FIRE SERVICE: I WONDER if the councillors, tradespeople, and general public of Durham and Darlington realise the amount of revenue that will be lost from the coffers if the chief fire officer of Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue is allowed to give a large percentage of the support services over to Tyne and Wear Fire Brigade to administrate.

I am sure the extra cost incurred by this move - ie a large increase in fuel usage, travelling time etc - would have to be borne by the taxpayers in Durham and Darlington.

We have just voted no to a regional assembly, which would cost us more money for the same service, so why not let's keep the running of our fire service in our area by the people who know and care about our area? - Name and address supplied.

DENTISTS

NHS dentistry is near death and there isn't a glimmer of hope from those in the profession or our civil servants.

Thousands of people queuing in vain all over the country to register with NHS dentists. Among them are young couples attempting to establish their first contact with this important branch of family health care.

Old ladies and others are pulling their own teeth. Life-long supporters of the system, now in retirement, are being turned away by their regular dentists to be replaced by private clientele.

The response from Government ministers, our MPs, parliamentary candidates and local primary trusts, has been total silence.

The profession tells us one week that many of us need only see our dentist every one or two years, with very few needing the current six monthly appointments.

The next week we are told by a well-meaning local dentist that there are serious risks for everyone of even more cases of untreated mouth cancers resulting in death, if we do not see a dentist at least once a year.

Would I be too cynical in thinking that these are two separate messages: one for the remnants of our once great NHS dental service and the other for customers of the now dominant private dental sector? - George Appleby, York.

HUNTING

SEEING the picture of the snared fox (Echo, Nov 29) was rather sickening.

Unfortunately, this sort of thing will, no doubt, be seen more often as a result of the ban on hunting.

The very best and least cruel way to cull foxes is by hunting with hounds; we know this and, as a result of inquiries set up into this issue, the Government knows this.

The backbenchers chose to ignore all the evidence and, as the appalling admission by Peter Bradley MP shows, the ban was all about class hatred and nothing to do with animal welfare.

If we carry on culling foxes in the least cruel way we will become criminals thanks to a load of backbenchers with huge chips on their shoulders. - Sylvia Walton, Barton.

PATRICK Blewitt (HAS, Nov 25), on the strength of a statement by one MP, tells us that those opposed to hunting do so, not because they think it cruel, but because it is a "class struggle".

The thought of Ann Widdecombe and the late Alan Clark, prominent opponents of foxhunting, as secret Trotskyites engaged in class warfare seems somewhat unlikely. - Eric Gendle, Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough.

FURTHER to Patrick Blewitt's letter (HAS, Nov 25), in which he bemoans his fate as a frustrated hunter of rabbits, may I extend my sympathies.

However, he inevitably, and expectedly, misses the point of my initial letter (HAS, Nov 23).

I have no wish to dictate to Mr Blewitt as regards what he desires to "put in his pot". Homo sapiens, by their very teeth structure, are designated omnivores, though good luck to vegetarians, who choose to be otherwise.

I, however, am not one of them. As long as a rabbit, or whatever, is killed (quickly and humanely) with a view to food and nourishment, then I have no objections to his occasional pastime.

However, I have yet to hear of a hunstman eating a fox. The pursuit of foxes is for bloodlust and little else. Alternatives to hunting as it stands are available without the desecration of a living animal (drag hunting or muzzled hounds have been an option for years without any take-up), hence dispensing with his contention that it is all a "class issue", as horses would still be inevitably involved.

Possibly, his hobby could have avoided the threat of the axe had arrogant huntspeople taken heed earlier and voluntarily opted for change.

As for the old chestnut of "townies not understanding country folk", I spent over half of my life in a rural County Durham village. None of my friends agreed with hunting. The hunters tended to come from elsewhere (towns). - John Milburn, Chester-le-Street.

CERVICAL CANCER

FURTHER to your article (Echo, Oct 30), I strongly urge all women to continue to attend for regular cervical screening - the best defence against cervical cancer.

The NHS Cervical Screening Programme is highly successful, saving around 4,500 lives every year in England.

We are alert to trials of HPV vaccines for cervical dysplasia and will monitor the results. As the developers acknowledge, however, the development of these vaccines is still a long way off and there is still much research to be done before we can determine the potential role HPV vaccination may play in preventing cervical cancer. - Julietta Patnick, Director, NHS Cancer Screening Programmes.

QUEEN'S SPEECH

FOLLOWING the Queen's Speech, the battle lines have been drawn between the three main parties.

The Government has set down its priorities for yet more crime and anti-terrorism messages. The Tories raised fears about asylum seekers in their substitute programme last Monday.

In contrast, the Liberal Democrats have concentrated on six top priorities for their alternative Queen's Speech - measures that inspire hope rather than feed off people's fears.

These include the scrapping of council tax, free personal care for older people, the introduction of a fairer citizen's pension, a package of measures to tackle crime and putting the environment at the heart of public policy making. - Jacqueline Bell, PPC Liberal Democrats, Richmond.