21/01/05

What decides 'choice'? Where you live, your status, or facilities available to you?

Choice would lead to an elitist system, with its most qualified medical and education staff, followed by a second and third class service for the rest of the population.

We all want high standards for all, not a 'postcode' system for ourselves and our children. - R Harbron, Norton.

ID CARDS

IT is hardly surprising that the Liberal Democrats (HAS, Jan 15) oppose the introduction of ID cards.

In Parliament, Liberal Democrats have regularly voted against measures that seek to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.

The extensive consultation undertaken by the Government before publishing the Bill showed that members of the public believe identity cards could help tackle crime and could act as a useful proof of age and identity when needed.

The CBI thinks they could be a useful protection against fraud. Importantly, the police also are in favour of ID cards and see them as a measure to protect law-abiding citizens against theft and many other crimes. They would make the job of the police easier.

The introduction of ID cards is a serious matter and it is necessary to have a sensible debate that balances the need to protect privacy and the rights of vulnerable groups against the need to protect citizens. The Government has already produced regulatory impact and race equality impact assessments for further discussion.

One can only wonder why the Liberal Democrats have rushed to oppose a measure that could, in the longer term, help tackle serious crime. - Roberta Blackman-Woods, Labour Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, Durham City.

HEALTH SERVICE

AS a person who has received treatment from the orthopaedic department in Bishop Auckland General Hospital, I was dismayed to find it had closed down due to infections.

I believe this was reported by The Northern Echo on its front page. How sad to see your report of its opening again hidden away inside your paper (not front page news, like the closing story).

Just goes to show how sensationalist newspapers (even regional ones) are. - David Bell, Bishop Auckland.

RECENT press coverage has concentrated on the dispute between Wear Valley District Council, and the Durham Dales Primary Care Trust as to how much the council knew about plans for a combined health centre in Watling Road, and when they knew about it.

It would be strange, however, for the medical practice to commit to such a big decision without the possibility of land being available.

However, the more important issue is what the patients feel about the plans, and how their access to healthcare is affected. Those living in St Helens and Coundon will clearly lose a valued local amenity, and many are concerned about the accessibility of the new site by bus.

I do hope that the Trust listens to the views expressed at the forthcoming public meetings. Wear Valley residents have paid higher taxes and higher National Insurance for better health services and are in danger of getting once more a reduced local service. - Richard Bell, Conservative Party Candidate for Bishop Auckland.

LAW AND ORDER

I AM not convinced that there is a need to change the law with regard to a householder's right to tackle intruders, though the existing law certainly needs to be clarified.

The Tony Martin case led many people to think that they risked prosecution if they so much as lifted a finger to defend themselves or their property, but this is not so. Many householders have been fully exonerated after attacking, injuring or even killing burglars.

The proposed change in the law would not, in any case, have exonerated Tony Martin. The court rightly took the view that shooting an unarmed intruder in the back as he ran away, and then leaving him to bleed to death, did not constitute "reasonable force".

Thieves should not imagine that they can go about their business with impunity, but summary execution by the householder is not an appropriate sentence for burglary, and it would be in no-one's interest to make it so. - Pete Winstanley, Durham.

PETER MULLEN

DOES Peter Mullen set out deliberately to insult the Government and people who don't agree with his views?

His weekly column is getting even more spiteful and I can't believe that a Christian, let alone a man of the cloth, doesn't realise how he comes over.

He mentions 'lunatic veggies' (Echo, Jan 11). I take great exception to that. I'm a vegetarian and I'm certainly no lunatic.

How is he allowed to slander people like that?

His much boasted pro-hunt attitude, too, is sickening. He seems to have sympathy with 'poor' Harry Windsor just because his murderous pastime is about to be banned.

Other 20-year-olds don't kill animals for fun whenever they please, or dress up for parties without caring who they offend. They have to work for their living and earn their pleasures and most young people I know are of the opinion that hunting is an outdated cruelty.

How can a man of God justify his attitude to God's creatures? His dog collar won't save him when they meet face to face. - R Laycock, Shildon.

ENVIRONMENT

I NOTE that Mr Kelly (HAS, Jan 14) seems to be making many erroneous remarks concerning all of the schemes Durham County Council carried out in removing industrial dereliction in the county.

All were carried out and supported by funding, latterly by total outside funding. Design for the schemes meant, not just the removal of materials, but the grading of areas. The land had been the subject of industrial vandalism, some required the removal of toxic materials.

Expertise in making shale and soils to take seeding and tree planting were used. Fields both for grazing and arable were planted and fenced.

Where flora and fauna existed, these became areas of Special Scientific Interest. Visitors to the county used to see on the skyline huge heaps, some measuring two million cubic metres, deterring potential employers from visiting and employing people.

Durham County Council has produced a book on these schemes which can be obtained from most libraries. - Herbert R Harker, Bishop Auckland.