31/03/05

In the good old days, only about 20 per cent of children had the opportunity to achieve this, i.e. those fortunate enough to make it to grammar schools. If 60 per cent are now achieving this standard, that is surely a considerable improvement.

Those now getting lower GCSE grades are the ones that would have gone to secondary modern or technical schools and taken CSE exams, i.e. those with different, less academic skills and talents whom Peter Mullen insultingly dismisses as "functionally illiterate and inumerate." - Pete Winstanley, Durham.

FATHERS4JUSTICE

IN response to your article, Police arrest St Paul's Cathedral dome stunt protestors (Echo, March 26), I would like to say that the way the two Fathers4Justice campaigners went about their protest was irresponsible and dangerous, not only to themselves but to members of the public who could have been hurt by falling debris.

To protest on public property is against the law and would always result in arrest. Also, if everybody protested in such ways, it would damage and ultimately ruin our historic buildings and properties.

However, I do understand the reasoning behind the protests. The Fathers4Justice campaign wants people to hear and recognise what they have to say and take notice.

There are many fathers out there, who, through no fault of their own, have no rights to their children, and it is campaigns and protests like Fathers4Justice who give such fathers hope of change.

I fully support the Fathers4Justice campaign and believe that fathers should have more rights, but it does not excuse the fact that what they did was against the law. - Emily Prior, Darlington.

FARM SUBSIDIES

FOLLOWING requests under the Freedom of Information Act, DEFRA has released figures detailing the subsidies that British farmers receive from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The figures expose the inequality of the system, which benefits the well-off disproportionately, but offers little help to poorer farmers.

The Treasury estimates the total cost of the CAP at 100 billion euros a year, which is the equivalent of a 26 per cent tax on food. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and other international bodies believe the cost may be even higher. Some estimate that the average British family now pays an extra £30 per week to fund EU taxes and tariffs

But the situation is made worse because the cost of the CAP falls disproportionately on the poorest households (who spend more of their income on food), and the subsidies handed out are in proportion to how much land people own, rather than being targeted on the poorest farmers.

In the forthcoming General Election voters must press every candidate as to what actions they will take to challenge this abuse of taxation which profits the most wealthy in the land and at the same time imposes poverty in the Third World. - Steve Radford, President, The Liberal Party.

JIM CALLAGHAN

LORD Callaghan's death has drawn respect and admiration from all shades of politicians who knew and worked with him. There are few who would command such wide acknowledgement.

Events often reveal the people capable of handling them and his times required a calm, honest hand on the tiller, which he provided. Equally, the handbag-swinging Maggie Thatcher was needed for the circumstances which she was to transform.

When her job was done, it was in the Labour Party that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were found and the steady progress of our home affairs has kept us among the leading nations influencing world affairs.

New world powers are emerging and existing ones are under threat. Somehow, the structure of our society provides a conscious filter through which leaders emerge.

They are there, but not yet easily recognisable as the ones for these times. They do not inhabit any exclusive party and I leave myself free to put my support where my instincts lead me. - George Appleby, Clifton, York.

SCHOOL MEALS

AFTER Kent County Council's decision to get rid of free school meals for their county's poorest children, will Redcar and Cleveland be doing the same?

Having seen that Redcar and Cleveland spend the second lowest amount of money per child, 38p, will they - for cost cutting purposes - do the same as Kent? - Jim Tierney, Redcar.

COUNCIL TAX

IN THE midst of all the parties laying claims to be looking after people in the run up to the election, I would urge people not to overlook the expected explosion of council tax.

This tax will be going up in the next few years due to 1) the revaluation of the council tax system which could put many into the next band up and 2) although the council tax has gone up less than five per cent this year, that is not to say it will not go higher in the subsequent years, as the finances needed are already experiencing a shortfall under current spending plans.

Working people who are paying tax and National Insurance need to vote in Darlington in such a way to ensure they get the best result for themselves.

So, if you want higher taxes and more of the same, then vote Labour. If not, then vote for the candidate most likely to ensure you get what you want. - Colin Telfer, Darlington.

IN response to EA Moralee's comments about the Budget, she says that the grey vote can't be bought by one-off gimmicks, such as the £200 council tax refund.

She then goes on to say that "pensioners would have been much more appreciative, Mr Brown, if you increased the basic state pension by a decent amount".

In other words, we can be bought, but not for such a paltry sum. When Labour gets returned in May and as Miss Moralee won't be voting Labour because her vote can't be "so easily bought", would she be so kind as to send me her £200 so I can pay some of my £1,400 council tax bill. - GL Smith, Darlington.

SOUR NOTE

I READ the review of the McCoy Tyner Trio concert at The Sage, Gateshead with disbelief and astonishment (Echo, Mar 22).

I can tolerate a trite review but I expect it to be accurate. So many basic errors are indeed unusual.

The reviewer got McCoy Tyner right as the pianist but the drummer was not Al Forster (spelt wrong - Al Foster played for Miles Davis in the 1970s) but former Weather Report drummer Eric Gravatt.

The bass player was not George Mraz (Mraz played with many famous names in the 1970s including Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz) but Charnett Moffett, an internationally renowned bass vituoso. Then the reviewer claimed that the stunning playing of Moffett was on the "cello" - not the bass as we could all see.

The well-informed jazz audience in the North-East deserves a good deal better than this ill-informed offering, especially as the Sage was McCoy Tyner's only appearance in the UK. - Terry Willits and Peter Whittak, Barnard Castle.