21/05/05

This is a funny thing to write in the circumstance of the bizarre election we have just suffered where the Conservatives polled only three per cent less than the Labour Party.

In the North-East, the Conservatives polled not far short of half the votes cast for the Labour Party. The reward for Conservative voters was to send one MP to Westminster whilst the Labour Party sent 28.

To pretend that Conservative voters have no interest in their party's policies is nonsense.

In Surrey, the Labour Party gained no seats and the Conservatives every seat. Showing, Margaret Greenhalgh will no doubt assert, that the 87,000 people who voted Labour and 148,000 who voted Liberal Democrat are not interested in the policies of the parties they voted for.

The truth is that our electoral system distorts the will of the people to an absurd extent. - Peter Wilson, Barnard Castle.

MARGARET A Greenhalgh more or less stated that the Conservative Party is finished in Great Britain. Garbage.

As the recent General Election showed, it is Labour who are on their way down in the polls and once Gordon Brown replaces Tony Blair, it will then hopefully end the run of consecutive Labour governments we have had.

The Conservatives are on their way back, Mrs Greenhalgh, and in four years time our country will hopefully have a staunch British leader in charge in Westminster - leading the Conservatives to topple the left wingers who currently run this once proud and united island. - Christopher Wardell, Darlington.

POLICE PURSUITS

THE recent case of the police driver practising in his new patrol car on the public highway (Echo, May 19) does little to restore the public's faith in the premise that the police uphold the law and not make it.

To pardon that driver opens up a number of scenarios which must be explored to help restore an already downgraded respect for the police and not just by feral gangs who have shown how little respect, or indeed fear, they have for law and order, however criminal friendly it has become over the last two or three decades.

The culture of driving to the limit is not confined to the estate Schumachers but is just as endemic in the police force, hence the death and injury rate to the public caused by incompetent driving.

The Police Federation is almost obscene in its rush to justify what is no longer acceptable on public roads, but that is what they are paid to do.

I am not often quick to acknowledge ideas from our American cousins but one of their ideas invites further investigation.

Many states have reduced the number of pursuits by car and seen a fall in death and casualty rates.

If time is of the essence, and in some cases there is justification, I think this applies only to fire and rescue vehicles and paramedics. Where are those expensive helicopters and fixed wing planes that used to buzz my chimney pots with alarming regularity?

These are what are needed on the few occasions when apprehension of the criminals is essential, or on the even fewer occasions when the police are attempting to prevent a crime. - David T Colling, Bishop Auckland.

EVICTED COUPLE

SEEING what magnificent humanitarian response the UK gave to the South East Asian tsunami appeal, I was moved by your report (Echo, May 19) regarding the plight of evicted couple Kevin and Susan Howe, who are forced to live outdoors in a tent a friend has kindly loaned them.

It begs the question: Couldn't there be some national fund, maybe under the auspices of some reputable charity as the Red Cross or one set up especially for the purpose of preventing situations like this occurring?

I propose it being called "Homebase" or "Homehelp" and it could deal with cases of genuine adversity such as that afflicting Mr and Mrs Howe. I'd be glad to contribute to such a fund.

It's sad that someone who has served his country well in armed conflicts in Northern Ireland and the Falklands should be homeless like this even when they're in good health - which Mr Howe isn't - at a time when great humanitarian stops are being pulled out to bring in so many asylum seekers from abroad.

Is this the way we treat our own people? If so then it must be echoed: shame, shame, shame. - Bethany-Megan Robinson, Middleton St George.

FOLLOW YOUR DREAM

AS an ex-pat from Willington, Co Duham, I was delighted to read Vera Baird's amusing address about a local school (Echo, May 18).

It was interesting to me that she praised Labour's programme "to improve public service so that not only 'lucky' working class people could achieve success".

I too earned a place in grammar school (1957) and always felt I was very lucky until I was advised by another ex-pat, the Rev Rodney Stokoe, clergyman and educator (formerly of Crook), that overall the programme had not been a great success and few working class children had benefited.

I left school with only three O-levels but eventually, at the age of 28, entered university in Canada.

Looking back, I can see why the programme was not perhaps as successful as it might have been in the 1950s and 1960s. I became aware rather quickly in school of the wide gap between the haves and the have nots.

I could not afford an instrument so I could not play in the band. My shoes had holes in them and my stockings had runs. I was embarrassed.

Nevertheless, I was always considered by my peers in teaching to have an advantage over them, having been to an English grammar school.

Working class children must become aware at an early age that everything is possible with hard work and that one's financial status has little to do with intellectual potential.

I hope Labour is able to reach more children and benefit from this vital intellectual resource. - Marian Doyle, (nee Wilson), Snowball, Ontario.

MY WORD

IT IS interesting to note that the logo shown on TV for the North East Regional Development is NERD.

Do the people concerned with the advertisement realise the definition of NERD is "Boring, straight-laced person - a creep" etc. - H Geddes, Belmont.