04/07/05

I then read (Echo, June 23) that we have one million children suffering from obesity in this country.

What is wrong with Britain's community? We have children eating far too much junk food and getting grossly overweight and, at the other end of the scale, we have pensioners (she is only one of many) who are not getting enough food and dying of malnutrition.

Can't our local authorities take some of this junk food away from our children and give it to our pensioners?

That way the children will be able to keep their weight down and the pensioners will put on enough weight to allow them to live normal lives - not die of starvation.

It does not help the children's case to read on the very next page that Northern Echo reporter Deborah Johnson has just demolished seven cream cakes in two hours in a recreation of a Royal garden party at Buckingham Palace and the average number of items eaten at this garden party per person was 14. - Margaret A Greenhalgh, Darlington.

ID CARDS

IN recent weeks there have been many letters regarding ID cards. The overwhelming feeling has been one of strong opposition to the Government's plans.

These views are shared by many and are being voiced at your local No2ID campaigning organisation (www.no2ID.net).

No2ID brings together individuals and organisations from all sections of the community and seeks to ensure that the case against identity cards is forcefully put in the media, in the corridors of power and at grassroots level. We welcome you to come and share your views and to get involved. - Christopher Mason, www.No2ID.net or e-mail: newcastle@No2ID.net

WORLD POVERTY

THE Rev Peter Mullen is predictably cynical about the campaign to make poverty history and suggests the yobbos who support it should "take the trouble to learn something about politics and economics" (Echo, June 29).

OK Peter, some economics for you: We don't "throw billions Africa's way" . Each year, poorer countries get about $50bn in aid, and a further $50bn from non-government sources.

But they lose about $700bn to the richer nations through restrictive trade practices and a further $350bn in debt repayments. Corrupt governments and greedy tyrants often exacerbate the problem, but that's not the whole story.

Now for some politics: We in the rich countries are not rich because we are more clever, talented or hard-working, but because our governments have brutally raped, plundered and exploited other countries. First through colonialism, now through the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organisation and the World Bank. We have only been more clever in the field of military technology. Should we be proud of that?

Finally, a sermon: When Jesus said: "Love thy neighbour", someone asked: "Who is my neighbour" Is she, perhaps, the old lady next door struggling to get by on her meagre pension, or is she another woman in a far away country striving to feed her family on a patch of land littered with land mines? The answer, I think, is that they both are. Equally. - Peter Winstanley, Durham.

I READ with interest the comments of Peter Mullen (Echo, June 29) but, aside from his cynical comments about the intentions of Bob Geldof, just what is this religious figure and patron of the London Stock Exchange suggesting as the answer to world poverty?

No-one is questioning the probability of eradicating world poverty through protest marches and hand-holding vigils. However, these people are making efforts to raise this issue as one which must be addressed by world leaders, as well as reminding the public of its importance.

Peter Mullen's suggestion that this "mob" should study politics or economics is ridiculous.

But, at least, then he can rub shoulders with them at the London Stock Exchange, rather than getting riled watching them rioting on television. - Nick Miller, Darlington.

HOUSING STOCK

WHILE watching Prime Minister's Question Time, a member from the Leicestershire area raised the question: Why were councils selling off their housing stock?

Tony Blair stated that, by doing so, it made it easier for money to be raised to upgrade the houses.

Sedgefield Borough Council, Mr Blair's Parliamentary constituency, is running a one-sided campaign and voting is taking place now to sell its housing stock to the Sunderland Housing Group.

Going to the web to find out about the Sunderland Housing Group, you can find how much it has raised by being able to use the housing stock it has already acquired through housing transfers.

Up to now, it has invested \'a342,000,000 in private development, while the number of people of Sunderland who are on the housing waiting list has increased from 5,000 plus when Sunderland Housing Group took over the housing stock, to 19,000 plus this year.

Surely you can expect Tony Blair, Sedgefield MP, to be aware of what is happening to social housing there or does he just see it as a way to raise money for the Treasury to spend on wars and to give away to unaccountable African nations with no regard for the poverty that still exists in areas of this country. - Peter Dolan, Newton Aycliffe.

ROYAL FAMILY

LET me explain to Mick Garbutt (HAS, June 27) why the multi-billionaire Royal Family can plunder the public purse for £37m per year when public opinion is against them doing it.

It's because the gentry are brought up to regard what common people think as being trifling and of no consequence. For them, individual self-interest is more important than honour. They regard honour as an horribly antiquated notion, and therefore base their outlook on pure self-absorption.

Now if Britain had a traditional "honour-shame culture", I reckon the Royals would have listened to public opinion long ago. In such cultures, what others say about you means literally everything.

Therefore, if people believe you are not giving good value for money, then you are humiliated and shamed, and you will quickly be replaced by someone more suitable for the job. It is a regulatory system against bad or corrupt behaviour.

What, I ask, do taxpayers have to do to alleviate the annual cost of the monarchy - convert to the Arab-Islamist faith, or hark back to the days of Imperial Japan? - Aled Jones, Bridlington.

CIGARETTE SMOKE

IT must be dreadful for Mr Reynolds when he catches a whiff of cigarette smoke as he enters shops and offices (HAS, June 29).

However, does he ever consider the poisonous gases coming from his car as he travels to these places?

While there is no doubt that cigarette smoke is harmful, the exhaust from internal combustion engines has just as many poisonous gases in it.

A room full of cigarette smoke is not as dangerous as a room full of exhaust fumes. - Jim Rishworth, Darlington.