SPIRITUAL VALUES: IN his praise of the late Pope, Peter Mullen (Echo, Apr 8) again makes a series of absurd claims in his attack on those without religious convictions.

He suggests that Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao Tse Tung committed their atrocities because they were atheists. I would suggest that they did so to retain power, they would be happy to eliminate their fellow atheists and were merely following the example of tyrants from an earlier age and of all beliefs.

One has only to go back 400 years to find the proponents of the various Christian sects happy to torture their opponents and burn them at the stake to be doubtful of his confident assertions that, with "spiritual values" and a belief in God, all would be well.

After all, have not the members of al Qaida and the members of the IRA all got "spiritual values" and yet they are happy to commit terrorist atrocities? - Eric Gendle, Middlesbrough.

PETER Mullen is a little hypocritical in his praise for Pope John Paul. He argues that the Pope's moral principles derived from his faith in God. As Peter worships the same God, we might expect him to come to similar conclusions, but he does not.

Peter is in favour of capital punishment; the Pope was not. Peter was an enthusiastic supporter of the war against Iraq; the Pope opposed it. Peter is a staunch defender of global capitalism; the Pope recognised the injustices it brings. In fact, the Pope's views on these issues were much closer to my own - and I'm an atheist.

Peter goes on to blame atheism for all the ills of the world.

Religious leaders of all faiths have paid tribute to John Paul II. I hope he will be remembered best for his efforts to promote understanding and reconciliation between different religions. - Pete Winstanley, Durham.

CHAPEL PLEA

IT IS good that a statue is to be unveiled in memory of Andrew Mynarski, (Echo, Apr 11) and your newspaper is to be congratulated on its campaign to remember him and his brave companions.

For me, however, there is still some regret. When I was at Middleton St George College of Education, based on the airport site, we made regular use of a small chapel.

This had been an ordinary Air Force hut, used to brief the air crew, that the airmen themselves had converted. All the wooden fittings had been made from old ammunition boxes, beautifully polished.

The light holders were made from cocoa tins. It was obvious that much love and care had been lavished on the building by these young men.

Sadly, in recent years I have searched in vain for this silent reminder of those dark days but, as far as I can see, it has been demolished in the interest of progress. Ironically, it appears, to have made way for the retirement village.

Does anyone know of the fate of this chapel and if any part of it has been preserved? - WJ Bartle, Barnard Castle.

BIG LOSS

THE death of Newcastle Theatre Royal chief executive Peter Sarah will be a big loss to theatre throughout the North-East.

In addition to attracting top national and international shows to the area, another aspect of Peter's foresight was giving local writers a chance to have their original work produced at the region's premiere drama theatre.

This happened for us when Peter staged our comedy play Dirty Dusting at the Theatre Royal in September 2003 and last June. It played to full houses, attracting folk from Teesside, Durham and North Yorkshire.

The knock-on effect from Peter's intervention is that our play was spotted by national producers and will play premier theatres in the UK and internationally.

What impressed us most, however, was that Peter took time out to visit a relatively small venue like the Customs House in South Shields to see work by little-known North-East writers. - Ed Waugh and Trevor Wood, South Shields.

HISTORY LESSON

RE the White Horse Hotel, Darlington. Campaigns to prevent planning permission being granted to convert business premises to flats or houses (HAS, Apr 11) always appear to fail no matter how historic or characteristic the business premises.

The plain fact is that the council does not receive any revenue from business rates, it all goes directly to central government.

With all the new flats and houses built in Darlington over the past five years, the extra revenue must amount to quite a large sum of money being paid into the local council, with very little going out to maintain the extra services these developments require. - J Morrell, Darlington.

WHO WAS HE?

I WAS glad to see an appreciative letter (HAS, Apr 9) about your interesting item in Echo Memories on WE Johns' North-East connections.

I had hoped that the article might prompt one of your readers to come up with some information on his other link with the North-East.

When in the 1950s, the BBC Home Service serialised some of the Biggles stories for Children's Hour, the programme was produced in their Newcastle studio and beautifully read by a gentleman with a lovely rolling Northumberland burr.

I have never been able to find out who he was, or how the BBC took the brave decision to feature an obscure regional accent at a time when almost every other radio voice was cut glass. Can anyone help? - Ian Forsyth, Durham.

GOAL RUSH

I AGREE with James Farrow's comments on the subject of the Quaker Centre's closure (HAS, Apr 9). I played five-aside football there for a few years.

At its height of popularity, there were 16 teams playing six days a week. Each team paid £12 per game, generating a weekly income of £1,272, and this was before bar takings, wedding receptions, christenings and friendly games, etc.

There was even a waiting list for teams to get in there to play. On a Sunday morning it was not unusual to have £300 in the till before midday.

One irony about all this is that on a Sunday morning, Darlington Supporters' Club had a team playing. There was even a collection bucket on the bar to help keep Darlington Football Club afloat. - Jim S Hamer, Darlington.

BUSINESS RATES

THE system of business rates is unaccountable and burdensome for smaller businesses.

Business rates are a significant and increasing expenditure for independent businesses and the current system is not based on the ability of businesses to pay.

Indeed, local councils no longer have control of the poundage that is increasing at an alarming rate, particularly in rural areas.

Perhaps, during the heated debates by the political parties over the next few weeks, a better system with local accountability might emerge. - Peter Parnaby, The Business Cause Ltd, Sunderland.