15/12/04

After months of being told by the No campaigners that they were against devolution of powers from Westminster to our North-East region, the No campaign group now wants to campaign for devolution for the North-East (Echo, Dec 8).

Let me get this right. The No campaign managed successfully to convince 78 per cent of less than half of the electorate (47 per cent), to vote no to regional government.

Having won the vote not to devolve power to the region, you want to start a campaign that wants to get devolved power to the North-East region.

Surely you should honour your election pledges not to have regional government to your 78 per cent of the people who believed in you and trusted in you?

However, as a former Yes supporter, one should not be so churlish. The people of the North-East should welcome this 'Road to the North-East Conversion'. - Philip Draper, Sedgefield.

ENVIRONMENT

COULD the Government's total lack of interest in the future of the British countryside be explained by the fact that Socialist economics has human happiness rather than green progress as its ostensible aim?

It's easy to say that the Labour Party is still a movement of the radical left. But when you realise that an area of countryside equal to the size of Bristol is built on every year, you can see just how New Labour prefers the Marxist goal of the greatest happiness for the greatest number.

There is no doubt that we need a nature-centred rather than a man-centred government.

Otherwise our natural treasures, from the breathtaking beauty of the Lake District to the rolling splendour of the Cotswolds, will be lost forever. - Aled Jones, Bridlington.

LAW AND ORDER

ALMOST everyone believes householders must be allowed to protect their homes from intruders.

So a law giving home owners the right to use whatever force is necessary could not be more welcome.

Who would have predicted the swift collapse of the establishment's ridiculous position on burglars' so-called 'rights'?

Metropolitan Police Commander Sir John Stevens has stated that, when a criminal breaks into private property, he takes his life in his hands. I agree, and if that means the uninvited invader is risking his life, so be it. When a burglar strikes in the middle of the night, law-abiding citizens should not have to dread prosecution.

The fear of long jail sentences and the risk of their physical well-being must rest firmly with the intruder.

The vast majority of people in this country believe the time has come to protect the victims, not the burglar. When it comes to the vote, MPs from all political parties need to remember that. - Mrs Pat Walker, Middlesbrough.

Darlington TOWN CENTRE

DESPITE being a Darlingtonian-in-exile, I have been cheered by the recent results at Neasham Road, and am beginning to feel that, as the song goes "Darlo's going up".

But I am saddened to learn of the plan which would ensure that "Darlo's going down".

I refer to the proposal to remove the High Row, which I consider has great character, as has the whole of the Town Clock/Market area. To my mind, this should be safeguarded for future generations by being listed as of special architectural and historic interest.

Darlington cannot rely on the North Road rail museum alone as an attraction, but if the High Row is removed in an act of municipal vandalism there will be less incentive for tourists to come.

I do hope this proposal will receive widespread and persistent opposition - if necessary at a public inquiry. - Hugh Little, Ilkley.

IDENTITY CARDS

I, LIKE many others, have birth certificate, marriage certificate, National Insurance number, medical number, driving licence identification and loads of other means of identification.

So I would suggest to David Blunkett that instead of wasting billions of pounds on yet a new form of identification (which no doubt some fraudster will learn to copy) he could make better use of that money.

Why not spend it on a new cancer treatment drug and perhaps save a few more lives. - E Davison, Ferryhill.

I TOTALLY disgree with James Fitzpatrick's comments on ID cards (HAS, Dec 14). The emergence of these identity cards would be a big welcome to law-abiding citizens, and also a good deterrent in tracking down the thousands upon thousands of bogus asylum seekers who currently roam the streets of Great Britain.

The ID cards will also be a good way to combat crime, as the police will be able to identify a criminal as soon as he or she is arrested, as they will not be able to give a false name to officers on the beat or at a scene of a crime.

ID cards make a lot of common sense, so let us have them now. - Christopher Wardell, Darlington.

WATER BILLS

I, AND my neighbours, go along with the water companies to increase their charges.

But why don't they go further and put some of their huge profits into installing meters? Then, those who do not use a lot (pensioners) will not subsidise those who wash windows two or three times a week, wash cars three times a week, water their lawns three times a week, and have showers three or four times a week.

Some people can well afford the charges but I have concerns for the pensioners. - E Sedgwick, Shildon.

ROAD SYSTEM

MRS AE Carr (HAS, Dec 8) thinks that British road engineers could learn from their Spanish counterparts. As a long retired civil engineer with road experience in three continents, I beg to differ.

There is no problem with the only really engineered roads (I should say highways) in Britain, such as the M1, M2 etc. Before that we had the A roads, such as the A1 with the inevitable bypasses, such as the Chester-le-Street and Birtley bypasses.

Before that we had, for the most part, farm tracks, as anyone who drives a car today knows.

There are bends both horizontal and vertical, that create hazards and could be eliminated except for cost. Drainage in many locations is poor - but the cost of correction is prohibitive.

Mrs Carr tells us that "the original engineers made them in cutting with sloping verges".

Perhaps the "original engineer" was Telford or McAdam, but in about the year 1800 they had no motorists to worry about. - Willis Collinson, Durham City.