It is nonsensical and offensive for the director of the Bradford Soup Run to suggest that efforts to tidy up the centre of Bradford by removing beggars amounts to ethnic cleansing.

It is an insult to those who have had loved ones gunned down by callous Serbian soldiers. It is offensive, too, to those who have felt for the suffering of the countless thousands of refugees who have been driven out of their homes and have fled in search of safety, bringing their horror stories with them. Bradford city centre is a far cry from the towns and villages of ravaged Kosovo.

What members of BRAG were talking about was improving Bradford's image by tidying up the streets of some of those things which deter people from coming here. The hope is that a better feelgood factor will attract more customers, which in turn will bring greater prosperity for all the community.

Bradford does have a homeless problem, like any city. But it is also plagued by manipulative people who are better off than they claim to be, who drive into the city, don their dirtiest clothes, sit all day with a scrappy bit of cardboard harassing people in the street, then drive home again.

Allowing them to loiter and mutter their appeals at passers-by only damages the city's reputation and acts as a magnet for other beggars. John Tempest and Co should confine their comments to the real issue and concentrate on the valuable work they do to help the genuinely homeless without upsetting other people's efforts to make Bradford a more hospitable place for its citizens and visitors.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.