SIR - My disposition to take a bright, hopeful view of things is apparently anathema to M Long (T&A, September 13).

I am a self-censorious being but I cannot recant my extolment of events like the giant screen in Centenary Square, European market, Festival of Light, right, etc, and the numerous renovation projects completed on the city centre's periphery to appease indefatigable pessimists. The regeneration programme is both complex and long-term but you don't need rose-coloured glasses to appreciate progress elsewhere in Bradford.

David Rhodes, Croscombe Walk, Bradford