05/05/05

Since going decimal our money has lost all connection with its old value. It was quite a shock the other day when I paid my milk bill to realise that a pint delivered to your door now costs nearly ten shillings in old money.

Older readers will be as horrified as I. Nowadays children toss pennies and other small change away as unwanted. Have we really got to the stage where we don't value every penny that we're fortunate enough to have?

Do we have to reckon everything in hundreds, thousands and millions? - AE Moralee, Billingham.

AT OUR MERCY

LONG after the Berlin Wall fell, a few East Berliners never walked the few yards into the West.

Perhaps they were just apathetic - or fearful and still "mentally imprisoned" by the vanished communist regime.

Will this be true of us, as voters, also?

At present there are no MPs, only candidates. We have a brief "window of freedom" in which these candidates are at our mercy.

Berlin has remained free but our own freedom ends on election night. The barriers will go up again; the new regime will do what it likes.

This election gives us a rare chance to sing our own springtime songs before we are put back into the cage again. - E Turnbull, Gosforth.

EARLIER this year your paper ran an article "It's a matter of interest what your MP earns" (Echo, Feb 27).

This refers to their part-time, often lucrative activities. Now is the time to ask candidates if they intend to be a full-time MP, devoting their time and efforts to the welfare of their constituents, or do they intend to be a part-time MP with well paid moonlighting activities? - Leslie Lewis, Bishop Auckland.

POLLING STATIONS

IS IT really necessary for some schools still to be used as polling stations?

I know, for the children, it is a great day off but for many parents, particularly those who work, it can be very inconvenient as well as costly sorting out child care.

Also, as in my case, the cries of "it's not fair" from siblings whose schools are not closed seem somehow fair - but what wrath would I incur from the local education authority if I gave them the day off?

It seems somewhat hypocritical of a government which discourages truancy (rightly so) and children taking time off for extra holidays to shut schools and use them for polling stations.

The cost in lost teacher hours alone must be fairly high. Surely alternative venues could be found, for example community centres or portable buildings? - C Wilkinson, Durham City.

BACK THE BOSS

MARK Anderson wrote that Darlington Football Club should not give David Hodgson a longer contract (HAS, May 3).

I strongly disagree with him. Would Mr Anderson say the same if we manage to get into the play-offs on Saturday?

David Hodgson and the new owners have worked miracles and, even if we fail to get promotion, this season has still been a success.

I agree that there have been some bad performances but we must all remember the state the club was in before Stewart Davies took over, and before the return of David Hodgson.

We can still clinch promotion, although it now looks like a long shot. Football is a funny old game, as Greavsie said, and don't be surprised if Hodgy is leading the team out at Cardiff later this month. I just hope that thousands turn out this Saturday to help us clinch a play-off place. - Christopher Wardell, Darlington.

KEEPING TRACKS

WITHIN months of the start of the Northern Rail franchise, the Strategic Rail Authority and the Government are hiring consultants to review Northern services, including those between Darlington, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Whitby, Bishop Auckland, Newcastle, Hexham and Carlisle.

The consultants have been asked to look at one scenario where no trains at all would run on the entire Northern Rail network. Other options are large scale service cuts, bus substitution of train services and huge fare increases.

In a separate development, the Government is proposing so-called Community Rail Partnerships to take over the running of some lines.

It has even been suggested that rail workers should be replaced by volunteer rail enthusiasts and trainspotters in an attempt to cut costs - hardly the way to run a 21st century integrated railway.

Rail privatisation has cost taxpayers millions and has provided us with a fragmented shambles of a rail system. - Micky Thompson, Secretary of the RMT North East Regional Council.

IN A HOLE

DARLINGTON Borough Council has spent an inordinate amount of money re-laying a perfectly good pathway between McMullen Road and Red Hall estate yet cannot manage to provide suitable roads for those legally entitled to use them.

I have no doubt this new path will continue to be used as a race track by illegal motorcycle riders and you can't blame them, it is probably the smoothest piece of road in the town.

I have been a resident in Darlington for over 65 years, but have never seen the roads in such a state.

Haughton Road, in particular, is an absolute disgrace. There are so many potholes left from previous road works that a journey to the town on the bus virtually shakes your false teeth loose.

Instead of painting lamp posts and planting flowers on roundabouts, can we invest some money into the roads? - B Nunn, Darlington.