Letters to the Editor

SIR - I am very confused about the report on disabled parking (T&A, December 28). It seems contradictory.

Firstly it states that disabled people will get the parking spot they need much quicker, which I have to say is a good thing. I fought for nine years for a wide parking spot having been a wheelchair user for almost 16 years. I need to open my car door fully to allow for my special seat which pulls out to meet my wheelchair and swings back in to face the front.

It was expensive and has just cost me £360 to have it fixed into my new car three weeks ago.

The report then says that the police have lost the power to stop able-bodied drivers parking in these spots. Surely that is of little use to disabled people.

I have all the paperwork saying that the highways department was supplying me with a wide bay on the sheltered housing complex where I have lived for 24 years. But many times after I leave the complex I return to find the spot taken by someone else. It means I have to get from my car into the middle of the road, making it very difficult for me.

I think if they want my parking spot they should have my nine disabilities to go with it.

It is time the whole disabled parking system was overhauled and done more fairly.

Roz Rushworth, Knoll Park Drive, Baildon.

Murder penalties

SIR - I have resisted entering the capital punishment debate simply because, whatever merits are claimed by its proponents, it is inconceivable that a mature Western state will ever reintroduce execution as a form of punishment.

Therefore, as the objective is unattainable, any debate is quite futile.

Perhaps the same facts and emotions would be better targeted towards developing a more acceptable framework of penalties for the ultimate crime of murder - at least that aim could then be achievable.

Assuming the Government accepts current recommendations to differentiate homicide types, there may be some merit in campaigning for the top grade of murder (e.g. premeditated) to attract a mandatory penalty of "whole-of-life" imprisonment, when guilt is decided by a unanimous jury verdict.

More flexibility could apply to lesser levels of homicide or majority juries.

This approach allows for any unfortunate miscarriages to be addressed later (unlike hanging), yet should satisfy the community's concerns that, currently, proven wilful murderers may be walking the streets again.

As a concluding thought: we should not countenance any enhanced penalty for the killing of police officers or children - a human life is a human life, whether in uniform, civvies or nappies.

Graham Hoyle, Kirkbourne Grove, Baildon

A mixed bag...

SIR - I never thought the day would come when I would find myself agreeing with N Brown, if in a roundabout way.

He is right. The man who had to wait 24 years to meet his maker, should have met him at the earliest convenience, for his horrific and frenzied knife attack on three members of the same family, who never stood a chance.

Before the tragic events in Morley Street, culminating in the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky and the attempted murder of PC Milburn, Mr Brown wrote a letter to the T&A saying that he didn't get value for money from both the council tax and West Yorkshire Police. I hope he has had time to reflect.

I have read most, if not all the letters, both pro and anti capital punishment, and what a mixed bag they were.

One man said 99 per cent of the public were in favour, another said Blair daren't take it to the country because he would lose. Well he might in Bradford!

Then there is that regular contributor to the T&A Letters page, Gary Pierrepoint (sorry Lorriman) who quotes us chapter and verse. So many statistics. Has he got a friend in the Home Office?

I tend to go with Alex Leach, who says, since abolition, murder juries are more inclined to convict.

Geoff Tasker, Park Road, Low Moor.

Arthritis advice

SIR - Arthritis can cause pain and misery to people of all ages, not just the elderly. One particular type of painful, inflammatory arthritis called ankylosing spondylitis mainly affects young men, and causes severe pain in the lower back as the spine fuses, leading to progressive stiffness and loss of movement.

It's not just the public who haven't heard of ankylosing spondylitis either. GPs often fail to spot its early stages, and the condition can go undiagnosed for up to ten years, leaving sufferers (there are around 60,000 in the UK) frustrated and in pain.

Now medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign is highlighting the condition, and the need for greater awareness and speedier diagnosis, during its winter awareness week on AS (January 3-8).

Our free booklet on AS which contains a suggested daily exercise programme is available on (01904) 696994, at info@arc.org.uk, can be downloaded at www.arc.org.uk or can be obtained by writing to the address below. For information on AS please call arc on 0870 8505000.

Jo Warren, Arthritis Research Campaign information officer, St Mary's Gate, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S41 7 TD

BNP: the facts

SIR - Jenny Sampson (Letters, December 29) mentions a recent poll in a newspaper where 97 per cent of the people who phoned in would bring back the death sentence. Perhaps this newspaper happened to be in favour of capital punishment.

As most people choose to read a newspaper that fits with their personal beliefs its readers would tend to have a similar stance. In other words, this so-called poll means absolutely nothing.

She says we should give the BNP a chance because they will bring back capital punishment and get us out of Europe.

In case you don't know, the BNP is a racist, homophobic and an Islamophobic party. In 1998 their leader Nick Griffin was given a two-year suspended sentence for distributing material likely to incite racial hatred.

Five out of 14 members of the advisory council for the BNP have a criminal record and nine have links to far Right parties.

The BNP claimed that Muslim celebrations had taken place around the country after September 11, even though Islam does not condone this act of terrorism and does not regard anybody who supports these actions as a Muslim.

Give BNP a chance? I don't think so.

David Lawson, Altar Drive, Heaton

See sense, sir

SIR - N Brown prefers rant to logic in his diatribe ("Let's get out", December 28). We are all Europeans, so we have a say in the European Parliament, elected by us, though maybe N. Brown didn't use his right to vote.

Our Ministers from Westminster sit in the Council of Ministers. We choose the ministers. The Commission is like a Civil Service, and cannot just do what it likes. It may try to, from time to time, but nothing becomes law until the European Parliament, and our parliament in Westminster, decides it will.

I am sick to death of silly statements like "idiots in Brussels who depended on us to liberate them".

That liberation was 60 years ago, was heavily dependent on the USA and the USSR, and there hasn't been conflict between member states of the EU since. That's the main reason the EEC was formed.

So if we get out, where do we go? Do we beg to the USA like Mexico, or, by jingo, put up two fingers and sink under the combined economic force of the other 24 European nations, not to mention India and China. See sense, N Brown, and know which side your bread is buttered on.

John S Murray, Moorside Road, Honley, Holmfirth

A short memory?

SIR - I see Mike Priestley failed to mention our troops in Iraq in his New Year message. He also forgot the recent election. Those who voted were not put off by the insurgents or those who said it would never happen.

F Dickinson, Larkfield Road, Rawdon