SIR - I was recently burgled - numerous personal items were stolen including a music system and more than 100 CDs.

I was visited within one hour of reporting the burglary by PC 574 Hardcastle who provided me with advice on how to make my home secure, in a sympathetic, supportive and informed manner.

PC Hardcastle provided me with a support pack and thoroughly checked through the inside and exterior of my house for items to preserve for fingerprint examination.

The fingerprint officer who visited the following day was as equally professional and supportive. Both officers gave me details regarding the process of investigation and advice on ways to secure my house to prevent further incidents.

It has been a long time since I have received such a professional, informed and supportive service from a private or public sector agency. Both officers were a credit to the West Yorkshire Police Force.

I am a local government officer and like colleagues in the police force, many of us work extremely hard to serve the community but very rarely do we read press reports to credit our hard work and dedication to duty, which can prove to be extremely demoralising.

M Harper, Alderscholes Lane, Thornton.

SIR - Regarding the article "Could this be the future?" (T&A, August 16), and the controversy regarding the future of Provincial House.

In my opinion the idea put forward by Allan Brach is the best. The plan by St James Securities must be rejected.

A building of "drama and scale" could be on the lines of the Yorkshire Building Society HQ in Rooley Lane.

It has to be remembered that Provincial House replaced those little gems of architecture, Collinsons Caf and the Mechanics Institute. We must not make the ghastly mistakes of the 1960s.

The news that the central police station could be left empty makes the situation more urgent.

We could be faced with the centre of Bradford looking like Shipley Market Place. For heaven's sake, let's get our act together. There has been quite enough stupid fooling around.

Jack Mawson, Grove House Crescent, Bradford 2.

SIR - The only thing "striking" about Provincial House is its eternal ugliness, rivalled only by its partner in crime, the West Yorkshire Police HQ.

By contrast, the suggested Louvre-like pyramid of shimmering glass and steel would be a superb enhancement to Centenary Square and the city. Bring on the dynamite!

Colin Hingston, Sowden Road, Heaton, Bradford.

SIR - Someone in arranging the bus changes has really messed up. I refer to the old 608 and 609 buses (new departure point in Market Street).

In the past they left from Hall Ings. Market Street is certainly more central but Hall Ings was a covered location with seats for the elderly and was only for 608 and 609 passengers.

Now the Market Street departure point is for the Leeds 670, 645 and 646, Fagley and some other buses.

When one of the above buses arrives, there is chaos in the queue with some people not moving and others breaking out of the line. The elderly are in danger of being knocked down in the rush.

The new buses have so much space for prams and only two seats for the elderly.

Why can't a place for these prams be installed just as they were on the old buses as now very young mothers use the seats the elderly used to have near the front of the bus?

C Duckworth, Harrogate Road, Bradford.

SIR - I agree with Mrs P V Ansell's comments about the 846 bus service. It should be re-directed along Watty Hall Road, down St Enoch Road, on to Canterbury Avenue, then into town, to continue its new route.

I have seen the 847 bus service dwindle, from every 15 minutes, to half hourly, then to one an hour (because of the introduction of the 846 service). Now, it's obsolete. Why? Could it be profit?

The 847 bus should have been left running. It was a major link to all for getting into town.

The only thing First Bradford has succeeded in doing, is up-setting quite a lot of regular customers, disabled, pensioners and able-bodied alike.

I always thought that public transport was there to serve the public in good times and bad. First Bradford are not meant to be putting profit before people's health. They have an obligation to provide a service to all areas of Bradford, not just the chosen few.

G McFarlane, Arum Street, Bradford.

SIR - I believe that Richard Jowett ("Give England its own Parliament", Letters, August 14), has missed the point with "What is good for Scotland, Wales and Ireland must be good for England."

Powerful establishment elements are already fanning the flames of "English nationalism" in order to further break up Britain, divided and powerless, into the manacles of the European Union.

And although Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland now have their own national parliaments, the relatively small populations of these native British countries suggests that it would not be practical to further divide them into regions of even smaller populations.

For example, Yorkshire & Humberside region has a larger population than Northern Ireland! This then probably explains why Scotland now has her own national parliament and that perhaps one day Yorkshire & Humberside will become a devolved regional assembly of the EU.

I feel that Richard Jowett's well-intentioned, but slightly nave, dream of an English Parliament will soon become a reality - paradoxically, at the very expense of our English/British independence.

What exactly is Mr Jowett campaigning for? An English parliament which will be totally subservient to the policymakers of the EU super state? Laughable!

Arthur Bentley, Sherwood Place, Undercliffe.

SIR - Two billion pounds down the plughole (John Dawson, Letters August 9) is the understatement of the year (or should it be of the last thousand years?).

The Millennium Dome, that expensive parlour in Greenwich, can be likened to a gigantic fruit machine, swallowing large amounts of money, to the advantage of the few.

A Shipman, Fernbank Avenue, Bramley.