22/03/05

Such a service would simply dilute revenue on GNER services to King's Cross from the North-East and GNER deserves to retain the London franchise.

There is, however, a simple and workable way of giving Hartlepool and Stockton a connection into the national rail network.

Transpennine Express, which operates the Middlesbrough to Manchester service, should transfer it to Sunderland. Middlesbrough already has good connections into the national network via Darlington and its existing service is poorly supported by Middlesbrough people travelling to Manchester.

This would give Sunderland, Hartlepool and Stockton an hourly express service to York, Leeds and Manchester with connections at York into the national rail network and include plugging into the half-hourly service from York to King's Cross.

No new operating company would be necessary, the trains already exist and could start operating on June 12 with the new timetable. - Dave Hodgson, Richmond.

GRAND Central Railway's plans will have economic benefits for the region, as well as being popular with the travelling public in Stockton and all other towns where a change of trains is currently required to travel to London.

I wholeheartedly support this plan, which would be run on a wholly commercial basis, without any need for a government subsidy. - Mike Barker, LibDem candidate for Stockton South.

DARLINGTON ROADS

IT IS a waste of time to tinker with roads, roundabouts and lights when the answer to Darlington's traffic congestion is really simple.

With all the new housing estates and the lack of car parking space, all that is needed is a park and ride free system.

A sheltered waiting area and car park on the A68 at Faverdale will catch all traffic coming from Bishop Auckland, from the north on the A1 and the massive new estates.

A similar set-up near Blands Corner would catch traffic from Teesside and from the south on the A1.

With a little imagination and frequent stops along the way, a continuous free park and ride could cut parking needs by, at a guess, 25 per cent.

Will our council please stop fiddling about and look at the whole picture. - Sylvia Wall, Darlington.

THE MAN'S SHOP

I WAS sorry to read of the closure of Starling and Godfrey, so long known as The Man's Shop, in Post House Wynd, Darlington. The shop was opened by Frank Starling and Stan Godfrey.

Mr Starling lived in Etherley and was Scout master of the 1st Etherley. He was an ex-Merchant Navy master and went back to sea when war broke out and was killed when his ship was sunk. I think he is buried in Nova Scotia.

Stan Godfrey had a dance band and in 1937 we put on a Gang Show with his band and Graham Tennant as guest - he compered and did impressions.

Mr Starling had a son called Peter who was a radio officer in the Merchant Navy during the First World War. I met him in Alexandria and he lent me some civvy clothes so we could go into officer only clubs on a night out. I often wonder what happened to him. - Alan Watson, Witton-le-Wear.

LABOUR PARTY

COUNTY Councillor P Graham in his eulogy to Tony Blair (HAS, Mar 14) has fallen for a Labour version of the old tailoring industry spiel: "forget the quality, feel the width".

All the benefits he refers to have been bought at the cost of real productive jobs, forced overseas by increasing taxation and other hidden charges placed on industry.

As Mr Blair and Gordon Brown well know, this plundering of the production wealth of the economy cannot go on. They are now faced with a deficit of between £10bn and £60bn in the fiscal forecasts, and tax rises will come most certainly shortly after the election.

Or perhaps Coun Graham is not bothered by what happens to the producers of wealth in this country, just so long as billions of pounds are frittered away on useless quangoes, like the North-East Assembly.

The Labour Party still identifies itself with the 19th century political philosophy of the down-trodden workers in the valley or mine and the boss with deep pockets, in the large house on the hill living in luxury by the sweat of the workers' labour.

But it ain't like that any more. The benefits the councillor so proudly praises come from all of us and can no longer be afforded under the present financial policy of waste and inefficiency. - PJ Elliott-West, Sunderland.

BISHOP AUCKLAND MP

AS A lifelong Labour supporter, I have been considering joining the party for the first time, but am now having very serious doubts (HAS, Mar 9).

I don't care if my next MP is a man, woman, or any other carbon-based life form - as long as that MP has been elected by a democratic process, and is the best person available to represent the people of Wear Valley.

I am amazed that the local party accepted the candidate list imposed upon them by the higher party, and I am amazed that the higher party did such a thing. I thought this sort of practice vanished several hundred years ago.

Whether or not the chosen candidate, if victorious, turns out to be a good MP, matters not a jot. The fact that certain prospective candidates were excluded by virtue of their gender makes the selection process unsound.

The most important people in this process are the people of Wear Valley - NOT the candidates or the party as a whole, and the Labour party would do well to remember that. They should be doing their utmost to find the best MP for the constituency, NOT the best constituency for the MP.

You might get my vote, but don't count on it. - Paul Dobson, Bishop Auckland.

THE BALTIC

I AGREE with Yvonne Benn's criticism of the Baltic art gallery on Tyneside (HAS, Mar 16). I would like to see one level of the Baltic devoted to local modern artists and sculptors. This would be good for schools and colleges and attract the public.

Judging by the security, the piles of rubbish in the Baltic must be valuable. The bookshop, though, is fantastic. - Jeff Wragg, Sedgefield.

TRAVELLERS

I DON'T think travellers can have any claim on local services. They pay no rates and show no consideration for those who do.

When they inflict themselves on a community the decent law-abiding people who live there have all manner of abuse and harassment to put up with - the authorities in the meantime looking on in complacent idleness.

It has happened at least twice round here: at Tow Law about eight years ago and more recently at Coundon.

There is no place for the travelling way of life in the 21st century. There may have been scope for it in the Middle Ages when the country was under-populated, but not now. It is time it was clamped down on. - T Kelly, Crook.