Letters to the Editor

From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Monday 7th Jun 2004.

SIR - Now that the begging bowl at Bradford City has been handed around for the fourth time in living memory, can normal service be resumed at the T&A?

There really are more worthwhile passions to encourage in this city.

Let's put a stop to this sickening sentimentality of a football club which has made young men rich through staggering wages, and yet historically not honoured local creditors.

What kind of commercial enterprise can get away with charging loyal fans £18 for 90 minutes of dire action with £2.50 for a programme and God knows how much for a pork pie?

This appeal money would have been better spent on saving cricket at Park Avenue for generations to come.

Instead it will go down the black hole of a club that owns nothing and relies on the freakish whims of rich businessmen to bail them out.

Sir Ken Morrison is too astute to fall for this sort of farce, and who can blame him?

Peter Jones, All Alone Road, Idle.

Sir - I have just voted in Yorkshire & Humberside's all-postal ballot, and it wasn't much different from the way I've voted for the past 50 or so years.

I put my X in the relevant boxes and put it in a box marked `Ballot Box'. The only difference was that I had to take a bus down to City Hall to do it, whereas in previous years I just strolled round the corner to the local school.

Oh, and I had all that fiddly stuff putting one envelope inside another, getting someone to sign that I was in fact me, and putting that inside the envelope so that the barcode could be read. And this is supposed to encourage more people to vote? In your dreams, Tony Blair and Chris Leslie!

When I put my paper in the ballot box, the lady in the Help Desk said ballot boxes will be around for a long time yet. I hope she's right.

Meanwhile, why don't the major parties get together and provide transport to take people down to City Hall to vote? It'd be better than relying on Royal Mail.

Karl Dallas, Church Green, Bradford.

SIR - On examining the lists of ballot papers I received to select my choice of representatives at the European parliament election, I immediately saw it was a veiled attempt to deceive the electorate.

The election for that Parliament has to be made from a complete slate of six candidates.

With nothing to tell me about their ages, occupations or performances, this is like being handed a card of runners without form on Derby day and asked to pick the winner with a hat pin.

One or perhaps two may be worthy candidates, but the others are just making up the numbers.

This is the fatal flaw in the state system, which will result in introducing mediocrity to that Parliament when what we need is quality.

I am not cynical, but I have lived too long to be deceived into believing that the state is superior to the old system of one man/woman, one vote, and one candidate.

I think I will give this one the body swerve.

Robert Hornsby, Bredon Avenue, Shipley.

SIR - Following the very successful first meeting of the Pensioners' Parliament at Bradford City FC, we are pleased to say our chair and secretary were delegates at the Pensioners' Parliament in Blackpool.

It provided not only an opportunity to take part in debates about the manifesto, but also a unique opportunity to network with groups throughout the country.

I was invited to speak to groups throughout the country and to provide feature articles for some of their newspapers.

For those attending our meeting on May 6, we were provided with a unique picture of the provision for pensioners in Southall, London, and we are more than fortunate that their funding manager has agreed to manage us and replicate the provision for our pensioners in Bradford MDC. No-one will be left out!

Our next meeting is in the Mabel Booth Room, Age Concern, Sunbridge Road, Bradford, on Thursday, June 17, at 1.30pm.

Audrey Raistrick, secretary, Forum Focused on Pension Power, Westgate, Victoria Road, Bradford.

SIR - Re "Speed bumps do job", Peter Ferguson in his letter on the Burley Woodhead speed bumps (T&A, June 1) says: "Any car, especially a rugged one like a jeep, should be able to cope with the bumps if... taken at 20mph."

He should try in a Ford Fiesta or many other makes of car! I dread to think of the damage done!

One should be able to negotiate them at 20mph, but anyone following two or three cars must be put out as they slow or stop unexpectedly as the first bounces violently over the uneven road!

The bumps are an irritation - even a potential danger! It would be safer to employ men with red flags to lead vehicles through this highly-dangerous stretch of road!

On an unrelated matter: Shipley's MP Chris Leslie has been writing to Cullingworth residents after "one of them" drew his attention to plans to build on the village outskirts.

I do hope that Chris was not one of the ex-councillors who had approved of the land's designation for building in the Unitary Development Plan.

That would surely hold politics up to ridicule and condemnation!

John Hall, Pennithorne Avenue, Baildon.

Sir - I am writing to tell you of another success story for the NHS, this time at Bradford Royal Infirmary.

My mum was taken in on May 21. She was very ill and her chances were not very good. My brother was told to phone the rest of the family to come to the hospital. We are a big family, there were a lot of us, but this did not bother the staff.

They looked after us and reassured us they were doing everything they could for mum. They never gave up on her and all the care and help paid off.

My mum started to improve and was taken to Ward 23, where the care continued, not just for mum but for all the family.

We owe the staff in casualty and on Ward 23 a special thank you for all their work and care. They are all a credit to their profession and to the NHS.

My mum has now been transferred to St Luke's and is on the road to recovery. So, on behalf of all the Perfitt family, we thank you from our hearts.

The Perfitt Family, Back Cavendish Road, Bradford.

Sir - Regarding the report about taxi drivers being told not to fly the flag of England for the European Football Championships (T&A June 2), can Council leader Margaret Eaton, who wants my vote, make any sense of the comments given by a Council spokesman, who said: "Our Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Department does not have a specific condition which bans cabs from flying flags, but we would ask for them to be removed to avoid any possible problems"?

What problems? Abid Hussain, chairman of Bradford's Hackney Carriage Association, said drivers would love to fly the flag but are worried the Council might take away their plate. He also did not think it would offend anyone.

Offend? This is England. This is our flag. Who dares to say they are offended?

Answers are needed now. Wow, there's going to be a backlash at next week's elections.

Gary Lorriman, North Walk, Harden.

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