Letters to the Editor

I agree absolutely with Jerry Gumeniuk's views (Yorkshire Sports, June 24) that the underlying reason Paul Jewell left was financial constraints under which he was expected to operate.

It must have been easy for him to walk away from Bradford knowing that he would be remembered by the fans as one of the most successful managers ever to be in charge at Valley Parade, with the added advantage of a big pay rise, a slightly more relaxed level of football, passing into a club that will inevitably get back into the bigtime.

As to whether Chris Hutchings is up to the job here, only time will tell.

Promoting from within may save money but doing things on the cheap is risky.

Bradford City has been extraordinarily lucky over the last two or three seasons, but it always seems likely that the good fortune will run out sometime.

N Wilson, Hollingwood Lane, Bradford 7.

SIR - According to Mr Foster (Letters, June 27), the correspondents who have criticised the dismissal of PC Pentith are quite misguided. Really?

It is obvious that the police are trying to build a greater measure of trust between themselves and the Asian community. Is the bridge so fragile that one ill-advised word spoken rashly would damage it? I don't think so.

Mr Foster describes the word used as "laden with prejudice and hate". What an extreme judgement! He then goes on to state that the use of this word, on one occasion, can be compared to the language of the soccer thugs abroad.

Come off it! What a strange view. Almost as strange as his sweeping assertion that anyone who criticises examples of "political correctness" uses this as a "thin veil for their own prejudices regarding ethnic minorities". Again, really, What arrogance.

As a well-thought-of young policeman with a family, the same PC has been severely punished, I hope and trust that the final decision on his future career will be decided on the basis of fairness and common sense.

Lessons have been learned, Compassion, too, should come into play.

Robert Hughes, Manor Gardens, Cullingworth.

SIR - You recently published a letter from me and also one from Andrew Foster (June 27) with regard to the requirement to resign of PC Pentith.

The letter from Mr Foster illustrates exactly the point I was making that politically correct comments only inflame the situation.

I made the point that the real racists are the killers of Stephen Lawrence and the arsonists who burn down Asian-occupied houses and not the person who happens to make an "unfortunate" comment.

Mr Foster equates the word used by PC Pentith with the actions of the mindless English soccer morons in Belgium. If a non-white person made such a remark to me, I certainly would not equate that with the football hooligans in Belgium.

The unfortunate (and that's all that it was) use of the word "wog" does not make PC Pentith an unemployable racist as Mr Foster would have us believe.

Come on Mr Foster, instead of spending your time looking for racial innuendo where none exists, open your eyes and look at the real world where children and animals are subject to mindless abuse and suffering and where greed is prevalent everywhere.

Duncan Higgins, Oaklands, Bradford 10.

SIR - Re "Crazy Decision" (Letters, June 27).

So Mrs J Watson believes it is acceptable for a police officer to refer to his colleague as a wog just because he is in the confines of a police station?

The word "wog" when used in a detrimental way is intended to offend an individual who is not of the fairer pigmentation and possibly from a different religious or cultural background to himself.

This indicates an attitude of superiority due to the many years of negative conditioning.

Nobody should believe they have the liberty to speak down to another person by merit of his birthright. Anyone who resorts to these verbal tactics portrays an inner weakness.

The police officer with 26 years of experience surely should have by now developed a more mature and tolerant attitude. Surely that would have been using common sense.

Yvonne Ashworth, Quaker Lane, Bradford 5.

SIR - I could not believe it when I read Mo Mowlam had been saying the Royal Family should move house.

While we have two queens to be proud of (the Queen Mother is still in the limelight) they should be treated with more respect.

After all, our Queen was learning her job at three years old with her Mum and Dad, shaking hands with war veterans.

I also think the National Anthem should be sung with more zeal at football matches, to show we are proud of our country.

Mrs H Weston, Moorgate, Baildon.

SIR - I agree with Yorkshire MEP, Richard Corbett, that England should have its own national anthem to give it equality with every other EU country, including Scotland and Wales. Does Mr Corbett agree with me that England should also have its own national parliament, like every other EU country including Scotland and Wales?

Or is Mr Corbett in favour of a United Kingdom, a united Europe and a United Nations, but for some strange, and always unexplained reason, a partitioned, divided, carved-up England? And will he choose to answer the question this time?

Eric Firth, Wellington Street, Wilsden.

SIR - It was good to read in your excellent feature "Life of Leisure on the Canals" (June 29) that the Government, British Waterways and local politicians support the possibility of using the smaller waterways such as the Leeds & Liverpool Canal for freight, even if for only niche markets.

You stated that coal had been taken to Skipton until 1963 but it is often overlooked that freight traffic continued on the L&L Canal until relatively recently.

The last major traffic (coal to Wigan Power Station) finished in 1972, but after that many thousands of tonnes of cargo were carried such as grain and animal foods between Liverpool and Selby, Whitley Bridge and Manchester (the last load over the summit in September 1978), sand and gravel to Shipley (until May 1982), irregular loads of coal to Skipton (until 1980), and not forgetting a surprisingly popular traffic, and reported in the T&A at the time, the carriage of waste liquid in tank barges from Esholt to Leeds and Goole, between May 1978 and December 1979.

David Lowe, Primrose Lane, Gilstead, Bingley.

SIR - I would like to congratulate Dixon's City Technology College on their tenth birthday. At the time when Bradford's education has been singled out for bad results, high rates of truancy and bad management, Dixon's CTC have set excellent examples by achieving superb results, no truancy and good practice in teaching.

They have also achieved Investor in People, Charter Mark, Curriculum Award and Beacon School status. These are great achievements indeed and the people of Bradford are proud to have this excellent college in Bradford.

Our congratulations to Dixon's and the principal, staff and pupils of CTC. Well done.

Abdul Bary Malik JP, Park House Walk, Bradford 12.