16/02/2005

You cannot put a price on some of the benefits of the Olympics: the pride in our country and its sporting successes, the boost to a nation's morale and self-confidence, a renewed sense of what can be achieved, as well as the opportunity to be involved in the world's greatest sporting event.

But some things you can put a price on: Olympic-related work for businesses, the opportunity to sell Britain as a tourist destination, the chance to host lucrative preparation camps for foreign teams in 2012 or stage pre-Olympic events, plus the prospect of acquiring facilities and equipment left when the Games end.

In addition, five sports, including football, will be staged outside the capital. The benefits will be spread throughout the country, well beyond London.

Add to this the chance to be directly involved as a volunteer, enjoy a cultural festival linked to the Games and shout yourself hoarse as our stars take on the world on home soil. What better inspiration could there be to get off our sofas and get active?

The Government is actively supporting the bid. You can too by registering your support at www.london2012.com or by texting the word London to 82012. - Rt Hon Richard Caborn MP, Minister for Sport.

CONFERENCE PROTESTS

ON Saturday, I joined an anti-war march from Newcastle Civic Centre to the Quayside opposite Sage, where Labour's Spring Conference was being held.

During the previous few days, widespread traffic dislocation was caused in Newcastle and Gateshead, closing the old Swing Bridge and its approach roads. The Tyne Bridge was shut to pedestrians.

Senior police officers defended the £2m security bill as good for the North-East. The local "conference industry" wheeled out balance sheets purporting to show that the income from such events outweighed any losses.

Fathers4Justice ran its normal coach and horses through the operation by depositing one of its number on the Tyne Bridge for a 16-hour protest, causing the usual mixture of annoyance and hilarity.

Labour was showing the usual political paranoia that any dissent that cannot be stifled, must be controlled. This was reinforced for the marchers by a massive police escort, in which a group of photographers, dressed in black protective suits and body armour, took multiple snapshots of every single dissident.

My question to the police, and New Labour supporters, is simple: "What is the difference between the photographers whom Saddam and his bully-boys employed and the sinister-looking snappers of the Northumbria Police?" - T Wild, Sunderland.

AFRICA

POLITICIANS are always generous with other people's money, so we are to believe Gordon Brown's assertions that the negation of Third World debt will solve the problems of poverty in Africa?

Does he stop to ask what happened to the money that was the cause of the mounting debt in the first place? Does anybody try to solve the underlying and perennial problems of corrupt government and institutional incompetence in Africa? Why does there appear to be no shortage of AK47 rifles in Africa or Mercedes cars and Swiss bank accounts for their crooked politicians, but never enough medical help or food?

Our politicians have forgotten where charity begins as there appears to be no glory for them in home politics.

When, in my own country, pensioners are not reduced to poverty despite massive increases in tax; when holes disappear from roads; when I can visit any city centre on a night without fear of being robbed, insulted or assaulted by yobs; when I can get medical treatment funded on a par with nations much poorer than ours; when this Government looks at its own backyard and gets that working correctly will I vote to let them sort out somebody else's mess. - Chris Greenwell, Aycliffe Village.

BULLYING

THE time has come for everybody who deals with children to stop hiding the problem of bullying and to act to protect the thousands of poor children whose lives are a daily torture.

Stop asking bullies why they bully and let us start punishing them. Some version of ASBOs should not be too hard to devise so, instead of teaching a bully a "real" lesson by excluding them from school for a day or two, slap an ASBO on them and the next time they offend, give them a taste of a detention centre where there might be other bullies for them to play with. - D Brearley, Middlesbrough.

Darlington

AS CHAIR of last week's meeting of Darlington Borough Council's resources scrutiny committee, I gave the Conservative councillors the opportunity to suggest alternatives to Labour's proposals ("Political dog-fight over plan to borrow £60m", Echo, Feb 11). They declined.

The Conservative's lack of vision and willingness to criticises our plans without offering one single constructive suggestion amazes me. The money we will borrow will be used to fund schemes that will create jobs, improve schools make our streets safer, improve housing and bring prosperity to the town, all issues identified as priorities by Darlington residents.

The majority of the money borrowed will be repaid by the Government so it costs the council nothing. If the choice is between sitting back and doing nothing, as the Tories suggest, or investing in the future of Darlington residents and the town's prosperity, then I believe we should invest every time. - Coun Ian G Haszeldine, Darlington.

I CANNOT understand why the Joseph Pease statue is to remain on Darlington's new-look High Row.

Surely, in humble gratitude to the council leader, John Williams, for everything he is doing, the people of Darlington should go out and topple Pease's statue and immediately replace it with one of our glorious leader (sponsored by Bussey and Armstrong of course). After all, shouldn't future generations be told who was responsible for practically destroying everything the founder of our town tried to achieve?

I sincerely hope the people in Bank Top ward remember in the next elections just exactly what he is doing and vote accordingly. - Kevin Boddy, Darlington.

ROYAL WEDDING

CHARLES should marry Camilla. She is his obvious soulmate, unlike Diana whom he used as a brood mare and discarded.

However, Charles should never become king. As an adulterer marrying an adulterer, he has lost the right to become head of the church in which he cannot be married. - B Coote, Crook.

HEADLINES

NOW that Dead Man Weds is no longer on our TV screens, and we are deprived of headlines from the Fogburrow Advertiser, it is good to see that The Northern Echo is keeping the spirit alive.

This morning's paper (Feb 14) contains two fine examples: "Men learn to drive faster" and "England pay penalty for kicking failures".

Keep up the good work. We need a smile to start the day with. - David Kelsey, Middlesbrough.