SIR - Now that our complacent, arrogant rulers have been given a bloody nose over the petrol crisis, maybe they have learned that the people of this country cannot be fed spin and propaganda forever without eventually fighting back.

I wonder, though, whether anyone in authority has the guts to face up to another fact, and that is that people in a modern, sophisticated, high-tech society are never going to give up their own form of personal transport, that is their cars.

Ever since man first jumped on the back of a horse and said "Hey this is better than walking!", we have had some form of personal transport and this is never going to change.

I wonder when someone in authority is finally going to wake up to this reality. Have any of them ever thought that one of the main reasons for the failure of the Dome is that people could not travel there by car?

Maybe Bradford could take a lead and save its city centre from decline and inevitable extinction by declaring itself the first car-friendly city in the country. Some hope!

M Wood, Westercroft View, Northowram.

SIR - If it's how we live, not what we say, that reveals who we are to our young people, what message does the general attitude to the fuel crisis give to them?

Perhaps the unspoken message is this: "You can't expect to be taken notice of if you protest about environmental degradation which is enough to make you despair and make you ill. Or about Third World debt, or the fact that nothing you hold dear is safe from being appropriated and sold back to you somehow.

"You will only be supported by many and listened to if you protest about money. YOUR money. And preferably when it relates to consumer or motorist 'freedoms' - which are among few which the economy promotes and which we therefore aren't prepared to lose."

So having given young people the idea that it's not realistic to care about very much at all, why be surprised or disappointed that some appear not to?

Is the question too simple or have we made modern life too complicated for ourselves?

Sally Fildes-Moss, Wilmer Road, Heaton.

SIR - We on Newlands have been asking the same questions that ManninghamResidents Association have done.

We have written to the chairman of Newlands on numerous occasions asking where the SRB money is spent and have not received answers to our questions.

Fagley Action Group has been fighting for this, but just get fobbed off. We wrote to Margaret Eaton and she stated she would look into it. Nothing has been spent on Fagley, only a couple of thousand ponds. Most money is going on management and silly schemes which do not give our youngsters jobs.

J R Smith, Flawith Drive, Fagley.

SIR - Re the debate on the Euro, Mr Chris Leslie will not be surprised to know I disagree with him.

To some things one has to say "never" - the legalising of murder for instance (to be facetious) and definitely the relinquishing of one's own currency.

If we had had a single currency in Wilson's days, what would poor Harold have done to safeguard himself and the country's economy?

He wouldn't have broadcast that the Euro in your pocket was still the same Euro because he couldn't have devalued the Euro.

This illustrates, however, just how important it is for a Government to have its own control over its currency.

If it were taken up, all our costs and prices would be locked in permanently into the value of the pound/Euro at the time of transition.

The UK Government would be impotent and our economy would be geared to that of the whole and diverse union.

Even if the rest declare they met the Maastricht criteria, it is common knowledge that even Germany as well as France and Italy cooked their books.

And I haven't mentioned such as Greece or Portugal!

P E Bird, Nab Wood Terrace, Shipley.

SIR - I read with much interest the letter entitled "Not so Cruel".

I have no doubt that animals suffer during slaughter, due to human or mechanical error, in both the electric stunning and captive bolt methods but on the whole these are still the least cruel methods of slaughter.

Mr Amin stated in his letter that it is sometimes difficult to accurately shoot a struggling animal, but surely this must also apply to any struggling animal (large or small) being killed by the Halal method or are we to believe that animals killed in this way are soothed into submission, therefore suffering no distress, fear or pain? I think not!

Mr Amin also states, and I suspect firmly believes, that the Halal method of slaughter is much less cruel.

Taking into account the extremely large number of animals killed by the Halal method, how can we believe that it will always be carried out "properly"?

Mrs Edwina Bland, Oldfield, Keighley.

SIR - Not long ago I saw a US film where college students were handed out degrees to the stirring tune of Land of Hope and Glory. OUR Land of Hope and Glory.

A short time later I watched as Miss Israel was handed her beauty queen crown to the stirring tune of Land of Hope and Glory. OUR Land of Hope and Glory.

And a few weeks after that I saw the German football league champions handed their championship shield to the stirring tune of Land of Hope and Glory. OUR Land of Hope and Glory.

So why is it that every nation and people on earth recognise Land of Hope and Glory as the most stirring, uplifting patriotic song in the entire universe, except England and the English, by whom and for whom it was written?

Come the Rugby League World Cup in a few weeks time, will league authorities have our national team stand to an English national song, or display the same incredible ignorance of their soccer and union counterparts and use the ever-so-common tune God Save the Queen, the British anthem?

Eric Firth, Wellington Street, Wilsden.

SIR - It was a pleasure to attend the Open Day at Lawcroft House Police Station on September 10.

Events like this only serve to enrich the neighbourhood and the city as a whole.

The presence of so many happy, relaxed and public-spirited Bradfordians can only help to continue in the sometimes difficult process of bridge-building.

The unveiling of the banners and the utter delight and pride of the winners and their families revealed only a small part of the talent in our city.

I also know how much personal time goes into making such a community event successful, so thanks to all concerned.

Susan Brown, Woodville Place, Heaton.