01/03/05

I found WeightWatchers banned meals still on sale in local stores last week, and I was able to quote the Echo to them. Both stores sell the Echo, so it's a pity their bosses do not read it. - Joyce Rutter, Richmond.

CONSTIPATION

I HAVE learned a few tips about constipation in my lifetime (Echo, Feb 23). Have some beetroot with your main meal, also dark cabbage or broccoli. Brown bread helps if you have sandwiches. Drink plenty of liquid, eat some fruit and a glass of wine, perhaps. Exercise helps also. Try and avoid codeine based pain tablets. - Fred M Atkinson, Shincliffe.

TRIMDON CLOCK

TRIMDON Foundry Parish Church has always been responsible for the maintenance of the War Memorial Clock at St Paul's Church, Trimdon Station, and members feel disappointed that no-one from your newspaper has approached them to get the parish council's view.

Over recent years several attempts have been made by the council to get the clock working by involving the Royal British Legion and Friends of War Memorials Association. These efforts were severely hindered by the church council on the basis that it was too dangerous to enter the clock tower. If that is the case how did Eric Robinson, of William Potts and Sons, and your photographer gain access to the tower?

There are funds available from the parish council to support this project. - RH Gott, Sedgefield.

HUNTING

HUNTERS are demanding their cruelty 'rights' (HAS, Feb 26). Then better start campaigning to re-start cock-fighting, badger-baiting etc.

Incredibly, these people believe hunted animals have a sporting chance. Decent people wouldn't want to indulge in such violence and savagery: terrified animals running for their lives before being disembowelled. Massive damage to foxes' hearts and other organs dispels the quick death theory. Canines bring down their prey by biting and tearing. Pregnant or nursing vixens tormented by terriermen, unborn cubs spilling from their bellies. Exhausted deer being drowned (it happens).

To any decent people among you, open your eyes, see the truth. Then open your heart and make that change. You will become a better person. - L Edwards, Shildon.

PENSIONERS AND TORIES

HOW many pensioners will now vote Tory following the party's promise to cut the rates bill for the elderly? An elderly couple in a semi-detached house on a pension pay the same as their next door neighbours, who could have four wage earners all using council services.

A 3.9 per cent rise in the pension seems good until the rates bill arrives with a rise of 4.9 per cent.

Why should the size of a house decide how much you should pay? Many widows find that their income goes down when their husband dies and they cannot afford to stay in the home they have lived in for years, and have to move to a smaller house. It might be more sensible to charge rates on the size of the car or cars that the family use. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

DOES Michael Howard think everyone in the country has 'I'm an idiot' tattooed on their forehead. I was physically sick hearing him interviewed about his policy to reduce poll tax for pensioners. He introduced this tax himself and had over a decade to change it but chose not to.

Men fought wars for pensions which were means-tested which reduced them to virtually nothing.

Tony Blair also had eight years to put right this wrong, but he also chose to ignore it.

It seems only Charles Kennedy has it right when he proposes to scrap the poll tax and introduce a local income tax based on the ability to pay. But even this has a downside as people who have worked all their lives to save for retirement may find themselves paying out of their savings. - A McKimm, Crook.

WINDFARMS

J ROUTLEDGE (HAS, Feb 17) leaves readers with the impression that windfarms are only receiving investment at this time because they are heavily subsidised.

The law now says that energy suppliers must work towards producing ten per cent of their output by means of "renewable sources" (wind, tidal, geothermal etc) so that we can reduce the amount of carbon fuels we burn because global warming is a real threat.

Many suppliers do not possess the means to directly produce the ten per cent target but they can, however, purchase any other suppliers' surplus in the form of Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs).

These are purchased on an open market, and are presently in short supply and so are expensive. But if plenty of electricity is produced from renewable sources, they will become cheaper or even valueless.

At present the high price of ROCs is driving electricity prices up and making it profitable to invest in windfarms.

Market mechanisms will force us to either produce more "renewable energy" making ROCs cheap or to reduce our consumption of carbon based fuels in response to higher prices.

Each of these outcomes should enable us to reduce carbon dioxide emission. - Peter Wilson, Barnard Castle.

HAEMATOLOGY UNIT

I CANNOT believe the reason to close the Haematology Unit at Darlington Memorial, and transfer it Bishop Auckland, is that the two units are run by one consultant, making time off and holidays difficult to cover (Echo, Feb 24).

It is essential that the consultant gets these well deserved breaks, but surely not at the expense of the poor, who do not have their own transport, the gravely ill, and the frightened, who in some cases would have to be dragged from their beds to endure the discomfort and delays of this unnecessary journey

This is another example of the patient being manipulated to fit the system. Surely the collective brains of the highly-paid management industry that exists in the NHS could come up with a better solution - perhaps another consultant? - J Mann, Darlington.

SNOWBALLING

THE headteacher of Woodham Community College, Newton Aycliffe, was absolutely right to suspend the pupils who disobeyed his instructions not to snowball on school premises (Echo, Feb 24).

No doubt those who yell "injustice" would be the first to rush for a solicitor to claim damages from the school were their children to be injured, as well as demanding why he hadn't taken action to prevent it from happening. - D Reed, Stockton.

BRITISH SOLDIERS

TWO British soldiers are sent to prison for abusing prisoners. More are likely to follow. Their excuse was lack of training, but at what point do the rules and conditioning of the military end and the morality and ethical values of the individual begin?

Are such abuses by American and British troops a reflection of our armed forces or the increasingly morally vacuous society which creates such people? - CT Riley, Spennymoor.