government when his political masters have presided over the Dome fiasco.

Would Mr O'Hara care to explain where the efficiency and responsibility lay in this project?

Michael Lonsdale, Acre Avenue, Eccleshill.

SIR - It is nice to see through the T&A Letters page that more and more people are getting wise to the facts regarding the European integration.

There is nothing to be gained from our going any further into this overrated circus at the other end of the Channel Tunnel.

It is costing us thousands of millions of pounds with very little in return for our not-required membership. We must get out now!

It is also very noticeable that if felons lose their case in our British courts, they take it to the European Courts who generally squash the British decisions, making a mockery of British justice.

The latest joke from the EU is for our jails to leave the cell doors open so that the prisoners can mix with the warders which will help them to get on better together.

Derek Wright, Westbury Street, Bradford 4.

SIR - Does one remember the outcry some years ago when the Bank of England spent billions on sterling to prop up the value of the pound? Guess where the outcry mainly came from? Yes, the Labour ranks! Now the Bank of England is throwing billions at the ailing euro and who instructed it to do so? Yes, Gordon Brown. Billions of a strong currency in exchange for a very weak one, which rallied a little but whose future is so uncertain.

Obviously something had to be done about the euro. It might have been less costly if it had been scrapped.

The strength of the euro is only important because it has been adopted by some of the main countries in Europe and therefore is a major, if weak, player on the world markets.

A weak franc, florin or mark would not have needed support on such a scale but only on the part of the country whose currency it was.

As I've said before, "Euro - never".

P E Bird, Nab Wood Terrace, Shipley.

SIR - I would like to ask for your readers' help during Breast Cancer Awareness Month this month.

In the UK, more than 35,000 people each year are told that they have breast cancer. This figure isn't just for women - men are also diagnosed with this disease.

Breast cancer touches many lives, including families and friends of people diagnosed. That's why support is the theme of Imperial Cancer Research Fund's Breast Cancer Awareness Month campaign.

Y can help support our active breast cancer research programme by taking part in one of the many fundraising events happening across the country in October.

For more information about events taking place throughout the month, please call Imperial Cancer's hotline: 0870 1611600, or visit our dedicated website for information about breast cancer: www.breastaware.org.

You can also get a free booklet - "Breast Cancer, Spotting the Symptoms Early" which explains how to be 'breast aware' and which changes to look out for, as well as what to do next.

Just send an A5 stamped addressed envelope to: Breast Cancer leaflet, Communications Department, Imperial Cancer Research Fund, PO Box 123, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3PX.

Sir Paul Nurse, director general of Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3PX.

SIR - Re Michael Breen's letter (T&A, September 9) under the heading 'Time To Go'.

I well remember Winston Churchill's address to Neville Chamberlain. It was a great topic of discussion in the BEF France 1940.

I can also recall the discussion we had in the Sergeants' Mess in Italy on July 5, 1945, about the general election on that date when we voted in a Labour Government and ridiculed the idea that Nye Bevan could produce a health service in three years.

What a wonderful day, Monday July 5, 1948. I remember it well, working as a bricklayer at Derbyshire Royal Infirmary. We were so proud of the work we were doing as the first employees of the NHS.

Who could ever forget July 5. I never have. It's my wife's birthday!

Tom Bunting, Rydal Avenue, Baildon.

SIR - With regard to the correspondence on the subject of ritual slaughtering of animals.

The question must be asked that if the defenders of ritual slaughtering were to have THEIR throats cut, would they prefer to stick to their religious principles or would they wish to be pre-stunned?

Geoffrey Holmes, The Grove, Idle.