ARBORETUM

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The boar had been part of Derby since 1840. It is one of many things that we are seeing eroded for fear of offending someone. Where is it all going to stop? Am I mistaken, or have Muslims chosen to live in a Christian country? Are they now dead set on changing it into a Muslim country? How about us being offended? What weight do we carry if we are? This park was built for all the community - not just the Muslims. I just hope that the boar is not replaced by a Muslim religious icon.

England's indigenous population is seeing its rights, history and future consideration being eroded at every turn. We matter too and we also have standards and a right to our culture and heritage. We no longer feature on Government application forms as a class of people. We are now lumped together as white others, the last tick box on the form. I do not consider myself British, as I am neither linked to Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. I was born and bred in England and I am English through-and-through. I want to be able to state this, as I am sure Irish, Welsh and Scottish people do for their countries too.

In the future, will we see cows wandering the streets because it upsets one ethnicity to have them in green fields? Worse still, will beef be taken off supermarket shelves completely as it is a sacred animal? Will Christmas and Easter festivals be banned as they offend non-Christian communities? Already, school assemblies are on the way out. What will replace the Easter egg, the pancake, the Christmas tree, Shrove football, Tissington Wells, Hallowe'en, Christmas Day, Easter Day, May Day, St George's Day, St Patrick's Day, St David's Day, Mummers' Plays, carol singing and Morris dancing? They will not be around for long.

Our culture is fast becoming a thing of the past. Angry? You bet I am. I imagine many others see the standards and traditions of their country being swept aside too. We should be embracing all these cultures, not eroding the very substance of the country others have chosen to come to live in. I do not embrace the issues raised by the National Front fraternity. However, as our culture disappears, it is more and more likely that they will gain popularity by default. Anon

Council leader Maurice Burgess, backed calls to drop the reinstatement of the Florentine boar to avoid offending Muslims, who regard pigs as "unclean", but deputy leader Philip Hickson said that Mr Burgess's attempt to placate the objectors was "political correctness gone mad". Mr Hickson said, "The boar is part of Derby's heritage and as such belongs there, as far as I'm concerned the boar was there long before the objectors were. I'm not into political correctness in this way, it's destructive and it annoys people out of all proportion to the issue. This might be something that we have to have an argument about."

Mr Burgess was proposing to locate the statue in the River Gardens which was in line with the recommendations of Muslims on the city council's minority ethnic communities advisory committee, of which he is chairman. He said, "The River Gardens is my suggestion, but I want to take advice from other people as well. The consultation is not finished. There'll be other people we'll be discussing it with and contacting first." Muslims don't visit the River Gardens then?

Fortunately, I do not live in the area in question, otherwise I would not have been responsible for my actions following the threats they have made. How cowardly are the councillors who would have us back down to such threats. The arrogance of people of different religious beliefs seems to get worse as time goes on, encouraged as they are by the "politically correct" supporters of multi-culturalism. Is it not time we asked what it is about multi-cultural states that is so wonderful and what is so terrible about states with one culture.

Any nation state should reflect the history and culture of the indigenous nation. There is a fundamental difference between Islamic law and English law. Muslims living here who wish to observe Islamic law cannot always do that and tensions build up. Islam is a complete way of life and Muslims need an Islamic state if they are to enjoy a thoroughly Islamic way of life. If this is what they want, they must leave and go to live in Iran, Iraq or wherever. These threats in Derby are but a small part of a campaign to build up Islamic mini-states within England.

The indigenous folk will also be drawn together and so the state starts to fracture. Some settler communities use public disorder or the threat of it to gain concessions from our liberal rulers. Can we imagine these tactics working for Christians in, say, Saudi Arabia or Indonesia? Do we really want this sort of thing in Derby as we have seen it further north? Granville V. Stone

I maintain that lime trees and a healthy oak were among many others cut down in the Arboretum. Approximately 100 have been cut down, including four trees from the avenue. These were healthy trees which are supposed to be protected by policies in the City of Derby Local Plan. The City Council Conservation Area Advisory Committee recommended refusal of the 'tin sheds' in their proposed situation. The proposed buildings are totally out of scale and keeping within the park and adjacent to a Conservation Area, which is why the Conservation Area Advisory Committee was concerned enough to recommend refusal and their resiting.

As only the tourist area is to be replanted, an unsecure and open children's playground is poor recompense. There is also the outstanding matter of the three missing reports, from the Crime Prevention Officer, English Heritage and a report which the City Council should have done on the use of open space at the park by the community. The Government specifies that existing open space and land 'should not be built on unless an assessment has been undertaken that has shown these to be surplus to requirements'.

This 'surplus' - which we do not have as Normanton, Rosehill and Pear Tree has the least open space in the city - must consider all functions that open space performs, which includes nature conservation, informal recreation and biodiversity. Join us and the growing number of people in this city who are getting more and more angry at not being asked or listened to and who are being ignored in order to cater for unsustainable development. Dorothy Skrytek