31/12/04

Whose country is this, what is left to sell off? It is upside down and going deeper into the mire through clowns in office, not for what they know, but who, and with the actions and attitudes of I'm all right Jack.

We are taxed, price conned into submission with so-called political jargon, legal blackmail, and insecurity.

There is continued spiralling increase in costs for all essential necessities, and all viable industries closed or sold off. Whose country is this?

We are strangers in our own country. It's a dumping ground for anything and anyone.

Don't do as I do but as I say, that's the motto from Government to local administration. They never had control, so why treat the British public like a set of backward delinquents?

Multi-nationals have always run this country of ours. - Vincent Weldon, Witton Gilbert.

IS it time for a change, to have a president to run the country like America, having someone who will listen to what the people want?

It would be cost effective doing away with all the luxury buildings and salaries for all the politicians on the gravy train. Tax payers would benefit. - N Tate, Darlington.

Crook TOWN

WHAT has gone wrong in Crook Town? Sixty years ago we had better shopping facilities than we have today.

We had one of the best parks in the county, now we have one of the worst.

I would also like to point out that we had two public toilets, now we have none.

The council building opposite the library is a disgrace. The paving stones leading up to and round the cenotaph are dangerous to walk on.

There are ten times more houses in the town now than there were 60 years ago, so I think it's about time that the people in the town could see some of their money spent in the town for a change. - G Hall, Crook.

ANIMAL WELFARE

WHAT a paltry sentence for causing animals such despicable cruelty (Echo, Dec 21).

I'm referring to the sentence passed by Northallerton magistrates for cruelty to three horses: three months - one for each horse presumably.

An RSPCA inspector hoped it would be a warning to others, but surely three months is pathetic by any stretch of the imagination.

Now I hope that magistrates will really toughen up. With a three-month sentence this person will just be settling in to prison life when he is discharged. - Ken Jackson, Romanby.

FRIARAGE HOSPITAL

AS a keen supporter of the Friends of Friarage Hospital, previously known as the League of Friends, I read the article (Echo, Dec 18) with great interest.

Without wishing to single anyone out from the long list of those who, over the years, have offered valuable and worthwhile service to the hospital, the mention of one person in particular was conspicuous by his absence.

Although the Trust seems to be aware that the League of Friends was formed in 1957, it omitted to mention one of the League of Friends founder members who was awarded an MBE for his valuable work for the hospital. While I am sure that such an omission would never be a cause for concern to Mr JB Archer (Brenny), now 89 years old, I, in appreciation of his long service (which I'm sure will well exceed any of those the Trust saw fit to mention), find the oversight surprising.

Surely the Trust should remember, and mention those whose even longer service was instrumental in providing the chapel, library, recreation facilities etc. - Mrs D Pearson, Northallerton.

DAVID BLUNKETT

AM I the only person in Britain who is sick to the back teeth of listening to David Blunkett wallowing in self pity?

As Home Secretary he clearly knew that a £189 rail ticket paid for by working class taxpayers should not have been given to his millionaire, rightwing, mistress. The cost of this rail ticket is more than a pensioner couple receive in a week, thanks to this miserable Government.

Moreover, his office should not have fast tracked a visa for his girlfriend's nanny. If that is not an abuse of power, then what is?

Mr Blunkett makes a big thing about his relatively poor upbringing. Yet it is much more important to judge someone by the class they stand for, rather than the class they come from. Former Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald's background was even more modest than Mr Blunkett's, but he also got a taste for the high life, whilst he cut the benefits of the unemployed.

Mr Blunkett has made a similar political trajectory in life. - John Gilmore, Bishop Auckland.

TONY BLAIR

MAURICE Baker (HAS, Dec 27) seems to have lost the plot when it comes to Tony Blair.

Tony Blair was elected to the Palace of Westminster as the elected member for the Sedgefield constituency not, as Mr Baker seems to think, as a make-believe world leader.

Since 1997, when the people of Newton Aycliffe were moved from the Bishop Auckland constituency and put into the Sedgefield constituency, we have been denied a Member of Parliament. He has never held a surgery anywhere in the Sedgefield constituency that I know of and the number of people, myself included, who have written to him and still wait for a reply increases weekly.

If we go by what is in the press, it would appear that this Christmas he spent more sending cards showing an image of him and his wife on the front than what he spent on stationery to run his constituency office last year. This shows that Sedgefield is just a convenient constituency so that he is the Member of Parliament for somewhere, so he can carry on running round the world after his right wing political friends.

I think that Mr Baker would find it hard to extol the virtues of Tony Blair as the elected member for the Sedgefield constituency as he does for him promoting his own image as a world leader. It must be remembered that if you don't do a good job of your first job, how can you do a good job of any others you try to take on? - Peter Dolan, Newton Aycliffe.